Fun, jobs or culture: Arabic now on UAE expat radar

Published Saturday, August 25, 2012

By Staff

Compared to other Arab countries the UAE is aggressively tourist-friendly.

Every sign is written in both English and Arabic, almost everybody speaks English and nobody expects you to understand of Arabic. Though, there are many expats who wish to do so.

Meet Sabiha, born in England but a UAE resident for the past 8 years: "I live here, so I want to speak the language. Just as we expect people who come to England to speak English."

Sabiha learned her first words of Arabic at school in Dubai, where it was a mandatory subject. However, that was not enough for her. "I think the Arabic we learn in school here does not really help you to speak the language.

“In my opinion, us expats must use the language of the country we are living in."

Sabiha studies at Eton Institute, a language center providing over 100 languages to eager students in Dubai.

"Arabic is a very popular language to learn," says Moaz Khan, marketing manager of Eton. "Each year we have about 1,000 students coming in."

According to Moaz, the incentive of each student to learn Arabic is very different.

"There are people who want to be introduced to a new language, want to do something different in their lives or want to help their children with homework.

But there are also many people who really need or want to use the language in their daily lives. These students usually continue to our higher levels."

Career move

Shannon Elizabeth is one of the latter.

The United States-born business executive at MBC is determined to become fluent in Arabic.

"I want to work as a show host on television, and most preferably I will host the show in Arabic," she says, adding that at her work Arabic is the language most commonly used.

Caroline from China has a similar motivation.

"I hope I will get promoted when I am able to speak Arabic. I would be the first expatriate to do so at work," says the 20-year-old working in the hospitality sector.

"When I pick up the phone, I want to be able to have a simple conversation in Arabic to clarify what I can do for the customer. When this is a local customer, it will give off a nice impression."

Getting Glocal

Apart from the business incentive, expatriates learning Arabic in the UAE experience that their efforts are welcomed very much by the local population.

"The other day I just went up to a lady in the mall and had a conversation with her in Arabic, for about ten minutes! She responded very nicely," says Shannon enthusiastically.

"It is our mission to connect people," explains Sherifa Madgwick, development and communication manager of the Sharjah Centre for Cultural Communication, "and we believe language is an important tool to accomplish that mission."

Culture call

The Sharjah Centre for Cultural Communication offers Arabic courses for a relatively low price, because it is subsidized by the government of Sharjah, a unique initiative in the UAE.

"We want to introduce the traditional culture of the UAE to the expatriate community," says Sherifa and the idea seems to catch on.

Offering 15 seats per course 4 times a year, there is always a waiting list for the courses at the centre.

Akihiro Ueda, a Japanese 26-year-old who came to the UAE to learn Arabic is certain that he learned more about the local culture through learning the language.

"There are many words and expressions referring to God, or to local history, which indicates the importance of those two aspects in the local culture.

“In Japanese, we do not know such emphasis."

Whether the UAE is the right place to go to learn Arabic, Akihiro still wonders.

"When I took that decision, I did not know much about any country in the Middle East. Now I realise that it is quite difficult to practice my skills outside the classroom."

"Sometimes I try my best to say something in Arabic and the person responds in English.

“This is very frustrating, it is almost as if I am not supposed to speak Arabic here," says Daniela, a 37-year-old German resident of Dubai who took up Arabic classes because she always wanted to learn the language.

"We do hear that from a lot of students," says Shireen Sinno, manager of the Arabic Language Center in Dubai.

“We advise them to listen to music, watch movies and speak as much as they can with all Arab people they know."

Leila Shehab, owner of the UAE-branch of Berlitz, an international language center with branches in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah says that although English remains the most requested language course, Arabic comes in second at the UAE-branches. "In Beirut, Arabic comes in first," she adds.

In 2011, Berlitz welcomed 5045 students learning the Arabic language, a 7% decrease compared to the previous year. "This is due to the financial crisis," she explains. "But based on the first month of this year, we are heading up again."

Also the University of Wollongong, previously offering Arabic classes on a regular basis, has experienced a decline in applications of people wanting to learn the local language, as there are now only private courses available.

However, Eton Institute and the Arabic Language Center have not experienced any alteration in the wave of applications.

"We have about 300 applications each term and that never really changes," explains Shireen. "The only difference is between seasons. Autumn and winter are the popular study-seasons."

[Image via Shutterstock]

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