Why use The Arabists?
To fully appreciate
the advantages of working with The Arabists,
allow us to take you through some interesting
observations of the market out there, then
take you through our strengths one at a
time so you can see how we compare.
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We respect the client who doesn't speak Arabic
Many
marcomm professionals in the Middle East are
non-Arabs. This is particularly true in the
countries of the Gulf. Also, overseas clients
seeking Arabic translations for their marketing
communications would typically be non-Arabic
speakers. Because such clients can't read Arabic,
they're often at the receiving end of some seriously
substandard work. But at The Arabists, our respect
for clients in this category means that they
can trust us blindly with their work.
We
respect the client who speaks Arabic, but can't
judge it
Even native speakers of
Arabic often find it difficult to judge an Arabic
translator's or copywriter's language skills.
They can tell if the content is right,
but not if the language is correct.
Put simply, they can't spot grammatical mistakes
and spelling errors. In a print ad, for instance,
they can tell if a headline will sell; but they
can't tell if the headline is spelt properly
or grammatically correct. Regrettably, this
weakness is often exploited. But those clients,
too, have our respect and our assurance of error-free
work.
We
respect the client's client
From time to time, a marcom
agency's workload will exceed the capacity of
its in-house Arabic resources. In this case,
a job being done for one of the agency's clients
would need to be subcontracted to an outside
supplier. Here, it's all too easy for the translator/copywriter
to hide behind the fact that the agency will
take fall for any substandard work, especially
if he/she has already been paid, and especially
if the agency has tight deadlines and won't
have time to check his/her work. At The Arabists,
many of our clients are advertising and PR agencies
serving their own clients. The reason they come
to us is that with every project they commission
to us, we deal with the job as if the eventual
client was one of our own.
We respect the ultimate client: Arab audiences and
consumers
Every piece of communication
ultimately has a target audience. Sadly, one
can see a lot of work out there targeting Arabic-speaking
audiences which smacks of neglect, mediocrity
and, sometimes, downright disdain for Arab consumers.
Some of the work out there goes beyond being
full of errors: it either takes the Arab audience
for granted, or insults the audience's intelligence,
or –worst of all– goes against Arab
values. For us at The Arabists, respect for
Arabic-speaking audience is a criterion by which
we judge every single word, or thought, we commit
to paper.
That's why we call ourselves "The Arabists"
Dictionary definition of "Arabist":
SYLLABICATION: Ar·ab·ist PRONUNCIATION: ãr'ə-bíst
NOUN: 1. A specialist in the Arabic language
or culture. 2. One who is favorably disposed
toward Arab concerns and policies. Enough said.
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