Publication ｜Sophia Linguistica
Yuri Kimira
In today’s accelerated globalization era, building national economic development through
English as a common language is promoted in many countries around the world, and
English education is increasingly emphasized. In particular, former colonial countries of
the United Kingdom, by making English the language of instruction in higher education,
are providing their citizens with advanced education so that they can play an active role
in the global society. On the other hand, the rapid spread of English among their citizens
has led to fears of the decline of their mother tongue and culture, and they are facing
a dilemma between English and their own language. This paper picks up the language
situation in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), an English-dominant society with Arabic as
its official language, and details the“ double-edged sword” (Hopkyns, 2014) of economic
development by English permeation and declination of Arabic. In particular, this paper
will focus on the UAE Arabic Language Charter, which was announced in 2012, examine
how language education has changed before and after the introduction of the Charter, and
what possible solution is available to avert the decline of the Arabic language.
