Arabic is one of the six official languages used in United Nations and 26 countries of North Africa and Middle East. It is expected that Indonesian people, particularly academicians of Universitas Muahammadiyah Yogyakarta (UMY), are willing to learn Arabic besides learning English since both are international languages. Arabic language learning methods are also necessary so that the learners can speak as Arabic native speakers.
The aforementioned paragraph was uttered by Nanang Joko, M.Pd. when delivering remark in a Arabic Methodology Training for non-Arabic native speakers on Monday (24/8) at A.R. Fachruddin A, Floor 5, UMY. The Arabic language training would be conducted on 24-26 August, and was attended by 100 lecturers and teachers from several countries like Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore Malaysia, and Brunei Darussalam. Besides, one of the trainers was a lecturer and a trainer of Arabic from King Saud University, Saudi Arabia.
In his remark, Nanang conveyed that the training also aimed at promoting Arabic Education Department (PBA) of UMY to go to World Class University that the language was one of the foreign languages employed at UMY. “The Arabian trainer is invited to display that the language is one of the important foreign languages. Going to World Class University, the language turns into one of the significances,” he asserted.
Furthermore, Dr. Ir. Gunawan Budiyanto, M.Pd. also informed that the Arabic Education Department is the only department under Ministry of Research and Technology (Kemenristek) and Directorate General of Higher Education (DIKTI). “Thus, this department will be one of the vital aspects of UMY for going to World Class University and Arabic is one of the international languages besides English and Mandarin so that it is necessary to be learned,” he contended.
Dr. Gunawan expected that the training participants can learn the Arabic speaking methods well so that they can speak as Arabic Native speakers. He also wished that Arabic can be one of the strengths of UMY to confront ASEAN Economic Community (AEC).
