Arabic translation you can trust
Your most important choice when selecting a translation company to handle your Arabic translation, is trust.
To ensure that the Arabic translations we deliver to you are as accurate as possible, we follow very stringent guidelines:
- Your translation will only be done by in country translators with proven experience in the subject of your original document.
- You will have a dedicated Project Manager, who is also an experienced linguist.
- We are an ISO9001 registered firm therefore all our processes are closely monitored using this internationally recognised accreditation.
Hundreds of companies trust us to get their translations right first time, including UEFA, Sony and Morgan Stanley. We'll deliver your documents back to you, the way you want them, on time and at the price we quoted you.
Which Arabic do you need for your translation?
Arabic ranks sixth in the world's league table of languages, with an estimated 186 million native speakers. As the language of the Qur'an, it is also widely used throughout the Muslim world. It belongs to the Semitic group of languages, which also includes Hebrew and Amharic, the main language of Ethiopia.
Arabic has only two written forms - Classical Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic; all other regional variations or, "colloquial Arabic’s“, are only verbal. Classical Arabic is found in the Qur’an and is never used in conversation, or non-religious writing. Classical Arabic is the official language of all Arab countries and is the only form of Arabic taught in schools.
Modern Standard Arabic is the language used by the media across North Africa and the Middle East. So this is likely to be the version of Arabic we’ll need to use for your translation. To ensure that this vital detail is correct, your Account Manager and Project Manager will need to know who the final audience for your document are; if it’s a Marketing Document for example, Modern Standard Arabic will probably be needed.
Things to consider when translating Arabic to English
Which way should Arabic be written?
The first thing to remember is that Arabic is written and reads from right to left, letters are always joined to each other and can't be split across lines. On standard translated Arabic documents, like word, this is no problem. But if your document has a detailed design there are a lot of considerations:
- Images will need to be repositioned.
- The page numbering will also need amending as translated Arabic documents don’t open the conventional European way. For example:
- Standard European page order: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
- Arabic page order: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
Does the text get longer or shorter?
When translating one language to another, text will typically expand or contract. English to Arabic translation typically expands by about 25%. And Arabic to English translation, as you would expect, contracts by about 25%. This obviously depends on the subject matter.
Getting something as seemingly insignificant right, can make a huge difference to the success of your Arabic Translation; as you can see if you have a 12 page document written in English, not only will it read the opposite way but you may need to add more pages.
Quality assured Arabic translators
Language is a living thing it develops and changes constantly. To ensure our translators keep abreast of the language, all our Arabic translators live in-county and translate into their mother tongue. Our database of translators ensures that we can guarantee you a fast turnaround, even on large documents with short deadlines.
- Only 20% of the translators who apply to work for us pass our quality checks.
That's how committed we are to ensuring that our standards are kept extremely high.