The necessity and implications of Business Arabic : A pedagogical approach to Bengali learners

Abstract

Arabic is one of the widely spoken languages in the world. There are two hundred and sixty million people who use this language as their mother tongue. This language, particularly the classical version, is very sacred and respectable to the Muslims as it is closely related to the revealed knowledge of the Holy Quran and Hadith. In addition to this religious value, this language has a great economic value too, since it is spoken throughout the Middle East, the most mineral-rich-region in the world. Because of this prospect Arabic is considered one of the most popular foreign languages in the world even in some countries where Islam is not major religion e.g. the USA, China, India and so on. It is apparent that the reason behind this popularity associated with economics not with religious matter. Although, English language considered as a Lingua Franca in international business, but currently many courtiers communicate with Arab through Arabic language to make their business communication more successful and effective. In this dissertation the researcher tried to demonstrate the importance and necessity of Business Arabic in the context of Bangladesh from different aspects. He showed how different business sectors for instance ready-made garments, tourism, outsourcing, manpower etc. can reach to a new level by using Business Arabic. As a background study this paper discussed about the chronological development of Business Arabic through different stages. Since. this is a study of language, which is ultimately a medium of communication, so the researcher explained elaborately how to make cross-cultural communication more fruitful and how to deal with Arab businessmen professionally avoiding cross-cultural misinterpretation. Finally, a precise pedagogical approach to teach Business Arabic to Bengali learners has been presented by following current trends in Applied Linguistics.