Makkah

LET us imagine something that might never happen. Let us for example imagine an Arab man in an Arab country speaks to another Arab in a foreign language. Let us go a bit further and imagine a Saudi employee answering a call of a Saudi customer in English in the middle of Saudi Arabia.

Logic says this idea is a fantasy and can be only accepted or justified in cynical terms. It is not just an idea, but it is a fact that must be taken seriously. Also it is no longer contrary to logic and what is true, but it rather has become the norm to the extent that speaking in Arabic to an Arab by an Arab is considered to be old-fashioned, not fitting the current era.

I now reluctantly try to understand why some sciences are taught in a foreign language in Arab countries, but the fact that all civilizations that made a difference in the life of humanity started basically with the translation of the arts and sciences of other civilizations.

Any nation that existed on this planet did not stop from being one of the two types — a leading nation and the one that followed it. Logic and common sense have that both the leading and follower nations spoke only their own language and translated everything else, irrespective of whether they needed them or not, from the civilization of other nations.

Civilizations were not built on the foundations of giant buildings inhabited by people who spoke a language that people did not understand. The development of mankind is the first goal of any human civilization, and it seems illogical to ask someone to change his language to be part of another civilization.

When a foreign language is a condition for employment even in occupations that do not require it to be spoken, it is simply not the search for what is the best, but it is rather a living proof of unjustified cultural defeat.

The “absence of those who are capable of perfection” is the biggest flaw of any nation in the view of Abu Tayeb, an Arab poet who was considered one of the greatest poets in the Arab world, and I agree with him because I think we are capable of perfection.

The possibilities are available and everything indicates that we want to become something of importance in the history of mankind.

What is wrong with the idea of having the government to carry out a huge translation movement that translates all the sciences, literature and arts of the other nations? I am sure you will not transform others only because you speak their language. However, when you have something interesting and useful they will try to understand even if you speak a language with one billion letters. So do not worry.