Today, almost every business (irrespective of the size) has an online presence. Business owners understand the importance of social media, websites, and an online presence as part of ongoing activities and as a tool for growing their sphere of customers and their profits. Accordingly, they also invest in everything related to that presence - content, design, maintenance, and translation of the site to additional languages - and first and foremost into English and Arabic.
The importance of translating your website
Your website is essentially your digital business card. It showcases your vision, operations, and reputation. That’s why it’s essential to ensure a professional appearance. Business owners seeking to expand and attract a broad, international audience employ professional website translators. Israel is the beating heart of the Middle East, and roughly 21% of its population speaks Arabic. Arabic has incredible business potential - it’s no wonder that Arabic translation is one of the most in-demand fields in Israel and around the world. That said, this is not easy. Arabic has many regional dialects and variations, making translation a very specific task, particularly when translating websites that are of bureaucratic, economic, or political importance.
Localization into Arabic
Businesses seeking translation to Arabic or any other language must ensure the writing style is tailored for the target audience. Translators must not only be fluent in Arabic and the relevant dialect, they must also know the subject field of the website and the cultural and business mores of the target audience, the common expressions, and the accepted style of writing. This leads us to an inescapable conclusion - translation to Arabic must be done by professional translation firms only. A good Arabic translator will perform localization and make adaptations so that visitors will feel entirely at home on the site.
So what key points should you focus on when translating sites to Arabic?
• Arabic translation should be performed by native speakers of the target language only
• You need to accurately define your target audience, understand its language and culture
• Translation to Arabic must include localization (from the word ‘local’.)
• Likewise, you need to consider the pictures on your site; if you have a sensitive audience (such as in a religious country) there are boundaries you need to be aware of.
