Specifics of Arabic language
The Arabic language is considered the primary language for people living in the Northern Africa and the Middle East by many people. One thing most people do not know is that Arab language has different dialects. Five regional dialects exist for the Arabic language. They include:
– Egyptian
– Levantine
– Mesopotamian
– Maghrebi and the
– Gulf Arabic
Each of them has numerous colloquial dialects too. Many of these dialects are spoken by a small group of people and are not understandable by those of other dialects.
For outside use of the Arabic language for writing and other applications, a “Standard Arabic” or otherwise known as the “Modern Standard Arabic” is used. With this, cross dialects understanding is expected. Use of the Modern Standard Arabic is advantageous to translators because it could be very difficult for them to grasp the vast Arabic dialect existing in a single country let alone the whole of Arab land.
Different and distinctive histories of the 26 Arab speaking countries spread across the vast Arab speaking land is reflected in the diversity of the Arab dialects. Arab speaking countries that are located in the western Mediterranean (Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria) have dialects that are so different from the Arab countries from Europe (Malta, Turkey and Cyprus) and those from the Middle East (Saudi Arabia, Yemen among others) as the geography, people and cultures are.
Arabic translators NYC
It is therefore of importance that a translator working with the Arab language, try to keep to the dialect of the people he/she is working with rather than just sticking to the Modern Standard Arabic. An example is the common misconception that all persons who speak Arabic are Muslims and that anybody who is a Muslim speaks Arabic, which is not true.
In northern Africa, you will find Christians and Jews conversing in Modern Standard Arabic and their local dialect too. Muslims all over the world do not necessarily speak Arab; rather, they speak the national language of their country although they may have some Arab language knowledge from the Qur’an. The ethnic and cultural makeup of the standard Arabic speakers may have considerable variations too.
Similarities in the dialects of different countries may be very little, and this will mean that a translator from Arabic will have to learn the dialect of the country he/she is working with or at best the region. If the translator is not going to do this, they might find themselves being too insensitive to the language of the population they are working with.
At Apoling Solutions we offer translation Arabic to English services and work only with translators from Arabic who are masters of Arabic and English and are native – speakers.
If you would like to get your translation from Arabic into English done professionally and promptly, call us for a free quote!
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