RIYADH: In Saudi Arabia’s increasingly globalized society, especially among young people in major cities, there is an easy blending of languages, often switching between Arabic and English in the same conversation.
This phenomenon, known as code-switching, has become a linguistic norm that reflects shifting social dynamics, culture and identity.
A 2024 study conducted by Kais Sultan Mousa Alowidha at Jouf University found that bilingual Saudis often switch between Arabic and English depending on the context, particularly in casual or professional settings.
The blending of languages can be seen not as a dilution of heritage, but a reflection of its outward-looking generation. (Supplied)
Saudi students who have studied or grown up abroad find themselves flipping between languages almost unconsciously.
Abdullah Almuayyad, a Saudi senior at the University of Washington, Seattle, who has spent more than half his life in the US, spoke to Arab News about his experiences with both languages.
“Comfort really depends on context,” he said. “Day-to-day I’m equally at ease in either language, but the setting matters.”
HIGHLIGHTS
• The King Salman Global Academy for Arabic Language in Riyadh has launched several initiatives to strengthen Arabic fluency, both for native speakers and non-native learners.
• A 2024 study from Jouf University found that bilingual Saudis often switch between Arabic and English depending on the context, particularly in casual or professional settings.
In business settings, he defaults to English because of his education and professional exposure, but casual or family settings feel more natural in Arabic.
“Sometimes my friends tease me because I’ll begin a sentence in Arabic, hit a complex business concept, and flip to English mid-stream.”
This mental switching, he explained, is often tied to topic-specific language associations.
Some topics are assigned to a specific language in his brain. “Once the topic surfaces, the corresponding language follows automatically.”
At an institutional level, efforts to preserve and promote Arabic are gaining traction in Saudi Arabia.
The King Salman Global Academy for Arabic Language in Riyadh has launched several initiatives to strengthen Arabic fluency, both for native speakers and non-native learners.
Through academic partnerships, digital tools, and training programs, the academy is playing a key role in ensuring Arabic remains a vibrant and accessible language.
The institute reflects a broader national push to reinforce cultural identity amid the linguistic shifts brought on by globalization.
Majd Tohme, senior linguist at SURV Linguistics in Riyadh, told Arab News that code-switching is “a very multi-dimensional issue.”
He emphasized that the debate should not hinge on whether code-switching is good or bad.
“What we need to ask ourselves is, does code-switching work in the everyday context? And if it works, isn’t that the purpose of any linguistic pattern?”
He added that language purism might miss the point entirely.
“You don’t have to get involved in that language puritanism … and code-switching is not really something new. Languages are living organisms that evolve,” he explained.
Many words we consider native today, he noted, have foreign origins, such as from Persian or European languages, particularly in science and technology.
Still, there are concerns about the erosion of Arabic. Tohme acknowledged the threat but said it is not exclusive to Arabic.
“It is a threat to all languages,” he said, especially in the era of globalized communication where the internet has become a shared space dominated by English.
“You now have one internet that the world is sharing,” he explained. “It’s like one huge playground where you have 8 billion people trying to communicate with each other.”
And yet, there are signs of balance.
Almuayyad, for instance, actively challenges himself and his peers to preserve Arabic fluency.
“In eighth grade, even though my friends and I preferred English, we agreed to speak only Arabic until it felt natural,” he said. “Later, when my Arabic caught up, I switched and spoke only English with friends who wanted practice.”
For many, especially in Saudi Arabia’s larger cities, bilingualism no longer means choosing between one language over the other.
The constant nudge to challenge each other keeps both languages active and growing.
The Jouf University study found that bilingual Saudis strongly identify with both languages and do not believe that speaking English negates their cultural identity.
It also concluded that code-switching is often required in larger cities due to the abundance of non-Arabic speakers in public and professional environments.
Therefore, code-switching, especially in the Kingdom, appears to be less about identity loss and more about functionality.
As Saudi Arabia opens up globally and embraces multiculturalism under Vision 2030, this blending of languages could be seen not as a dilution of heritage, but a reflection of its outward-looking generation.
According to Tohme, the psychological impact of going abroad for a few years then returning to your home country also cannot be understated.
Students develop a certain nostalgia for home while spending so many years abroad speaking extensively in a foreign language. They may develop the determination to make a conscious effort to strengthen their Arabic-language skills again.
Almuayyad is someone who can relate to that and says if he had spent his whole life in the Kingdom, his language development might not have been that different.
“I see a lot of people in Saudi who use English freely because global media and online content are so dominant,” he explained.
Yet, he admits that growing up in one place can limit the push to step outside of your linguistic comfort zone. “My exposure to two cultures forced me to practice that stretch constantly.”
