At a ceremony that included recitations of poetry and short stories, participants highlighted the importance of Arabic for the creation and preservation of values, history and thought.

The Damascus University has made many contributions to protect and preserve Arabic as a mother language and included it in its curricula. Moreover, this is the only university that teaches Medicine in this language, Vice Rector for Scientific Affairs, Maysa Al-Seyoufi,, said.

For his part, Dean at the Higher Language Institute, Ali Laham, said that this year’s celebration is dedicated to the use of technology for multilingual learning and its challenges and opportunities.

Arabic is a rich, renewable and young language whose philological and morphological system has unique characteristics. It also has a rich vocabulary and structure and can take up the cultural and technonlogical achievements of global civilization, Laham argued.

It has directly or indirectly influenced many languages, mainly in Muslim countries, and European languages such as Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian, he explained.

The International Mother Language Day was approved at the General Conference of the United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO) in 1999.

Arabic is one of the most spoken languages in the world and the mother language of over 467 million people. It is the official language in 27 countries.

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