22 Apr 2017

Boosting Arabic online

From This Way Up, 12:25 pm on 22 April 2017
Ali Mazraeh, Yousuf Ahmad and Rochelle Stewart-Allen of ADRI- the Arabic Digital Reform Institute

Ali Mazraeh, Yousuf Ahmad and Rochelle Stewart-Allen of ADRI- the Arabic Digital Reform Institute Photo: (Simon Morton)

More than 300 million people around the world speak Arabic, making it the world's sixth most spoken language.

It's the official language of the 22 countries which form the Arab League including Algeria, Iraq, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and it's widely spoken throughout North Africa and the Middle East.

But Arabic is a badly under-represented language online – and that poses problems for people studying and teaching in many parts of the world.

Now a local project wants New Zealand to become a 'digital Switzerland' and create a platform to make Arabic materials easier for students and teachers to find, to access, and to share. 

This Way Up chats with Ali Mazraeh, Rochelle Stewart-Allen and Yousuf Ahmad – the team from the Arabic Digital Reform Institute (ADRI).