The Arabists - Why Us?

What would you require in a copywriter? Any copywriter, whether he/she writes in English, Arabic or any language. You'd probably want creativity and flair, the judging of which is a subjective process which we shall not go into. At the very minimum, wouldn't you expect a copywriter to be able to write? The ability to write right can be judged objectively. At the very least, shouldn't that copywriter (or translator) be able to spell? Shouldn't his/her writing be grammatically correct?

What's inconsequential?

A typo, or even a grammatical/spelling error is not the end of the world, some say (we don't). Some may even consider it inconsequential (we don't). Let's stay with the English language here. Would you trust a copywriter who did not know the difference between "quite" and "quiet"? Would you trust a translator who couldn't tell "their" and "there" apart? Or "it's" with an apostrophe and "its" without? Or if he/she spells "receive" with an "i" before "e"? You know, the sort of mistakes we were taught not to make in 9th grade!

Mistakes forgivable, but only as an oversight

A copywriter/translator may very well make such mistakes, but only as an oversight, not out of ignorance. Maybe the writer had his spell-checker on while writing a long piece, and the spell-checker corrected "ther" to "there" instead of "their". That mistake may go unnoticed at the time; but only as a temporary oversight (which the writer will eventually correct when he proofreads the document).

But mistakes made out of ignorance?

However, no self-respecting copywriter or translator would make such a mistake due to him not knowing the difference between the two words. Ordinary people can be excused for making grammatical and spelling mistakes. But someone who claims to be a copywriter/translator is NOT ordinary people! He/she gets paid as a copywriter not only for being creative, but also for having a better grip on language than most people.

The state of Arabic copywriting and translation

When we say their's (oops!), there's a lot of rubbish out there, we mean it. It's sad, but it's true. Some have taken advantage of a situation where clients can't read Arabic or judge it, and made the standards of Arabic writing deteriorate to ridiculous levels, not only in the translation industry, but also in communication-based industries, like Advertising, Public Relations and Publishing.

The short-changing