JEDDAH, 17 May 2005 — Abdia Obaid Saad has a reason not to let her daughter learn English. She said she was afraid her daughter would be influenced by Western culture if she learned the language. “I don’t want my children to be like the Westerners. They should keep their own culture and traditions,” she said.

A recent newspaper report talked about another mother with the same feelings. She too feared English is a cultural intruder. “If they learn English, they will get attracted to English TV channels that may cause serious problems. They will lose their culture and religion,” the report quoted her as saying.

The mistaken notions regarding learning English is a perplexing problem in the Kingdom.

English opens the doors of employment and continues to be the medium of instruction in technical, medical, law and most other professions in the world. It is the language of international diplomacy and trade deals. The vital role the language plays in the modern world is not well understood.

Linguists estimate that English is the mother tongue of more than 300 million people in the world. It’s the second language of another 400 million. It is far more worldwide in its distribution than any other spoken language. It is an official language in 52 countries as well as many small regions and territories. Around one-third of the people in the world understand and speak English to some degree.

More than half the world’s journals and magazines are in English. It acts as a lingua franca, a bridge that connects different nations and cultures.

In 2001 at the United Nations, 120 countries, including most of the nations in the Arab word as well as all the former Soviet republics, wanted to choose English as the language for communicating with the embassies of other countries. English is the dominant language in electronic communication too.

Such crucial factors might have encouraged the government to lay more emphasis on English learning. But the move is viewed skeptically by many and early proponents are now disappointed.

Many parents do fear that learning a foreign language, especially English, will damage the culture they and their children belong to. For them English is a wolf in sheep’s clothing that may entice their children into modern lifestyles and ultimately help them land in trouble.

The best way to deal with such fears of a “culture shock” is the formulation of a curriculum, which reflects the learners’ lifestyles, cultures and traditions. There is no monolithic culture to represent all those who speak English.

Australian research scholar Andy Kirkpatrick says there is a link between a language and culture. But a language is not inextricably tied to one specific culture. According to him, a worldwide domination of an “Anglo” version of English is not inevitable.

How do we do that? An “Arab English” can better reflect local culture and values. The curriculum should be formulated in such ways that this regional variety would be taught in schools to prevent the “culture shock”.

The teaching and study materials should also represent the regional customs so that the English language curriculum will be made “a curriculum of regional cultures”.

An apt answer to the “English phobia” comes from Sheikh Saleh ibn Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh, minister of Islamic affairs in the Kingdom. He has urged the preachers to learn more languages to ensure their message is correct and that true interpretations are made.

“Every country has a different culture, which a foreign person cannot understand unless he speaks the language,” Sheikh Saleh said.

“It’s impossible for the preacher to learn all the languages, but it’s easier if he becomes good enough in one language, which qualifies him to preach in this language.

Learning foreign languages is important for all preachers because they will not be able to communicate effectively their ideas to non-Arabic speakers without speaking to them in their own language.”

(Seenath Sajith teaches English at International Indian School, Jeddah.)