Why Need a New Alphabet? Today, even though most countries use the Latin alphabet, there are some who still use different
alphabets, such as the Arabic, Cyrillic, Hebrew, Greek, and Georgian alphabets. Can all nations use
the same alphabet? How can they choose which alphabet to use? Answers to these questions are as
follows: Historical and Cultural Reasons Nations in this group adopted or developed their alphabets a long time ago and have been using
them ever since. Over time, they modified these alphabets according to their own language needs.
These nations believe that their alphabets are the best, at least for their own languages. They also
believe that their alphabets are part of their heritage. Since they see their alphabets as trademarks of
their languages and nations, they do not want to change them even though they experience some
technical difficulties. We can put Arabic, Hebrew, Greek and Georgian alphabets in this category.
Political Constrains
In the past or even today, some nations exist as mandates of or as minorities in another nation.
Imperial states dictate an alphabet to their mandates or minority nations. In history, Arab States,
USSR, and today the Chinese government, dictate their alphabets. Therefore, some countries
located in the Middle East and North Africa still use the Arabic alphabet, while those in the former
USSR territory use the Cyrillic alphabet.