Multilingualism and sociolinguistic dynamics in the UAE
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is situated in the Southeast of the Arabian Peninsula, bordering Oman and Saudi Arabia. In December 1971, the UAE became a federation of six emirates - Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al-Quwain, and Fujairah, while the seventh emirate, Ras Al Khaimah, joined the federation in 1972.
The population of the UAE was estimated at 9,890 million in 2020, according to United Nations data, broken down by gender by 69% of males (6.824 million), compared to 31% of females (3.066 million).
There are more than 200 nationalities living in the UAE. The United Nations estimates the number of expatriates (non-Emiratis) at 8,587 million in 2020 or 87.9% of the country’s total population.
Estimates of the year 2020 indicate that 14.45% of the total population is under the age of fifteen, while 75.97% of the total population falls in the age group 15-54, and 7.68% is between 55 and 64 years old, and for those 65 years and over Their percentage is estimated at only 1.9%.Residents from the Indian subcontinent make up the largest proportion of expatriates in the UAE.
According to the CIA World Factbook, the population mix of expatriates comprises the following: 59.4% from South Asia (including India 38.2%, Bangladesh 9.5%, Pakistan 9.4%, others 2.3%), and 10.2% from Egypt. , 6.1% from the Philippines, and another 12.7% (2015 estimate).
Standard Arabic is the official language used in the country. The other version of Arabic spoken in the UAE is Gulf Arabic. Gulf Arabic is often spoken in neighboring Gulf States, including Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia.
Shihhi Arabic is a less popular version of Arabic spoken in the United Arab Emirates. English is the most popular Foreign Language spoken in the UAE.
Persian, also referred to as Farsi, is a minority language mainly spoken by the small community of Iranians who live in the United Arab Emirates. Hindi is the other minority language spoken in the United Arab Emirates and there are also Urdu, Bengali, Nepalese, Russian, Tagalog and other European languages.
Ethnographic research with British expatriates, for instance, notes that these migrants almost exclusively socialize amongst themselves or with other Westerners. Furthermore, learning Arabic or another local language is not even contemplated by British residents. While non-English-speaking migrant groups might be more open to language learning in order to be able to interact across ethno-linguistic boundaries.
Certainly, in the UAE, relatively new initiatives that have worked to implement a bilingual, Arabic/English curriculum are having a major impact on the future roles and uses of Arabic and English within Emirati society. To provide most Emiratis, who attend government-sponsored schools, with a similar educational experience of migrant school children and elite Emiratis who attend English medium private schools, government-funded schools have increasingly adopted a bilingual curriculum.
The way in which the bilingual curriculum is offered is through the provision of mathematics, science, and language arts courses in English and other courses in Arabic.
Basic English Language are developed in Nursery’s students in UAE. Some nurseries are offering French and Arabic as a second language.
Private schools offer different curricula, such as International Baccalaureate (IB), UAE's Ministry of Education, British, American, French, German, Indian, Pakistani and Filipino In addition, private schools must offer core programs such as Islamic education, social studies and Arabic as a second-language. These subjects are offered as special classes for non-Arabic speakers.
To preserve expats native language, some schools like Dubai International Academy (DIA) has given special focus to teaching the mother tongues of its diverse student body to help them retain a connection with their home language and culture. The Mother Tongue Program has since evolved and transitioned through the school’s journey to now include Danish, Dutch, French, German, Hindi, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish, Swedish and Bulgarian.
Another school celebrating the linguistic diversity of its students is the IB curriculum-based GEMS World Academy (GWA) in Dubai which has, for the first time, introduced 13 mother tongue languages for its students.
Arabic Language Charter was introduced as a frame of reference for all policies and laws related to preserving the Arabic language and promoting its use in public life. It requires all commercial establishments across the UAE to use Arabic while issuing invoices and receipts at reception desks and call centers.
The UAE’s efforts also include setting up an Arabic learning institute at the Zayed University for non-Arabic speakers, establishing the Faculty of Translation at the American University in Dubai to make the UAE a hub for Arabic translation in the region.
Language programs in the UAE continue to develop, offering diverse learning environments from university study to language schools to private tutoring .Most language schools in the UAE teach English, Arabic, Russian, French, Italian, Spanish and other languages to academic institutions, corporate groups and individuals.
References:
· https://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/united-arab-emirates/united-arab-emirates-country-brief#:~:text
· https://fanack.com/united-arab-emirates/population-of-uae/?highlight
· https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-languages-are-spoken-in-the-united-arab-emirates.html
· Dubai: Language in the ethnocratic, corporate and mobile city Ingrid Piller, Macquarie University. Metrolinguistics: Urban Language Ecologies around the World. Routledge, 2017
· https://u.ae/en/information-and-services/education/school-education
· https://gulfnews.com/uae/government/uae-committed-to-preserving-promoting-arabic-language-1.2143198
· Language threat in the United Arab Emirates? Unpacking domains of language use. October 2018 International Journal of the Sociology of Language 2018(254):165-184
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