Arabic is one of the oldest languages in the world, and it’s spoken by over 360 million people, including one-fifth of all Muslims. Today, Arabic is a key language for business because it has replaced French as the second-most popular language on the internet, making it even more important to think about localization than ever before. However, Arabic is much more than just another language: It’s a culture and way of life that can make or break your business if you aren’t careful about preparing for it ahead of time. Here are some tips for localizing your products in an Arab market:
1. There are different types of Arabic.
There are different types of Arabic. The language is spoken from Morocco to Oman and from Iraq to Sudan, but each region has its own dialects.
Arabic speaking countries in North Africa include Algeria, Libya, Egypt and Tunisia. South Asian countries include Bahrain, Jordan and Oman.
2. Arabic is not read from left to right.
Arabic is written from right to left, but in a vertical way.
When you think of Arabic text, you probably picture it as being written from left to right—like English or any other language. This isn’t actually the case though! Arabic is written from right to left, but vertically rather than horizontally (like European languages).
This is important to consider when writing Arabic because we need to make sure that text flows naturally and looks good on both screens and paper products alike.
3. Arabic is a gender-based language.
Arabic is a gender-based language. This means that every word in Arabic has a gender, which is not limited to masculine and feminine. In fact, you can apply the concepts of gender to objects as well as people. Arabic has three genders: masculine (واحد), feminine (إمرأة) and neuter (عدم).
In English, you can use pronouns (he/she) to indicate if something is masculine or feminine but in Arabic there are no linguistic markers for this purpose so authors must resort to other techniques such as using adjectives that imply masculinity such as نظيف (< clean) for men’s clothes instead of نظيفة (< cleanly).
4. Arabic letters have contextual forms.
Arabic letters can be connected to each other, meaning that a letter’s shape changes depending on where it is placed in a word and how it interacts with surrounding letters. For example, if you look at the letter ‘alif’ in isolation, it looks like this: ا
However, if we put this letter into a word (like “Alif”), its shape changes slightly to match how it relates to other characters at the beginning of words: ا
5. Arabic has alternate words for foreign terms.
You may have noticed that Arabic words for foreign terms can be different, depending on the context. For example, if you say “law” in English, it could mean either criminal law or civil law. The same goes for a word like “family” which can mean both your immediate relatives and more distant ones as well.
Arabic language has a rich vocabulary of foreign words that are translated into Arabic depending on the context and meaning needed by the translator. This gives Arab language speakers an advantage over others when dealing with international businesses who need their services.
6. Numbers are written differently depending on the context and position of the number in the text.
Arabic numbers are written from right to left, but there are also some exceptions. For example, numbers written on top of one another like dates and time are written from top to bottom and then from left to right. When writing out the number 021 (twenty-one), you’ll notice that it’s written as “يابعد” instead of the more common “تلومبيد” because the word for twenty-one starts with a “y”. When writing out larger numbers such as 998 (nine hundred ninety-eight), you’ll notice that it’s still written from right to left but with two dots over each number: ٤٧٨١٠
7. Dates are written differently depending on the region and the context
Dates are written differently depending on the region and context in which they appear, so it is best to use numbers instead of words for dates when possible. The Arabic word for “date” is عمرو, pronounced as umra. It can be used to refer to dates in general or specific types of dates, such as fresh dates or dried ones. In some places, like Kuwait and Bahrain (but not Saudi Arabia), you may find that people write the date using numbers instead of words; this is because the word for “year” (سنة) sounds like the same word as “old woman” (سيده).
Therefore it is best if you use numbers instead of words when writing a date out on paper or online if your audience will be mostly Arabic speakers who don’t know English well enough yet!
8. Telephone numbers should be formatted with a plus sign and parentheses
Telephone numbers should be formatted with a plus sign, parentheses around the country, and area codes, with a dash separating each grouping of three digits (e.g., +972 (2) 555-555-5555).
This is important because Arabic phone numbers consist of more than four digits, and you will want to make sure your customers don’t confuse them with other parts of their address or website URL.
Conclusion
Localization is essential to your business if you want to reach an Arab audience. It’s not just translation but also includes font choices and other cultural elements that make products appealing to your target market. You can’t just slap some Arabic words on an English website; you need someone who understands how language works in the Arab world and what will resonate with your target market.