managing the opposites arabic the fifth most spoken language lw paris, june, 2012 mohamed hassan
TRANSCRIPT
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
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
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…)