Do you think Arabic will ever become an important global language in the future?

[Jeremy_phillips]

Is it worth studying, do you reckon?

Edited August 4, 2017 by Jeremy_phillips

[Endy0816]

Not likely based on population sizes and growth.

[imatfaal]

On 04/08/2017 at 10:37 AM, Endy0816 said:

Not likely based on population sizes and growth.

Agree on that.  But from a purely mercenary viewpoint it might be worth learning.  I was offered a 7 figure salary to work in one of the Gulf states - in my industry English is used almost exclusively so I wouldn't have needed to be able to already speak Arabic (expected to learn eventually).  However in many other industries you can change your salary by an order of magnitude by working in the Gulf - but you need good Arabic (and to tick other boxes too).  I value my way of life too highly to move to a brutal dictatorship - but many others value the ability to provide a much more affluent lifestyle for themselves and family as more important..

[Endy0816]

8 hours ago, imatfaal said:

Agree on that.  But from a purely mercenary viewpoint it might be worth learning.  I was offered a 7 figure salary to work in one of the Gulf states - in my industry English is used almost exclusively so I wouldn't have needed to be able to already speak Arabic (expected to learn eventually).  However in many other industries you can change your salary by an order of magnitude by working in the Gulf - but you need good Arabic (and to tick other boxes too).  I value my way of life too highly to move to a brutal dictatorship - but many others value the ability to provide a much more affluent lifestyle for themselves and family as more important..

That's a good point. Spanish is like that locally, though also a language I'd encourage any children of mine to learn which is what really helps a language spread.

A number of countries have a poor track record over there. Some of our(US) "allies" sadly being among the worst. Very grateful I never ended up deployed to that region.

Edited August 6, 2017 by Endy0816