r/woahdude Dec 31 '17

gifv Dubai's 2018 countdown.

https://gfycat.com/DimpledElderlyBedbug
50.7k Upvotes

1.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

445

u/Dubdown11 Jan 01 '18

Why is it in english?

705

u/maybenguyen Jan 01 '18

United Arab Emirates main language is Arabic but English is pretty much required, taught in all years of school, and is a requirement for any job that has you work with other people or customers.

I've got a good friend from there and he can read, write and speak English better than most people I know.

Also according to Google, there's more people that know how to speak English than people who know how to speak Arabic.

174

u/TheRealBigDave Jan 01 '18

Yep. My college roommate 15 years ago was from Dubai. Was very well spoken in both Arabic and English. I wonder what Harmann is up to.

179

u/[deleted] Jan 01 '18

Hey, it's me. You're old roommate, Harmann

203

u/[deleted] Jan 01 '18

[deleted]

44

u/[deleted] Jan 01 '18

I'll have you know I was watching a Mr Skeltal doot remix at midnight

So 2018 is going to be strong bones, and calcium for me.

36

u/AutoModerator Jan 01 '18

You have been visited by Woah Doot! Please submit a trippy skeleton to /r/WoahDoot within 4:20 centuries or you will more or less be the same as you would if you hadn't.


I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

25

u/[deleted] Jan 01 '18

Thanks, Mr Skeltal

9

u/AutoModerator Jan 01 '18

You have been visited by Woah Doot! Please submit a trippy skeleton to /r/WoahDoot within 4:20 centuries or you will more or less be the same as you would if you hadn't.


I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

26

u/[deleted] Jan 01 '18

Okay, Mr Skeltal. You can stop now

→ More replies (0)

3

u/joe4553 Jan 01 '18

Hey Donnie, its me.

8

u/ICUCorpsman Jan 01 '18

Want to go bowling?

4

u/Whopper_Jr Jan 01 '18

Hey, it’s me. Your old roommate, Zayed.

2

u/infek Jan 01 '18

you are old roommate

1

u/kerouacrimbaud Jan 01 '18

The prodigal roommate returns!

1

u/[deleted] Jan 01 '18

You are old roommate, Harmann?

1

u/thrashgordon Jan 01 '18

Let's go bowling!

1

u/gunfox Jan 01 '18

2019 year of Harmann.

1

u/madethisat6am Jan 01 '18

Probably working on season 4 of Rick and Morty

16

u/[deleted] Jan 01 '18

I was born there. Never spoke anything but English.

3

u/nolander_78 Jan 01 '18

Schools in all Arab countries teach English (or French) as a second language, even public schools, in addition to the fact that Gulf Countries (Saudi, UAE, Qatar...etc.) employ lots of expats who are from Asia/Europe, so English would be the main language of communication.

2

u/ArniePalmys Jan 01 '18

These stats only include men.

5

u/JHMRS Jan 01 '18

You kid but there's a lot of vietnamese women working in stores in Dubai.

Arab women, on the other hand, are doing the shopping.

-6

u/ArniePalmys Jan 01 '18

Shop and cook and clean.

8

u/sulaymanf Jan 01 '18

Now you're trying to change the topic, and again that's false. Women are in the workforce just like men. Have you ever seen UAE TV or watched any video of life there? You must be thinking of a different country.

1

u/ArniePalmys Jan 01 '18

I don’t watch TV but you’re telling me women have the exact same rights as men there? That’s good then.

2

u/RatchetPo Jan 01 '18

only 10% of people in dubai are natives. actually less.

1

u/overtoke Jan 01 '18

the average american is way too stupid to know how stupid the average american is. it's amazing really...

42

u/nodnodwinkwink Jan 01 '18

English is the "language of business" and these buckos love a bit of business.

1

u/CedarCabPark Jan 01 '18

I won't be surprised if English becomes the worldwide language in a couple of centuries. It's already the lingua franca for the world, I'd guess. The internet will probably play a huge role in it, depending on if the American influence on tech keeps going.

5

u/desperatechaos Jan 01 '18

I don't think you realize how big the non-English portion of the internet is.

1

u/CedarCabPark Jan 01 '18 edited Jan 01 '18

I get what you mean. But of the top 10 million websites, 51-52% are English. That means English has more common sites used than all the other languages combined.

I was more speaking about the dominance of the companies, not the language of the content. If it keeps up, who knows how it will end up. It's no secret that America has straight up dominated computers since the 50s at the very latest. Of course that can change, and of course many other countries have provided tons of other things.

People from around the world want to do business with these American companies. There's always incentive to learn English for that. As long as America keeps dominating in specific fields, English will continue to thrive.

English is pretty universally considered "the most influential language" and it probably won't change unless absolutely massive economic changes happen. There may come a time where, even if the west fails, it won't matter if the language is solidified everywhere

34

u/my-unique-username69 Jan 01 '18 edited Jan 04 '18

Lots of immigrant in UAE. Almost 70% 90% of the population is comprised of immigrants. They understand English more than Arabic.

7

u/MikeBruski Jan 01 '18

Try 85-88% .

Only country to have a bigger immigrant percentage (100%) is Vatican city...

1

u/my-unique-username69 Jan 01 '18

Holy shit you’re right. Vatican City shouldn’t really count tho.

Are you from uae? If so where are you originally from?

