Riyadh: The Union of News Agencies (UNA) of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), in partnership with the King Salman Global Academy for Arabic Language (KSGAAL), hosted a virtual seminar titled 'Standards of Arabic Language Usage in the News Agencies of the OIC Member States' on Tuesday. This event attracted extensive participation from representatives of OIC member states' news agencies and media professionals from different institutions.
According to Saudi Press Agency, UNA Director-General Mohammed bin Abd Rabbo Al-Yami highlighted the significance of standardizing Arabic language usage in news agencies as a strategy to preserve the Arabic language, a fundamental component of Islamic identity. He underscored the importance of refining and regulating language standards across member state news agencies.
Al-Yami acknowledged the intricate nature of standardizing Arabic in OIC member states due to challenges such as linguistic diversity, dialectal variations, differing language and editorial policies, and limited communication among member states. He emphasized UNA's commitment to tackling these challenges by monitoring Arabic usage in non-Arabic-speaking member states and documenting language-use issues.
He also noted that UNA aims to contribute to overcoming these obstacles by exploring solutions to enhance communication and standardization efforts among member states.