Arabic is the native language for almost 30 countries worldwide, is spoken by more than 400 million people, is one of 7 official languages of the United Nations, and is becoming pivotal for world-class business, finance and technology.
Countries such as, Dubai, are attracting investors from around the globe due their advances in sectors as diverse as tourism, AI, and banking, so creating a website for an Arabic audience is fast becoming unavoidable if you wish to participate in global business growth.
However, encouraging online sales and boosting your web presence within an Arabic marketplace is only likely to be successful if a professional translation and localisation is applied to the Arabic version of your website.
Customers don’t want to struggle to read grammatically incorrect web content or erroneous social media posts, and they are far less likely to purchase from a site that doesn’t offer local currency options or that displays images inappropriate to the predominant culture.
So, if you are considering creating an Arabic website for your company, the following points will highlight why professional translation and localisation is the best option.
The Arabic Language
The Arabic language covers an area of over 5000 miles where every individual speaks predominantly Arabic, or an Arabic dialect.
As you would imagine with a distance of this size, there are variations in language depending upon region, so using a professional translation team to translate and localise your website is vital in order to target your audience correctly and offer appropriate language and contextual information.
While Modern Standard Arabic is universally understood by all Arabic speakers, it doesn’t account for regional dialects and difference in culture – both of which can alter from region to region.
Arabic is also the liturgical language for more than 1.5 billion Muslims around the world.
Why Translate your Website into Arabic?
We have already briefly looked at the use of the Arabic language around the world, but Arabic has also influenced many other languages including Spanish, Bosnian, Portuguese, Kurdish, and even English.
Creating an Arabic version of your site will open the door to over 400 million speakers around the world including regions such as, North Africa, United Arab Emirates, the Middle East, and also several independent nations where Arabic is officially recognised in the constitution and has a special status.
The following points highlight the need for a professional Arabic translation of your website:
• Arabic is the fastest developing language on social media sites and is the fourth most used language online.
• Countries such as the UAE dominate the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in terms of technology, finance and business. Dubai is hosting Expo 2020 which has led to a huge infrastructure overhaul and new business growth in the area.
• English-only websites can’t cater for all overseas customers so in order to reach more customers creating an Arabic version of your site will give access to millions of new potential customers.
• Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) – strategically speaking you’ll need to increase your chances of being found on search engines by using an Arabic version of your website. Professional Arabic translation should offer assistance with keyword creation and reliable content in order to give higher rankings and improve user experience for your site.
• Using a professional Arabic translation team will ensure your brand, logo, tagline and so on, are suitable for an Arabic audience.
• Design, colours, images, humour, language and more all require adaption for an Arabic market in order to ensure success.
• Quality is vital to all customers. If your website is littered with grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, incorrect currencies, improper images, and so on, you are likely to lose custom.
• Return on investment is improved through use of a professional translation and localisation service for your website.
The above list covers just the most basic reasons for using a professional translation team when creating an Arabic version of your website.
Take a look at some of our more in-depth blogs regarding the Arabic language, website translation, or localisation if you would like to know more. Or, you can contact the experts at Creative Word here to discuss how we can assist you further.
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