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Managing the Opposites Arabic the fifth most spoken language

Managing the Opposites Arabic the fifth most spoken language. LW Paris, June, 2012 Mohamed 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

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Managing the Opposites Arabic the fifth most spoken language

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  1. Managing the Opposites Arabic the fifth most spoken language LW Paris, June, 2012 Mohamed Hassan

  2. 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

  3. Arab member states of Arab league Wikipedia

  4. 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

  5. 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 LTR RTL

  6. 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

  7. Sorting, Layout and Character sets • Manual or semi manual sorting and indexing • Less tools and file formats support Arabic sorting • Arabic article “Alef Lam” is connected to words and starts with the first letter of the alphabet “Alef” • 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

  8. 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

  9. 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

  10. Economical aspects – inflation rates 2011 CIA World Factbook

  11. Annual IT spending - KSA

  12. Tech. markets spending - KSA

  13. Arab countries GDP per capita 2010 UNData

  14. 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

  15. Arab countries – Internet growth

  16. 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

  17. 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…)

  18. Q&A mohamed.hassan@arabize.com @mohamedhk

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