[616c]

> I'll play devils advocate here. Their solution is too complex and tries to fix a non-problem.

I'd say you are on the wrong side. All Arabs continue to write in Arabizi. I have lived in this region for years, as a non-native speaker. When I first arrived as a student for my first rodeo in 2006, I once wrote SMS in Arabic letters. That Egyptian kid later asked why I would do that. He was terrified it was a plant or a trap or something, that is how rare it was then.

However, I will give you a point. None that we are moving beyond basic SMS encodings and the limit of standard cell phones and on to Unicode and emoji-rich smart phones, WhatsApp and others have enabled a renaissance in Arabic writing amongst some.

But many continue to write to me in English characters. And re your point learning in one day: the reading is fun, the writing on a keyboard for a society where Arabic literacy (not English, mind you) is largely de-emphasized and many cannot read/write formal Arabic, the desire for Arabizi hides deficienies people would not rather admit.