Localizing Egyptian Market

 

In North Africa and the Arab world, Egypt is one of the largest countries. It stretches from the north-eastern corner of Africa to the south-western corner of Asia and is considered an Afro- Asian country with an Arabic Mediterranean characteristic. Egyptians, like the rest of the Arab world, have the official written language Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). The spoken language is the Egyptian conversational dialect. Every Arabic country has its dialects and preferred terminology, although all Arabic countries use MSA. Thus, the correct linguistic approach and instruments are important to target a certain Arab country.

There should be no separate "Egyptian Arabic" when it comes to written Arabic. However, with the distribution of social media websites the Egyptian colloquial dialect in written form is increasing today. There is strong international proof that companies are more productive when they cluster geographically near each other. This column reports new findings on Egypt’s significant productivity benefits. The results have important policy implications, including the importance of creating specialized industrial zones for promising clusters with high growth potential.

Among young Arabs, the trend is to use a Latinized form, Franco Arab, to write the Latin words. Franco Arab came from non-Arabic alphabet text communication programs. Arabic words were translated into Latin by designers to substitute Arabic letters by a combination of numbers and other characters. Franco Arabic is not accepted in official communities, however, and most elderly and conservatives are strongly opposed to the Arabic culture and language because it is perceived as a major threat.

Setting up a website in Arabic defines changing the Egyptian market's language and functions simultaneously. You should be familiar with your target audience dialect and culture and the multilingual capacity of your content management system (CMS) when locating a website. Arab countries have one language, but many cultures and dialects that influence their language use. Below are several website location tips before localizing for Arab Countries website:

• Avoid trying to translate through machines or software. Arabic is a very complicated language and machine translation probably doesn't understand the meaning. Trying to sell quality is a way to produce Arabic content of efficiency, so use a specialized translation company like Delsh Business Consultancy (DBC) with qualified Arabic translators.

• Choosing the right images and graphics which attract your audience's culture is important. Pictures on an Arabic website must respect Arab countries' conservative culture.

• Videos should also be culturally respectful. For instance, developers should ensure that no videos contain music if the website is targeted at Saudi audiences. Several Individuals in Saudi Arabia don't listen to music and think it's prohibited religiously. Designers should either create text alternatives or state clearly that music is included in embedded videos.

• There are many words in Arabic with more than one meaning and pronunciation that can confuse and cause ambiguity for readers. Use diacritical marks (small marks placed above letters) to indicate the correct pronunciation, and remove any uncertainty on the readers to generate clear and professional content.

• Check that the translator has the right to left (RTL) languages to handle. If the RTL language cannot be displayed, your content won't be shown correctly, causing confusion and an unprofessional appearance.

Egypt's economy is the most diverse in the Middle East with almost equal contributions to national production by tourism, agriculture, the industry, and the service industries. The Egyptian economy is therefore picking up growth at higher rates based on the climate-charged investments in proper law, convenient policies, internal stability and trade, and market liberalization. Egypt has an industrial wealth that is continually improved by policy interventions. Besides, Egypt has strong transport and communication infrastructure, energy sources, skilled workers, modern industrial communities, bank systems, and the stock market.