The University Celebrates World Arabic Language Day and Organizes a Dialogue Seminar on Electronic Linguistic Dictionaries

Under the patronage and presence of Her Excellency President of SEU, Prof. Lilak A. Alsafadi, the University organized a scientific dialogue seminar entitled: "Electronic dictionaries: Towards a new Horizon", on the International Day of the Arabic Language 2020. It was remotely via CISCO WebEx, in the presence of a group of specialists, armatures, and University officials.

Her Excellency Prof. Alsafadi delivered a speech in which she reviewed the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's interest in the Arabic language, spreading it and strengthening its presence at all levels and events since it has a crucial Arabic and Islamic role. She indicated that languages are not only tools for communication, but rather are the basis of culture's identity and vessels.

Prof. Alsafadi confirmed that the celebration of the International Day of the Arabic Language is in line with the University's mission of providing distinctive e-education that serves the Arabic language, provides human knowledge communication, and extends dialogue bridges between different cultures and civilizations, in accordance with the Kingdom's 2030 vision.

She said the Saudi Electronic University provides the Arabic online program to teach the language to non-native speakers and the standard Arabic test to measure language proficiency. As, these two critical achievements have been established upon the latest global best practices in this field, taking into account the particularity of the Arabic language.

She added that the Saudi Electronic University is pleased to announce a competition entitled: Development of specialized digital dictionaries. It aims to encourage young people, discover talents and support creativity in employing modern technologies and AI to serve the Arabic language. And those interested can visit the competition page on the University's website and see the competition details.

In conclusion, the President of SEU, Prof. Lilak Alsafadi, thanked and appreciated the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques for his constant interest in serving the Arabic language and his endless support for all projects that serve it locally and spread it globally. She also thanked His Excellency the Minister of Education for the support and assistance the University obtains.

The attendees watched a presentation about the two programs, the Arabic online program, and the standard Arabic test, and reviewed the University's experience in serving Arabic online.

Afterward, Head of the Department of Arabic Language for Non-Native Speakers, Prof. Abdul mohsen S. Alaqilan moderated an open seminar entitled "Electronic Linguistic Dictionaries: Toward a New Horizon", in which Dr. Mustafa Jarrar, Professor of AI and Language Computing at Birzeit University in Palestine, Dr. Almoataz Billah Alsaeed, Associate Professor of Linguistics and Significance at Cairo University, and Professor Reem Alfraih, Researcher in Computational Linguistics at Princess Noura Bint Abdulrahman University, participated.

In the end, the door opened for attendees to interventions, discussions, and comments.