UN Arabic Language Day celebrated on Dec. 18

CAIRO – 18 December 2022: The Arabic language is one of the pillars of the cultural diversity of humanity. It is one of the most widespread and used languages, as it is spoken daily by more than 400 million people worldwide.

Arabic speakers are distributed on the Arab region and other neighboring countries, such as Turkey, Chad, Mali, Senegal, and Eritrea, as Arabic is of paramount importance to Muslims as a sacred language (the language of the Qur’an). Prayers (and other acts of worship) in Islam are not complete unless some of the Arabic words are mastered. 

Arabic is also a major liturgical language for a number of Christian churches in the Arab region, and many of the most important Jewish religious and intellectual works of the Middle Ages were written in Arabic.

The Arabic language allows entry to a world full of diversity in all its forms and manifestations, including the diversity of origins, stripes and beliefs. 

Arabic prevailed for centuries of its history as the language of politics, science and literature, and it influenced directly and indirectly many other languages in the Islamic world, such as Turkish, Persian, Kurdish, Urdu, Malay, Indonesian, Albanian and some other African languages such as Hausa and Swahili and some European languages, especially in the Mediterranean, such as Spanish, Portuguese, Maltese and Sicilian.

In addition, it acted as a catalyst for the production and dissemination of knowledge, and helped transmit Greek and Roman scientific and philosophical knowledge to Europe in the Renaissance. It also made it possible to establish dialogue between cultures along the land and sea routes of the Silk Road from the coasts of India to the Horn of Africa.

In support of and promotion of multilingualism and multiculturalism, the United Nations Department of Global Communication — formerly known as the Department of Public Information — adopted a resolution on the eve of International Mother Language Day to celebrate in each of the six official languages of the United Nations.

Accordingly, it was decided to celebrate the Arabic language on December 18, being the day on which General Assembly Resolution 3190 of December 18,1973 was passed, concerned with the inclusion of the Arabic language among the official and working languages of the United Nations.

The purpose of this day is to raise awareness of the history, culture and development of the language through the preparation of a program of activities and special events.