Do you say "Hello" or "Marhaba" when you go to the office every day? More and more people in Dubai have to say both.
The language of world business is changing every day, as we saw earlier this week when French president Jacques Chirac walk out of an EU summit furious when he heard a fellow Frenchman make a speech in English.
The question needs to be asked: what is the main language of business here in Dubai?
"In Dubai, English is mostly used as the general language of business. However when it comes to dealing with the government or the public sector it is always useful to have some knowledge of Arabic," says Anis al Souh, manager of Averda Gulf, a venture capital investment company based in Dubai.
"When you are setting up companies in Dubai as we generally do, at some point you will need someone who speaks and reads Arabic quite well.
For example if you want to rent out a warehouse, the land department maps and records for the property are all in Arabic. If you wish to set up a manufacturing facility the business plan needs to be in Arabic."
Viji Raju has been a receptionist in Dubai for the past number of years now working for a media company she says that while she uses mainly English with her co-workers she speaks Hindi to 90 per cent of the people who come to her reception every day.
"Most of the workers who are coming here working for different companies they speak Hindi. Even the Sri Lankan guys who come to Dubai they learn Hindi before they learn English.
I also have worked for Emirati people who spoke fluent Hindi but little English." Workers from the Indian subcontinent make up almost 36 per cent of expatriate labour in the GCC.
The language barrier seems to be in effect in many areas. "We at Al Futtaim group use English as a matter of course though of course Arabic speakers are a necessary part of the team," said Candice Deruz of Gmesco, a part of Al Futtaim Group who represent Honda and Ikea as a part of the Group interests in the UAE.
"We need to use both languages and have specialised teams in both. However English is the main working language within the group," said Deruz. The IT Industry has similar barriers. "When I speak to new clients, I tend to assure them of my ability to speak both English and Arabic.
Then I leave it to the audience to drive it from there," says Ghassan Dhari, Industry Manager with SAP Arabia. "Certainly when dealing with the public sector or government Arabic is always the language of choice.
However elsewhere we use English in order to involve the non-Arab participants. Some people express themselves more openly in their mother tongue."said Dhari.In this city it seems two languages are always better than one.
© 7Days 2006
