WAM Feature: How This Start-up Encourages Foreigners In Gulf To Learn Arabic

WAM Feature: How this start-up encourages foreigners in Gulf to learn Arabic

By Binsal Abdulkader ABU DHABI, (Pakistan Point News - 22nd Apr, 2020) Many non-Arab expatriates never learn the Arabic language even after living in the Arabian Gulf for many years.

Even many native Arabic speakers have switched to English as the first language and inadvertently lost fluency in Arabic due to their complacency.

However, this trend is reversing thanks to the availability of online tools to learn the Arabic language, according to Little Thinking Minds, an award-winning education technology start-up that creates advanced digital solutions and platforms aimed at improving the practice of the Arabic language for school-aged children.

Founded by Jordanian nationals Rama Kayyali and Salwa Katkhuda, and Saudi national Lamia Tabbaa, the start-up started developing, in 2015, online Arabic literacy solutions and platforms for schools, teachers and students to improve Arabic languages skills.

"We are witnessing an unprecedented surge in the interest to learn Arabic language in the Gulf region," Shaden M. Al Salah, business Development Manager at Little Thinking Minds, tells Emirates news Agency, WAM.

Long-term Asian and Western expatriates in the Gulf, especially in the UAE, are taking active interest in encouraging their children to learn Arabic from their own experience, she says.

"Most of those parents have realised that they would return home with only a handful of vocabulary even after spending many years here. They don’t want the same fate for their children who can otherwise find better opportunities with the advantage of knowing the native language in the region," Al Salah points out.

She finds that Muslims among Asians and Westerners take special interest in Arabic to learn more about their religion, whereas non-Muslims find it a window to know about islam.

However, she adds, "Many children of Arab families are now considered non-native Arabic speakers as they don’t speak Arabic at home and school. The parents think children will anyway learn Arabic language, which does not happen.

"There is a difference between those who learn the language and those who do not. You cannot master the language without learning it."

These factors have prompted the expatriates to utilise online tools for their children to learn Arabic, says Al Salah whose start-up recently won a US$100,000 equity-free grant from a programme named Access Sharjah, launched by Sheraa, the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Centre.

Launched late last year, Access Sharjah is a global platform that connects digital start-ups to relevant public and private entities in Sharjah and across the United Arab Emirates.

About the progamme, Najla Al Midfa, CEO of Sheraa, comments, "Access Sharjah was created to solve one of the most critical challenges that start-ups face, which is gaining access to markets.

"For the first edition, we focused on start-ups in the book and digital content space, in honour of Sharjah being named UNESCO World Book Capital 2019. We received over 250 applications from around the world and are proud to announce Little Thinking Minds as our first-place winners," she says.

"We look forward to having this high-calibre start-up calls Sharjah their home and we shall continue to work with them as they grow their venture," Al Midfa adds.

Al Salah continues to say that the digital content of the company founded in 2004, named 'I Start Arabic,’ has helped the youngsters to make the Arabic learning fun.

"Our solutions are currently used by over 130,000 children around the globe, who have downloaded our apps on around 250,000 smart devices. We are operating in 16 countries, with over 3,000 teachers using our Arabic educational resources to improve their Arabic language teaching," she explains.

"We are thinking about introducing online tools for adults," Al Salah adds.

Talking about achievements, she says, "Among the projects closest to our hearts is our Let’s Live in Harmony, launched in support of UNICEF and the Ministry of Education in Jordan and in collaboration with Integrated International.

"The project focused on instilling social values and improving social cohesion through multimedia education and has served over 15,000 refugee students in low-resource public schools in Jordan.

"We are also very proud to have been the recipients of several global awards including Queen Rania Award for Education Entrepreneurship, Arab Women Awards and the Endeavour Global Entrepreneur."