Managing the Opposites

Arabic the fifth most spoken language

LW Paris, June, 2012Mohamed Hassan

Contents

During this session we will discuss:– Facts and figures– Typing and direction– Ligatures– Sorting, Layout, and character sets – Numbers and calendars– Political aspects– Economical aspects– Social and cultural aspects– Technological aspects– Initiatives and orientation

Arab member states of Arab league

Wikipedia

Arabic – facts and figures

• About 374 million speakers• Official language in 25 countries/states• Mainly used in MENA but also around the world• One of the six official languages of the UN• Arabic is no. 7 in top 10 languages used on the internet1 (2010).

Growth rate of 3,300% in internet users form 2000-2011.• Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) is the most used • Different spoken dialects but one written Arabic• Different preferences in calendars, numbering formats,

weekends and naming conventions

1- Internet World Stats

Typing and direction• Arabic is a RTL language• Requires logical-to-physical transformation

algorithm• Text input is in logical order• Output is in physical order• Unicode layout algorithm is

applied (Bi-Di)• Non-contiguous cursor movement

and selection• RTL reading order has to be set correctly view Bi-

Di text• Keyboard input in Arabic/Latin

1 2 3 4

RTL

RTLLTR

Ligatures• Letters connected to form words• No capitalization

• Italics is not preferred

• Combination of 2 or 3 letters in 1 shape

• Accordingly no acronyms or abbreviations are allowed

Sorting, Layout and Character sets• Manual or semi manual sorting and indexing

– Less tools and file formats support Arabic sorting

• Dialogs, buttons, scrollbars, rulers, columns, menu bars, tables, some photos and flowcharts have to be flipped (mirrored) to run from RTL

• DTP tools vary between no support to fully supporting Arabic

• Charactersets and encodings that partially support Arabic are: Windows-1256 and ISO 8859-6

• Charactersets and encodings that fully support Arabic are: Unicode and UTF-8

• Arabic article “Alef Lam” is connected to words and starts with the first letter of the alphabet “Alef”

Numbers and Calendars

• Ten numeric symbols • Numbers are written

from left to right• Two sets: Arabic and

Hindi numbers

• Two calendars:• Gregorian• Hijri (lunar year): depends

on the moon cycle which is 11 days less than solar cycle

Political aspects• Arab spring:

– 4 revolutions done: Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen– 2 in process (Syria, Bahrain)– 2 warming up (Jordan, Morocco)– Others may follow– Youth ignited – ICT based – Internet, Social Media, Mobile, IM, video streaming, VoIP…

• Form of governments Republics, Kingdoms, Sultanates, Emirates, and others• Political parties are not allowed in some countries• Policies to encourage/enforce employment of local nationals in private sector:

Saudization, Emiratisation, Omanisation, Qatarization• Visa types and eligibility• Monopoly legislations exist in majority of countries and applied by different

levels • Employment laws exist in all countries and applied by different levels• Foreign investment laws with different levels of openness and support

Economical aspects – inflation rates 2011

CIA World Factbook

Annual IT spending - KSA

Tech. markets spending - KSA

Arab countries GDP per capita 2010

UNData

Arabic Culture• A distinct culture influenced mainly by language, religion, environment and

major traditions of a conservative nature• Majority are Muslims• Cultural/legal restrictions on types of content and media• Differences in the level of openness, with a common ground of traditions• Localization process includes:

– Text translation

– Cultural adaptation

– Multimedia and photos assessing and adaptation

– Other sensitive and geopolitical topics should be taken into consideration…

• Arabic communication relies on symbols, emotional resonance and language used to create social experience

• Arabic culture is a high-context culture which depends on how much meaning is found in the context versus in the language code

• The Arabic culture also prefers indirect communication styles, and words may be tied more to emotions rather than concrete realities

Arab countries – Internet growth

Country/StatePopulation( 2011 Est. )

Users, inDec-00

Internet Usage 31-Dec-11

% Population (Penetration)

Internet users growth

Facebook users 31-Mar-12

Egypt 82,079,636 450,000 21,691,776 26.40% 4,820% 10,475,940Sudan 45,047,502 30,000 4,200,000 9.30% 14,000% n/aAlgeria 34,994,937 50,000 4,700,000 13.40% 9,400% 3,328,800Morocco 31,968,361 100,000 15,656,192 49.00% 15,656% 4,408,340Iraq 30,399,572 12,500 1,303,760 4.30% 10,430% 1,550,840Saudi Arabia 26,131,703 200,000 11,400,000 43.60% 5,700% 5,148,240Yemen 24,133,492 15,000 2,609,698 10.80% 17,398% 436,500Syria 22,517,750 30,000 4,469,000 19.80% 14,897% n/aTunisia 10,629,186 100,000 3,856,984 36.30% 3,857% 2,955,260Somalia 9,925,640 200 106,000 1.10% 53,000% 75,500Libya 6,597,960 10,000 391,880 5.90% 3,919% 464,700Jordan 6,508,271 127,300 1,987,400 30.50% 1,561% 2,226,220United Arab Emirates 5,148,664 735,000 3,555,100 69.00% 484% 2,909,860Lebanon 4,143,101 300,000 1,367,220 33.00% 456% 1,444,200Mauritania 3,281,634 5,000 100,333 3.10% 2,007% 87,160Oman 3,027,959 90,000 1,741,804 57.50% 1,935% 422,180Kuwait 2,595,628 150,000 1,100,000 42.40% 733% 898,560Palestine (West Bk.) 2,568,555 35,000 1,512,273 58.90% 4,321% 914,660Palestine (Gaza Strip) 1,657,155 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/aBahrain 1,214,705 40,000 694,009 57.10% 1,735% 346,220Qatar 848,016 30,000 563,800 66.50% 1,879% 481,400Comoros 794,683 1,500 37,472 4.70% 0% 13,340Djibouti 757,074 1,400 61,320 8.10% 4,380% 42,260Totals 356,971,184 2,512,900 83,106,021 3,307% 38,630,180

Technology aspects

• E-government and e-services programs – different levels of advancement

• UAE, BH, KSA are among the 25 emerging leaders in e-government development*

• UAE, EGY, BH are among top e-participation leaders*

• UAE, BH, KSA, QA among top 50 e-government development index *

• Saudi Arabia the number one country in the world with the highest proportion of mobile phone users 188% **

* United Nations E-Government Survey 2012** United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)) 2011

Arab countries initiatives

• Increasing Arabic content on the internet• Increasing Arabic content usage and referencing (Arabization)• E-Learning and distance learning• Encouraging R&D• E-Government and E-Services• Government automation• Innovations and entrepreneurship support and funding• Automating health sectors• Large investments on ICT Infrastructure (mobile, internet…)

Q&A

mohamed.hassan@arabize.com@mohamedhk