30 Years of Expertise in Trusted Arabic Translation Services
Arabic is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world and is the third most widespread official language globally, after English and French, with around 380 million speakers. The ISO recognises 32 varieties or dialects of Arabic, including Modern Standard Arabic, which is used across the Arabic-speaking world. Arabic is also one of the six official languages of the United Nations, and is widely taught in schools around the world, especially given its importance as the liturgical language of Islam.
As a result, translation into Arabic can be a very powerful tool for businesses looking to expand their global reach. Following conflicts and geopolitical turmoil in various Arabic-speaking regions in recent years, Arabic to English has also become one of our most commonly requested language pairs for certified translations, with many Arabic-speaking migrants and asylum seekers coming to the UK.
At Business Language Services, we have been reliably translating to and from Arabic for over 30 years and have an expert team of Arabic linguists covering all major locales.
Arabic translations in just four simple steps!
Quick, Simple and Reliable: Arabic Translations Made Easy
Our translation services are designed to make the entire process – from getting a quote to delivering high-quality translations – as simple and seamless as possible:
Regional variation in Arabic
Being so widely spoken, Arabic varies significantly across the area in which it is spoken. Geographically, Arabic is typically classified into five groups, each with its own distinct features, grammar and vocabulary:
- Maghrebi (spoken in Algeria, Morocco, Libya, Tunisia and the wider Saharan area)
- Egyptian (including Egyptian, spoken in Egypt, and Sudanese, spoken in Sudan, South Sudan, and parts of Eritrea, Ethiopia and Chad)
- Mesopotamian (spoken in Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Iran and Kuwait)
- Levantine (spoken in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel and Turkey)
- Peninsular (spoken in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Iran, Iraq and Jordan)
These broad groups encompass many varieties that are specific to a particular country, and many countries also use multiple varieties in different areas and situations. When translating into Arabic, it is therefore essential that the appropriate regional variant is selected to ensure that the translation is perfectly tailored to your target audience.
Maltese is also sometimes considered a variety of Arabic, despite being substantially different from all other varieties, with which it has a low level of mutual intelligibility. If considered a variety of Arabic, it is unique as the only one written in the Latin alphabet.
Desktop publishing and multimedia adaptations in Arabic
Arabic is written from right to left, which can create some challenges for desktop publishing and text animation, since designs need to be flipped horizontally to accommodate this.
The same also applies to animations and transitions in visual media such as videos, presentations and e-learning content. Additionally, in multi-page printed documents, the page order needs to be reversed, so that they can be printed and bound correctly.
Our expert team of typesetters and graphic designers will ensure that your Arabic documents look exactly as they should and, if necessary, are printed in accordance with the appropriate conventions for your target country or market.
Pricing and quotations
Translations to and from Arabic start from just £78.00 (£65.00 + VAT).
This includes most texts up to around 500–600 words, depending on the service(s) requested.
We will always analyse your source text(s) and consider the scope and complexity of your project to provide you with the most cost-effective quote possible to meet your needs.
We can typically return straightforward translations of up to 2,000 words the next working day.