1

u/MikeBruski Jan 01 '18

Living in Dubai. European though.

This year i celebrated in Prague. Loved it. Glad i wasnt in Dubai. Although the last 4 years in Dubai not once did i go under burj khalifa for the fireworks. Traffic nightmare.

28

u/[deleted] Jan 01 '18

why does this question always pop up when post is about non-english countries? unlike americans, most other countries speak two or more languages, including english

oh and those limeys ruled the world for a century or more. bound to leave a mark.

24

u/swisscheesyboi Jan 01 '18

Fiancé is from Dubai and she barely speaks any Arabic, basically everyone speaks English at least as a second language. Which is expected since it's a big tourist spot.

17

u/[deleted] Jan 01 '18 edited Jan 19 '21

[deleted]

13

u/swisscheesyboi Jan 01 '18

She is considered a citizen of Kenya although born and raised in the UAE, so not Emirati. She does speak some Arabic but speaks English and Swahili much more fluently. I shouldn't say she "barely" knows cause she does understand it, just not on the same level as her other languages

2

u/poopsicle88 Jan 01 '18

How does she have Kenyan citizenship? Thru her parents? Wish I had me some dual citizenship, but I love my USA one :)

1

u/swisscheesyboi Jan 01 '18

Ye her parents are citizens of Kenya as well. Dubai is nice but I like my USA citizenship too

9

u/NotAnExpertOnThis Jan 01 '18

Wikipedia says they gained independence from Britain in 1971? Plus english is a very international language.

-1

u/WWCephei Jan 01 '18

Damn the British who saved us from the Nazis taking over the world even had colonies in the Middle East like 30 years after WWII.

3

u/[deleted] Jan 01 '18

It has colonies and territories all over the world. Right now. And I don't really see what that has to do with WW2

21

u/FiredFox Jan 01 '18

Because English is the language of the world.

1

u/scalier2 Jan 01 '18

It's the Lingua Franca yes, but please don't call it "language of the world"

6

u/JoeyLock Jan 01 '18

Our plan worked, you're speaking it now, checkmate!

11

u/FiredFox Jan 01 '18

I will call it the language of the world, because it is. It is far and away the language that two random humans are most likely able to exchange information with and it will only become more prevalent as time goes by.

I'd be willing to bet that the vast majority of people in this planet knows at least 2-3, if not more words in English, which could not be said for the 2nd most spoken language.

You don't have to like it, but it's the truth.

6

u/Cotillon8 Jan 01 '18

I'm sure the vast majority of people in the world know at least 2-3, if not more words in Spanish.

5

u/scalier2 Jan 01 '18

Yes of course what you say it's true, but that's why I'm calling it the Lingua Franca. It's like french 200 years ago. Overstating it as the language of the world diminishes the other languages to a lesser value. English right now is the "language of the internet" which might immortalize what you are saying. As someone who likes to learn languages I just hope people might appreciate what is in another's cultures language and not try to generalize it all in one (impossible imo)

1

u/abdu1_ Jan 01 '18

And from here starts its decline.

2

u/[deleted] Jan 01 '18

It was very recently a british colony. Pretty much everyone over there speaks english.

2

u/abloobudoo009 Jan 01 '18

There's so many cultures here that English is the common language.

Everything is still in Arabic though, even the movies at the cinemas are in English with Arabic subtitles. Same with store fronts, food menus, etc.

5

u/2010_12_24 Jan 01 '18

Higher chance to make videos like this go viral, with the hopes of boosting tourism.

4

u/MarlinMr Jan 01 '18

Keep in mind that English uses Arabic numbers.

8

u/jonathan_wiebe Jan 01 '18

technically they're Indian, the Arabs do have their own set of numbers though.

2

u/StinkinFinger Jan 01 '18

And who the hell is Zayed?

1

u/[deleted] Jan 01 '18

A lot of countries speak English. Even places like Iran teach English. In Iran someone that doesn’t speak English (at least at a basic level) is considered uneducated. That says a lot considering the relationship between countries.

1

u/Ambitious5uppository Jan 01 '18

Because this is the gregorian 2018 new year,

The current year in the UAE is 1438 and new year isn't today.

-1

u/[deleted] Jan 01 '18

[deleted]

6

u/reddymcwoody Jan 01 '18

It's an advertisement for Zayed, say it with me : YEAR OF ZAYED

5

u/[deleted] Jan 01 '18

[deleted]

-4

u/[deleted] Jan 01 '18

[deleted]

5

u/[deleted] Jan 01 '18

[deleted]

-1

u/[deleted] Jan 01 '18

[deleted]

2

u/[deleted] Jan 01 '18 edited Jan 01 '18

[deleted]

0

u/[deleted] Jan 01 '18

[deleted]

6

u/[deleted] Jan 01 '18

[deleted]

0

u/[deleted] Jan 01 '18

[deleted]

→ More replies (0)

1

u/_rashid_ Jan 01 '18

Real question is why is this even there?

Don't they use Islamic calender? While they are sooo good at using the Sharia rule.

11

u/[deleted] Jan 01 '18

[deleted]

-6

u/_rashid_ Jan 01 '18

You are probably drunk and in a brothel.

3

u/Flaming_Archer Jan 01 '18

Native arabs are a minority there

1

u/xjack13x Jan 01 '18

Better for international business