Learning Arabic as a Second Language and its Importance in Nigeria
Keywords:
Islamic religion, Second Language, Arabic LanguageAbstract
It is the belief of some Nigerians, especially the Christians that Arabic Language
belongs to the Islamic religion alone, and whoever learns it is believed to be a
Muslim. Documents written in Arabic, irrespective of the writer's faith or religion,
the contents and subject matters are termed Islamic. Hence, the apprehension
they have for it. However, the reason behind this perception is multi-faceted.
Most glaring and conspicuous among them are: (a) Biased mind and wrong
impression they have about Islam, and (b) Majority of Arabic learners in their
environments are Muslims, hence the negative attitude they have for the language.
This paper seeks to erase these negative perception and prejudices, highlights
the need to learn Arabic language as a second language and re-examine its
importance to our contemporary society. It is observed that Arabic as a living
language has served as a source of sciences as noted that some words in Arabic
still remain in the books of Science and Mathematics. Therefore, it is recommended
among others the government should put more efforts in removing the barriers to
study this language and to make it compulsory at the primary and secondary
school levels in the school curriculum.
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