By Aya Galal, edited by Jalal Abu Saleh
The Arabic language cannot be regarded merely as a tool of communication; it is the mind of the nation, the voice of its memory, and a prerequisite for its renaissance. Through language, awareness is shaped, knowledge is produced, and values and experiences are transmitted across generations. When a language weakens, thought weakens with it; belonging fractures, and the connection to both history and the future is disrupted.
Each year on December 18, World Arabic Language Day comes not as a symbolic celebration, but as an open invitation to reassess the place of Arabic in education, culture, media, and the digital sphere. Under the 2025 theme, “Innovative Pathways for the Arabic Language: Policies and Practices for a More Inclusive Linguistic Future,” the need is renewed to move Arabic from a position of defense to one of action, and from nostalgia for the past to actively shaping the future.
Language provides the framework through which we understand ourselves and the world. In the Arab context, Arabic has long served as the historical vessel of identity, memory, and the collective imagination. Yet its declining presence in education, media, and public life—often in favor of foreign languages or colloquial dialects—has weakened linguistic belonging and widened the generational gap with cultural heritage.
The erosion of language is not merely a linguistic issue; it is a direct assault on identity, leading to cultural alienation and the erosion of collective consciousness. From this perspective, defending Arabic is an act of civilizational resilience, not a cultural slogan.
Figures and Implications
Arabic is among the most widely spoken languages globally, with an estimated 420 to 470 million speakers, around 3.4% of the world’s population. Despite this demographic weight, Arabic remains underrepresented in the digital sphere, accounting for only 0.5% to 1% of total global internet content.
In terms of knowledge production, bibliometric analyses show that Arabic’s share of global scientific publishing remains extremely low. Many researchers in Arab countries publish in foreign languages to secure wider dissemination and international recognition. These realities reveal a structural gap that poses a serious challenge to comprehensive digital transformation. Strengthening Arabic-language knowledge production and digital content is therefore essential to ensuring equitable access to knowledge, building inclusive digital systems, and advancing the Sustainable Development Goals.
Arabic, Resilience, and Identity: When Language Becomes the First Line of Defense
In moments of transformation and crisis, Arabic has proven to be a powerful tool of resilience and soft resistance, a living testament to the endurance of peoples despite repeated attempts at erasure. Historically, it has served as a means of preserving memory, anchoring narratives, and defending rights, particularly in contexts of colonialism, displacement, and cultural marginalization.
Today, this role is renewed in the face of unequal globalization, the dominance of foreign content, and ongoing attempts to dilute identity. Linguistic resilience means safeguarding the right to express ourselves in our own language, producing knowledge from within our social and cultural context, and passing on to future generations a language capable of critical thinking, creativity, and innovation. Keeping Arabic alive in everyday life is not simply a cultural concern; it is one of the most profound and sustainable forms of civilizational resistance.
Arabic and Education: A Crisis of Method, Not of Language
Education remains the most important arena for ensuring linguistic continuity. Yet the crisis of Arabic in schools and universities lies not in the language itself, but in how it is taught. Traditional curricula that emphasize rote memorization and abstraction, and that disconnect language from lived experience, have fostered a distant and uninspiring relationship between learners and Arabic.
This challenge is compounded by the declining use of Arabic as a language of instruction in some institutions, which weakens linguistic proficiency and deepens the gap between Arabic and modern knowledge. Revitalizing Arabic in education requires interactive curricula, well-trained teachers, and approaches that link language to critical thinking, science, and creativity, rather than treating it as a marginal or secondary subject.
Many curricula also suffer from weak connections to contemporary realities and limited use of literary and intellectual texts capable of nurturing linguistic sensibility and cultural awareness. The growing preference for foreign languages, particularly in private and higher education, further undermines students’ command of Arabic and widens the divide between the language and modern scientific and intellectual production.
Arabic, Technology, and Artificial Intelligence: A Challenge and an Opportunity
In the digital age, a language’s vitality is increasingly measured by its technological presence. Despite challenges related to computational processing and limited digital content, artificial intelligence offers a historic opportunity to re-empower Arabic.
AI can be leveraged to develop interactive educational tools, enhance machine translation quality, and create smart platforms for teaching Arabic to both native and non-native speakers. It can also support linguistic and literary creativity, enable the analysis of classical texts, and make cultural heritage digitally accessible to new generations. Moreover, AI has the potential to strengthen the use of Modern Standard Arabic in digital media and social platforms, expanding its reach and inclusivity.
Media and Culture: From Marginalization to Influence
Media plays a central role in shaping linguistic taste. However, the decline of standard Arabic in media and the absence of serious cultural content have weakened the dominant linguistic model, particularly among children and young people. At the same time, media holds immense potential to revitalize Arabic through creative content, supportive editorial policies, and contemporary cultural production that connects language to everyday life rather than confining it to the past.
This underscores the need for a comprehensive Arab renaissance project, grounded in inclusive language policies and innovative practices that restore Arabic’s centrality. This includes modernizing educational curricula, simplifying overly rigid approaches, and adopting methods that nurture children’s love for the language. Arabic thrives through poets and writers, and poetry remains a vital gateway to appreciating linguistic beauty. When people learn to love poetry, they learn to love the language.
No genuine Arab renaissance can be achieved without reviving Arabic and strengthening its position in education, culture, scientific research, and policymaking.
How Do We Protect the Arabic Language Today?
On its international day, Arabic stands as a collective responsibility,not only as a language of the past, but as a foundation for the future. Renaissance begins with words, is built through thought, and is sustained by a living language capable of resilience, creativity, and meaning-making.
Protecting Arabic today requires reforming language curricula to prioritize skills, comprehension, and critical thinking over memorization; investing in teacher training and modern pedagogical approaches; supporting Arabic digital content; and expanding the use of artificial intelligence tools for Arabic.
It also necessitates holding media institutions to clear linguistic standards without sacrificing appeal, promoting literature and poetry in schools and media, because love for language begins with beauty,and producing high-quality Arabic content for children and adolescents. Ultimately, Arabic must be treated as a matter of public policy rather than a marginal cultural issue, with scientific research and translation serving as key pillars for strengthening its global presence in knowledge production and circulation.
