Re: Pakistanis are one step shy of learning Arabic
^ very true too! :-)
But not everyone can "program software, genetically modify DNA, engineer new materials etc." - for instance, the servants who work in an average home in a country like Pakistan do not, and most probably cannot, do all of this and neither learn Arabic. These poor people usually can't even learn Urdu (i.e. how to read) - they just know how to speak (and that also sometimes only Punjabi or an endemic language of their region) because they have been speaking it since their birth.
For the educated, I definitely agree with you. One should try to learn it. My only comment was that there may be people who cannot, for one reason or another, learn it and they should at least try to focus on translation and make sure that lack of language is not a reason to stay away from Quran - I think the end goal is the same!
Another thing to note is that there are two ways of learning Arabic for Quranic understanding. The first is to learn word-by-word meanings (i.e. lafzi tarjuma) - this is the quickest, and it makes a significant difference in understanding of the Quran during prayers and recitation. The second is to actually learn grammar and vocabulary and be able to decode sentences grammatically - this is relatively harder and time consuming (although everyone can try it).
This first approach of word-by-word translation is probably something that everyone (or at least every educated person) can try and they should succeed - if God wills.
Best Wishes!