<div dir="ltr"><div class="entry-cover" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:top;background-image:initial;background-position:0px 0px;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:roboto,sans-serif;font-size:14px"><h2 class="entry-title" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:top;background:0px 0px;line-height:1.1;font-family:inherit;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:30px">Need to preserve Arabic language highlighted</h2><p class="gmail-time" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:top;background:0px 0px;line-height:21px"><span class="gmail-fa gmail-fa-clock-o" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:top;background:0px 0px;font-family:FontAwesome;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-stretch:normal;display:inline-block;line-height:inherit;font-size:inherit"></span>  21 Apr 2019 - 7:54</p><div class="gmail-img-post-box" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:top;background:0px 0px"><img src="https://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/uploads/2019/04/21/post_main_cover_fit//47cf8fc29c7c79055250d3ee1b9320a3194bd5d2.jpg" alt="Need to preserve Arabic language highlighted" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: middle; background: 0px 0px; max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><div class="gmail-photo-caption" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:5px 0px 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:top;background:0px 0px;width:636.656px;color:rgb(67,62,62)">H E Lolwah Rashid Alkhater speaks during an event at QNL yesterday. Pic: Abdul Basit / The Peninsula</div></div></div><div class="gmail-ads" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:10px 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:top;background-image:initial;background-position:0px 0px;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:roboto,sans-serif;font-size:14px;text-align:center"><div id="gmail-div-gpt-ad-9709047-4" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:top;background:0px 0px"><div id="gmail-google_ads_iframe_/21678336891/PENINSULA_DT_News/LB-BTF1_0__container__" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0pt none;outline:0px;vertical-align:top;background:0px 0px"></div></div></div><div class="entry-source" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:30px 0px 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:top;background-image:initial;background-position:0px 0px;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:roboto,sans-serif;font-size:14px"><h4 class="entry-title" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:top;background:0px 0px;line-height:1.1;font-family:inherit;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px">By Fazeena Saleem | The Peninsula</h4></div><div class="gmail-blog-content" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:20px 0px 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:top;background-image:initial;background-position:0px 0px;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:roboto,sans-serif;font-size:14px"><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 15px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:top;background:0px 0px;line-height:26px;font-size:16px;color:rgb(0,0,0);opacity:0.9;text-align:justify">Doha: The law introduced recently for the protection of the Arabic language has highlighted the responsibility Qatar has in preserving the language, said a senior official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, yesterday.  </p><div class="gmail-teads-inread" style="box-sizing:content-box;margin:0px 0px 15px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:top;background:0px 0px;overflow:hidden;height:406px;max-width:637px"><div style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:top;background:0px 0px"><div class="gmail-teads-ui-components-adchoices" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:1px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:top;background-position:100% 50%;background-size:15px 15px;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;background-color:initial;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial;font-size:11px;width:15px;height:15px;line-height:15px"></div><div class="gmail-teads-ui-components-label" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:top;background:0px 0px;color:rgb(170,170,170);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:11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 writers and publishers,” said Dr Sohair Wastawy, Executive Director of the Library. </p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 15px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:top;background:0px 0px;line-height:26px;font-size:16px;color:rgb(0,0,0);opacity:0.9;text-align:justify">“Another important focus area is to increase the range of Arabic content available on the web, and we do this through a process where we digitise and use optical character recognition methods to make the Arabic text accessible and searchable online. In this way, we are using our digital resources to facilitate a wider use and understanding of the language,” she added.  </p><p style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 15px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;vertical-align:top;background:0px 0px;line-height:26px;font-size:16px;color:rgb(0,0,0);opacity:0.9;text-align:justify">The vital task of protecting the role of the Arabic language in Qatar’s educational, cultural, economic, and media sectors began with an initiative launched by H H Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation, in 2013, which established the World Organisation for the Renaissance of Arabic Language. The law is a continuation of those efforts to raise awareness of the importance of Arabic as a national language.</p></div><div><br></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies                     <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone:  (215) 898-7475<br>Fax:  (215) 573-2138                                      <br><br>Email:  <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a>    <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div></div>