Arabic and English Software: Building Bilingual Apps in the UAE

In the UAE, "bilingual" is not a nice-to-have. Arabic is the official language, many customers prefer it, and government-facing services generally require it. Yet many apps treat Arabic as a translation file added at the end — and it shows: broken layouts, numbers in the wrong place, and search that can't find anything. Here's how to build software that works properly in both languages.

1. RTL is a layout, not a setting

Switching to Arabic mirrors the whole interface: navigation moves right, back arrows flip, progress bars fill from the right, and tables and charts reverse. Build with logical CSS properties (start/end rather than left/right) and RTL-aware components from day one, and most of the mirroring happens automatically. Don't flip everything, though: logos, media controls, phone numbers and some icons stay the same.

2. Mixed text is where bugs hide

Arabic sentences constantly contain English: emails, product codes, URLs, prices. Without proper bidirectional handling, punctuation jumps to the wrong end and numbers get reordered. Isolate these values in the markup and test real mixed content — not lorem ipsum.

3. Arabic search must understand Arabic

Arabic search has to cope with letter variants (أ / إ / ا, ة / ه, ى / ي), optional diacritics, the "ال" prefix, and users typing in "Arabizi" or English. A search that matches exact characters will miss results your users know are there. Normalise text before indexing and searching.

4. Fonts and typography

Choose an Arabic typeface designed for screens and pair it with the Latin font so both feel like one brand. Arabic usually needs a slightly larger size and more line height to stay readable, and never let text be cut by fixed-width buttons: Arabic labels are often longer or shorter than English.

5. Numbers, dates and currency

• Decide on Western (0–9) or Eastern Arabic (٠–٩) digits and use it consistently.
• Support Gregorian dates, and the Hijri calendar where your users need it.
• Format dirham amounts consistently in both languages.
• Accept both digit styles in form inputs — users will type either.

6. Content, not just translation

Machine translation is a draft, not a finished product. Interface text, error messages and terms should be written or reviewed by a fluent Arabic writer. Build a content workflow so both languages can be edited and published together, and missing translations are flagged instead of silently falling back to English.

7. Bilingual SEO

• Separate URLs for each language, linked with hreflang tags.
• Arabic titles and descriptions written for Arabic search terms — people search differently in each language.
• Arabic content often faces less competition in search, so it can rank faster than the English version.

8. UAE integrations

Many UAE apps also need UAE PASS sign-in, Emirates ID data, local payment gateways and data-protection compliance — all of which should work in both languages. We cover these in our guide to choosing a software development company in Abu Dhabi.

Plan it from day one

Designing bilingual from the start adds a modest share to a build. Retrofitting Arabic into an English-only app often means reworking layouts, components and data models. For budgets see our custom software cost guide and mobile app cost guide.

Bilingual software with Skyline

Skyline builds web platforms and mobile apps in Arabic and English for UAE businesses — RTL design systems, Arabic search, bilingual content management and UAE integrations. See our software development services and mobile app development guide, or tell us about your project.