Good news for devotees of the Arabic language: Don't be discouraged, you are not alone. An ally has arisen in the north: the president of Syria. In his recent inauguration speech for a second term, he portrayed the spread of foreign words as a national enemy. He outlined "instructions" designed to prevent the deterioration of the Arabic language's status in advertisements, the media and education. He also demanded assistance for Arabic, to allow it to become more advanced "so that it can be integrated with scientific and cognitive development."

Syria is an orderly country. The president speaks and the prime minister acts on it. The latter ordered regional governors to conduct a system of "Arabization," which mainly consists of removing signs from businesses that bear non-Arabic names - concepts and brand names that became so popular in the 1990s as globalization penetrated Syria. The governors received orders to replace these with Arabic writing, with the non-Arabic names appearing below in tiny letters.

In advertisements, pure literary Arabic must be used, without using expressions from the colloquial language, which is a "murky and inferior version." Whenever any doubt arises about a translation from a foreign language, the Academy for Arabic's directives should be followed. The Academy, of course, is in Damascus, "the beating heart of Arabism."