Welcome to Qatar, a country where speaking English is essential

Posted by: 11/11/2022 – 09:00

From our special correspondent in Qatar,

” As Salam waves “. ” Hello, please give me your passport The young Qatari woman wore a traditional black abaya that revealed only her eyes. Welcome to Qatar. The official language is Arabic but the people speak it rarely or very little.

For good reason, of the roughly three million people, 2.8 million are foreigners, mostly from Southeast Asia and the Horn of Africa. According to the most recent count (2014). World Fact Book According to the CIA, 40% of the population is Arab (including Qataris, Egyptians, Sudanese, and Jordanians), 18% Pakistani, 18% Indian, 10% Iranian, and 14% of other origins. Nationalities are so numerous that English, French, Arabic and Urdu are spoken in the religious compound south of the capital, home to hundreds of thousands of non-Muslim believers living in the country. , in Indonesian. , Tagalog etc….

English is the only medium of communication

Therefore, communications are made in broken English. As the World Cup soccer tournament draws nearer, taxi drivers from their home country, hoping to cash in on this planetary event, often ask customers to write down their destination without speaking a word of English. Vehicle GPS Getting to the right place can be a bit of a joke for travelers who know nothing about the country.

” I came from Morocco as an Uber driver during the World Cup. Mehdi says. I don’t understand their English, they don’t speak Arabic or when some speak it’s not the same Arabic as me, no one speaks French. In short, it’s a mess. » « Learning English is already complicated, so Arabic, I didn’t even think about it. Fortunately, all signs are in both languages. Laughs Hassan, a young hotel worker who arrived from Indonesia six months ago.

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However, proficiency in Arabic is one of the conditions for obtaining Qatari nationality, in addition to those who have lived in the emirate continuously for twenty-five years, spend no more than two months abroad per year, have good behavior and sufficient income. Rather than difficult work for most migrant workers, the authorities offer sesame and saffron for those who want to protect their national identity. The state updates its total population every month to the nearest citizens, but cannot find out the exact number of its own nationals, as if it has the secrecy of an absolute secret, one reads. Diplomatic world.

French is a studied language, but also a widely spoken language

” With my Qatari friends, A young citizen of Doha says, We speak English. I don’t know why this is. At home, we only speak Arabic with our family. From childhood, despite education in Arabic, young Qataris often choose another language, including English or French. Additionally, many “native” Qataris do part of their higher education abroad at major international schools and return to Qatar fully bilingual.

In this former British protectorate, Moliere’s language is far from practical in everyday life. However, after much controversy, the country became a member of La Francophonie in 2012. Today, 10% of the population speaks French. and major French schools such as the Sorbonne HEC are there and participate in the Qatar National Vision 2030 program that will transform the country and increase the emirate’s soft power around the world. In addition, Tunisian, Lebanese, Swiss, Indian private schools etc. French is also taught.

Despite controversies and attempts to promote the emirate in France, the Al-Thani family has always maintained its attachment to the French language. For the story, in the UN Tribune on September 21, 1971, Qatar’s representative asked for his country’s membership in the UN in French, not English. Sheikh Khalifa Ibn Hamad al-Thani never hid his fascination for France, its culture and its language.

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