Qatar marks World Arabic Language Day

Qatar celebrated the World Arabic Language Day on Wednesday (December 18), joining many countries which organised special events on the occasion to highlight the treasures and history of the Arabic language.

Arabic Language and Artificial Intelligence (AI) was the theme of World Arabic Language Day celebration in 2019, held at Unesco Headquarters in Paris.

In the context of the interest of Qatar on the occasion, the Qatari Forum for Authors, in co-operation with the Qatar National Committee for Education, Culture and Science, launched a campaign to celebrate the Arabic language on Wednesday featuring several programmes, including various seminars and events, to discuss the role of AI in promoting and preserving the Arabic language, and issues related to the computerisation of Arabic language.

The campaign programme, which runs until next March, includes a group of workshops and lectures, as well as activities to train students to write in the Arabic language for stories, and various competitions.

The Arabic language is a pillar of the cultural diversity of humanity. It is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world, used daily by more than 290mn people.

World Arabic Language Day is being celebrated every year on 18 December since 2012. The date coincides with the day in 1973 when the UN General Assembly adopted Arabic as the sixth official language of the organisation.

In the diversity of its forms, classic or dialectal, from oral expression to poetic calligraphy, the Arabic language has given rise to a fascinating aesthetic, in fields as varied as architecture, poetry, philosophy and songs.

It gives access to an incredible variety of identities and beliefs and its history reveals the richness of its links with other languages. (QNA)

As seen on GulfTimes  Image Credits GulfTimes