On February 21, 2013, The Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK) celebrated International Mother Language Day, promoted by UNESCO, in a conference organized by the Faculty of Letters entitled “Information and Communication Technology to Preserve Linguistic Diversity”.

The conference started with the Lebanese national anthem followed by a welcome speech given by Dr. Marianne Njeim, in which she underlined the primordial importance of information and communication technologies as channels of linguistic identities, under particular threat, and as a privileged space for interlingual and intercultural dialogue.

The Vice-Rector of USEK and Dean of the Faculty of Letters, Rev. Fr. and Prof. Karam Rizk took the floor and stressed the necessity of trilingual linguistic competence as a source of perfection: “You build your future and we provide you with the necessary human resources and technological facilities.” He concluded by thanking the conference organizers and the teachers, from different Lebanese and French universities, that had attended the event.

At the beginning of the first session, Prof. Tanios Njeim highlighted the challenges inherent to the Lebanese dialectal language and proposed efficient solutions to meet them. For his part, Dr. Salam Diab Duranton, from Paris 8 University, stressed the importance of “…safeguarding and protecting the Arabic language as well as its spread and promotion within Arabic societies and Arabic-speaking communities established abroad” in the context of the worldwide technological evolution.

Next, Dr. Andre Affeich approached the theme of digital Arabic content by describing the concept, facts and needs of the Arab world in this field. Dr. Nadim Zakhem then addressed the role of the mother tongue in promoting interpretation. The last speech in the first session was given by Dr. Joseph Khalil on cultural diversity. Dr. Khalil considered that, without this diversity, “…men [and women] would be different; if anything, they won’t be the same”.

At the opening of the second session, Dr. Talal Wehbe, in his speech on the linguistic term, situated the preservation and promotion of cultural diversity in the context of scientific research characterized by the use of terminology and technology. Dr. Rosie Ghannage addressed the role that technology must play in teaching, in order to accompany the current evolution of blended learning. Then, Dr. Rabia Abi Fadel introduced the theory of Ibrahim Al Yazigi and its application to biblical texts, while indicating that this kind of translation required not only a linguistic culture but inspiration too. Next, Dr. Youssef Eid discussed the mother tongue in Sufi poetry, assuming the mother tongue as an unconscious and spontaneous human mean of expression.

In conclusion, Dr. Joseph Chraim put an end to the existing controversy concerning the real nature of the Lebanese mother language, by stating that “…our mother language consists both of the literary and dialectal Arabic; this, undeniably, strengthens and enriches the Arabic language and its native speakers.”