I love to learn Arabic, but somehow it always gets postponed probably because one does not face the need to learn. The need to learn Arabic is further reduced, as expatriates cannot go to any government office on the company’s behalf, even if the matter concerns them, like renewing of their own iqama. For shopping its definitely not required as generally there is at least one salesman in the shop/establishment from the Indian subcontinent. Our Head Office, where I work, is a small office comprising about 10 people and about more than 50 percent of the staff are Saudi nationals. We always had cordial professional relations with the Saudi nationals. A few years ago, when I was relatively new in the Kingdom one Saudi national from our team got married, I was surprised to find that none of the expatriate staff was invited. I don’t believe that my learning of Arabic would have made the situation any different. Some expatriate staff in our office are from Arabic speaking countries. There is a glass ceiling in Saudi Arabia and learning Arabic won’t break it. — Omprakash Tiwari, Riyadh
Language barrier
