GUWAHATI, May 5: “The world has become a global village owing to fast communication. This communication has led to language and cultural exchanges that have resulted in mutual understanding, tolerance, peace, brotherhood and integration.”
This was stated by Dr Eassa Ali Mohammed Ali, Department of Translation, College of Languages, Sana’a University, Yemen, while speaking at an international conference on “Arabic Language and Literature: Learning, Teaching and Translation” at the University of Science and Technology Meghalaya (USTM) on Friday.
The conference, organised by USTM in collaboration with Assam University, Silchar, was chaired by Mohammed Basheer K, head of the Department of Arabic, Assam University, Silchar.
The guests of honour in the inaugural session were Fatma Rashed Salem Al Maamari, head of the Cultural Relations, Sultan Qaboos Higher Centre for Culture and Science, Oman and Eassa Ali Mohammed Ali.
Addressing the inaugural session, Eassa Ali Mohammed Ali said intercultural communication was important to avoid conflict caused by diversity at different levels.
“Intercultural communication is essential in the current era as it makes us, as individuals and groups, understand the importance of peaceful coexistence and appreciate other people’s cultures, practices, habits, beliefs and so on. In this multilingual and multicultural universe, we have easily formed, fostered and improved relationships with each other,” he added.
In the subsequent session, four presentations on learning, teaching and translation of language and literature were made by the resource persons.
Fatma Rashed Salem Al Maamari made an interesting presentation on the “Importance of Language and Culture in a Global Perspective”. This was followed by another insightful presentation by Eassa Ali Mohammed Ali on “Integrity and Brotherhood through Language and Cultural Exchange”.
Abbas KP, assistant professor, Farook College, Kerala, made a presentation on the topic “Unique Attributes of Arabic Language”, while Ubaidur Rahman, a research scholar at Aliah University, Kolkata, made a presentation on “Language as a Bridge for Literary Enrichment”.
An engaging interactive session with the students and faculty members of USTM was also held after the presentations.
Earlier, the conference began with the felicitation of guests and resource persons followed by a welcome address by USTM vice-chancellor G.D Sharma.