Zawaya

Only take from the West what is useful to us

By: Monia Ferjani

The first article of the Declaration of Principles of International Cultural Co-operation states the following:
a. Each culture has a dignity and value which must be respected and preserved.
b. Every people has the right and the duty to develop its culture.
c. In their rich variety and diversity, and in the reciprocal influences they exert on one another, all cultures form part of the common heritage belonging to all mankind.

This article sheds light on the value of local cultures and their role in shaping a nation’s existence, and preparing it to engage in effective interculturalism and an active dialogue of civilizations. The preservation of local identity and culture does not necessarily mean introversion, which might lead to our retreat economically and socially. Openness towards the language, culture and civilization of the West has become a necessity under the context of globalization, for us not to remain frozen within a conventional system.

Kipling said once, “What know they of England who only England know?”. Knowledge, competition and marking one’s presence would only be complete by learning about other peoples, and language is perhaps the most prominent and crucial characteristic of these peoples. Therefore, teaching foreign languages has become imperative in order to train young people to become well-versed in science and modern technologies, and to enable our economies to compete and bypass the phase of subordination so that we don’t remain like a sponge which absorbs water from the outside and swells a bit, without ever turning into a fountain of living water.

The ancient Arabs were aware of this fact; that’s why they learned from different sources of knowledge and translated the languages of former and synchronizing civilizations. Therefore, they learned, discussed and practiced the sciences of Persians, Greeks, Indians, and ancient Egyptians. As a result, they developed chemistry, pharmacology, geography, and other sciences, they competed with neighboring nations in their industries, and they improved their trade, after living for centuries under the pastoral system in their isolated deserts. However, Arabs would not have had excelled back then in that competition had they not been a dominating nation; and despite all that, they weren’t successful in the protection of their mother culture from the invasion of intrusive cultures of which they learned the language, especially the Persians.

Today, under the new world order, the question to ask is: How do I learn foreign languages and open up to the experiences and sciences of other nations, in order to develop a competitive economy, without compromising my own local culture? How do I interact with the developed West so that I don’t sink in recession, while protecting my cultural identity from melting away? This is the equation that the Maghreb countries in particular, and Third World countries in general, are facing.

If training a workforce capable of competing is our economic objective, then let us strive to achieve it without compromising our local cultures, by refining the talents of creativity and initiative, rejecting dependency and imitation, and promoting production that’s parallel to mature and rational consumption, because not all what the West sends our way is in line with our cultural affiliation and heritage. Learning Western languages does not mean accepting Western values blindly.

Western people consider science to be sacred, deal with knowledge every day, monitor everything new, use time efficiently, and encourage scientific and industrial inventions since the early years of schooling, through school contest that develop the spirit of competition among students and train them to develop the economy of their countries when they grow up. Working professionals in the West do not stop learning in order to improve their performances, therefore training and retraining programs are continuous and encouraged with many incentives to open up scientific and professional prospects.

Economic values are ingrained in the West, like continuous learning about the experiences of other nations to exploit the best of them, protecting the national economy from all crises and by all possible means, encouraging local industry and allocating important budgets to publicize it through the media and new communication technologies. Since the world has become a global village, it is no wonder that Western industries invade the whole world and that their economies win the battle of competition.

These are some of the causes of progress that we should take into consideration while teaching foreign languages, and leaving out everything that would increase our cultural westernization and uprooting.