AURAK Celebrates Literacy Day

The American University of Ras Al Khaimah (AURAK) this week celebrated literacy day; an event organized by the Department of Languages and Literature.

Dr. Khaleda Al Mansoori, chair of the department, gave a presentation, speaking about the importance reading translated book, highlighting the ‘Translation Challenge’, an initiative launched by H. H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum which seeks volunteers across the Arab world to work together in translating online libraries of mathematics and scientific materials into Arabic.

She spoke about the importance of the role of translators throughout history, as their knowledge and work has helped bridge civilizations, cultures and generations, stressing her belief that participation in the ‘Translation Challenge’ would help to bring communities together in a way that enriches everyone.

As part of her talk, Dr. Khaleda also tried to provide some answers to the question, “Why don’t Arabs read?”. She provided statistics demonstrating that the level of reading is relatively lower in the MENA region, before engaging the audience and asking for their thoughts on the issue.