Arabic Translation

The critical question in Arabic translation is which country the document is going to. Arabic-speaking countries fall into two groups on the apostille, and that split means the same document may travel through two entirely different certification chains.

5 min readLast updated 1 September 2026

Writing system

وثيقة مترجمة ترجمة محلَّفة

waṯīqa mutarjama tarjama muḥallafa

A document rendered as a sworn translation

The Arabic alphabet has 28 letters, runs right to left and has no capitals. Letters change shape according to their position in a word, so a single corrupted letter in a scanned document can make a word unreadable.

First question: which country is it going to?

Arabic is an official language in more than twenty countries, and those countries do not stand in the same place with respect to the Hague Apostille Convention. Where a country is a party, the document is certified with an apostille; where it is not, the older consular legalisation chain applies. The difference between the two is measured in weeks, not days.

Apostille status of Arabic-speaking countries (HCCH status table, September 2026)
Country	Apostille valid	Route that applies
Saudi Arabia	Yes, since 2022	Sworn translation → notary → apostille
Morocco	Yes	Sworn translation → notary → apostille
Tunisia	Yes	Sworn translation → notary → apostille
United Arab Emirates	No	Notary → Ministry of Foreign Affairs → UAE consulate
Egypt	No	Notary → Ministry of Foreign Affairs → Egyptian consulate
Iraq	No	Notary → Ministry of Foreign Affairs → Iraqi consulate
Qatar	No	Notary → Ministry of Foreign Affairs → Qatari consulate
Jordan	No	Notary → Ministry of Foreign Affairs → Jordanian consulate
Kuwait	No	Notary → Ministry of Foreign Affairs → Kuwaiti consulate

Apostille status of Arabic-speaking countries (HCCH status table, September 2026)

Which Arabic: standard or dialect?

Official documents are written in Modern Standard Arabic, and translations follow suit. Dialect matters not in written documents but in interpreting: the Egyptian, Gulf, Levantine and Maghrebi varieties differ markedly from one another.

That is why, for interpreting requests, we ask which country your counterpart is from. An interpreter who has worked comfortably with a Gulf speaker cannot be assumed to work equally comfortably in a Maghrebi dialect, and saying so in advance prevents a problem arising in the room.

Name transliteration: there is no single correct form

An Arabic name can be carried into the Latin alphabet in more than one way, and each is correct on its own terms. The same name is written differently in English, French and Turkish traditions, and that is exactly what breaks document matching.

Common spellings of the same name
Arabic	English tradition	French tradition	Turkish tradition
محمد	Mohammed / Muhammad	Mohamed	Muhammed
حسين	Hussein / Husayn	Hussein	Hüseyin
عبد الله	Abdullah / Abdallah	Abdallah	Abdullah
خالد	Khalid / Khaled	Khaled	Halid
عائشة	Aisha / Aishah	Aïcha	Ayşe

Common spellings of the same name

Arabic names may also carry the definite article al- and a patronymic chain with bin or ibn. These are part of the name; they are not shortened or dropped. If a document reads "Abdullah bin Ahmed al-Shammari", the whole chain is preserved in the translation.

Hijri dates and numerals

In some Arabic-speaking countries official documents are dated by the Hijri calendar. In Saudi Arabia the Hijri date governs; in parts of the Gulf both calendars appear side by side. In translation the Hijri date is preserved and the Gregorian equivalent given in brackets. Converting it and deleting the original would make the document impossible to compare with its source.

There is a second layer in the numerals. Some countries use Eastern Arabic numerals (٠١٢٣٤٥٦٧٨٩), others the Western forms familiar here. Whichever appears is carried into Western numerals for legibility, though the original form is also preserved in fields such as document and identity numbers.

letters in the Arabic alphabet: 28letters in the Arabic alphabet
writing direction; column order changes too: Right to leftwriting direction; column order changes too
Hijri and Gregorian, side by side on many documents: 2 calendarsHijri and Gregorian, side by side on many documents

How right-to-left writing changes document layout

Translating into Arabic changes more than the text. Column order in tables reverses, signature fields move to the other side of the page, and numbered clauses start from the right. If the source contains a table, the order in which columns will be arranged has to be agreed in advance; otherwise the reader takes the first column for the last.

What we check in Arabic document layout

Directional order of table columns
Position of signature and seal fields
Direction of page numbering
How Latin-script terms (brands, model codes) sit inside the text
Position of numerals and punctuation on mixed-direction lines
Heading alignment

Frequently asked questions

My document is going to the UAE. Is an apostille enough?

No. The UAE is not a party to the Hague Apostille Convention; after notarisation the document must be certified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and then by the UAE mission in Türkiye. That chain takes longer than an apostille and depends on the mission's appointment calendar. Plan accordingly.

Does Saudi Arabia still require consular legalisation?

No. Saudi Arabia has been a party since 7 December 2022, so an apostille is valid. Much of what you will find online predates that. We still suggest confirming with the receiving institution, since internal practice can lag behind the law.

My document is dated in the Hijri calendar. Will you add the Gregorian date?

Yes. The Hijri date is preserved as it stands and the Gregorian equivalent added in brackets. Showing the conversion inside the translation is necessary so the institution can compare the document against its source. Where only a Hijri date appears and the day is ambiguous, we flag it in a translator's note.

Can you use the Turkish rendering of my name?

Not on an official document. The translation follows the latinised spelling in your passport. You may prefer another form, but that consistency is exactly what allows two documents to be treated as belonging to the same person. On unofficial texts such as marketing or correspondence we can follow your preference.

Why do you ask for extra care with scanned Arabic documents?

Arabic letters change shape by position, and dots are what distinguish one letter from another. In a low-resolution scan those dots disappear and two different letters look identical. That is why we recommend using a scanner for Arabic documents rather than a phone photograph.