Using mother tongue

It is ironic how we no longer are using our mother tongue. It is frustrating.

We have become the product of European technology.

Everything is in English everywhere: menus, receipts, phone numbers, calendars and the music we listen to.

Even when we speak, instead of our native language we use a blend of Arabic and English, and sometimes French.

Are we afraid of speaking our language? Are we uncomfortable with it? Or is it just that we are ashamed of it?

That should not be the case. We must be proud enough to speak our language, which is our identity, without it we become worthless, anonymous and unidentified.

Westerners unite their norms, traditions and values through their language. On the other hand, they are colonising our minds, thoughts, impressions and even memories.

They are shaping our mentality even though we believe that we are the ones who build up our own identity.

They are shattering us through all means available and most remarkably through language.

We yearn to leave our countries and never come back. We want to live away, believing that we would have a much better life in faraway countries, thinking that the West treats people equally, without racial, gender or religious discrimination.

We glorify everything the West does and we blindly follow everything it says.

Do they know about our cultures as much as we know about theirs?

With our minds tied up and our mouths shut we nod our heads sagely to the Western masters who are accessing our main operating bases while we are absent minded and have no reasonable excuse for this surrender.

Our language is our main weapon, but unfortunately we are giving it up. Western values have invaded us mentally, physically, socially and psychologically. We have to take a clear stand against what is going on nowadays.

We have to use our mother tongue more often and be proud of everything we do and have: our culture and legacy.

Using some other language does not make us better. But abandoning our language will bring us down to our knees rather than lift us to a higher status.

Afaf Hammada,

Amman