I write this in response to two articles which appeared first in the Arabic press and were then translated and used in Arab News (Aug. 25). One article, by Abdullah Khayyat, argued against using English in correspondence and for bills in the Kingdom; the other, by Abdul Rahman Al-Rashid, questioned our reasons for fearing English and delaying its incorporation into our primary school syllabus.

There is no doubt that we have a culture, a religion and many traditions based on our Arab roots and our beloved Arabic language. The simple fact, however, is that in the present age of globalization we can no longer rely exclusively upon Arabic any more than a speaker of Urdu or Swedish can rely exclusively upon those languages. The English language is simply an international language; it is certainly the global language of business and economy. Yes, we should protect our Arabic language from being swamped but there is no real danger of that happening. Both Islam and the Holy Qur’an protect Arabic and guarantee that it will not be swamped.

You may wonder why the Japanese are famous for communicating in their language when they do business with foreign companies. They never seem to feel any pressure to learn English and many people wonder why we do not adopt the same course. To begin with, however, they have a strong economy and have made technological advances equal to the those of the West. Thus the West is willing to provide itself with translators and interpreters in order to deal with the Japanese. The Arab world is, unfortunately, not in the same position as the Japanese are. We are in no position to insist on the use of Arabic in all correspondence.

In Abdullah Khayyat’s opinion, foreign companies should have to provide an Arabic translation of the English text. This may be reasonable in theory but in practice, it leads to unnecessary delay because good quality English/Arabic or Arabic/English translators are not easily available or accessible for on-the-spot translation in countries such as Holland or Norway!

Abdul Rahman Al-Rashid rightly points out the low level of education in the Kingdom. He feels that the delay in introducing English into the primary curriculum will have a knock-on effect on the growing unemployment and the reliance of foreign workers in the Kingdom. He says correctly that there are many job opportunities available for English-speaking graduates. According to him, the cause of this delay is fears that we may lose our culture and traditions. This fear does indeed exist so we talked to both teachers and pupils. One teacher who has taught chemistry in schools all over the Kingdom said that English was "not really needed" and that she taught chemistry with Arabic explanations. She shared the view of many others who believe that by learning English, we are turning our backs on our mother tongue. Nothing could be more false or more mistaken.

A girl of 16 told us she was glad her parents had sent her to a private school where she began learning English at the age of 5. She said she was not left behind when her friends surf the Internet in English, that she found English easier to use when she has holidays outside the Middle East and that she enjoyed talking to people from other countries and listening to their ideas. She can read books which have not yet been translated into Arabic and easily watches the news, documentaries and programs on non-Arabic channels.

A teacher who has taught English for 13 years and has been the head of two different schools argued that parents themselves are not interested in their children learning English. They regard the language as too much of an eye-opener to the corruption of the world. She has spoken to others who realized that English was a vital component in their children’s education; they understood the importance English played in their children’s future employment opportunities.

Avoiding a language that provides career opportunities, a future and is in itself a tool for gaining general and expert knowledge in all subjects not only encourages ignorance but is a danger to our society’s advancement and progress.

We do not want English to replace the Arabic language in school or in society. We simply want English to be learned as a second language. We have only to look at what such private schools as the King Fahd Academies in Bonn, London and Washington, D.C. have done. Graduates from all those schools have had a much easier time finding jobs than students whose education has been only in the Kingdom. God endowed us with minds and gave us the intelligence to select and decide on all issues. Why are we failing to make full use of this intelligence? The challenge is to select what is "good" for ourselves and society and to reject what is not. The fear of knowledge is ignorance and there is already far too much of that in the world today.