Many bilingual websites are really English websites with Arabic poured in. The text sits on the right, but the menu, the arrows and the forms still think left to right. Arabic readers notice within seconds, even if they can't say exactly what feels off.
Here is the checklist we use on every bilingual site. Brief a new site with it, or check the one you already have.
1. Mirror the layout, not just the text
Right-to-left is a direction for the whole page, not an alignment setting. An Arabic reader starts at the top right, so the page should flip like a mirror:
- The logo and main menu move to the right, and secondary items move to the left.
- Sidebars, image-and-text rows and card grids swap sides.
- Breadcrumbs, step indicators and carousels run from right to left.
- “Next” points left and “Back” points right.
For your developer: set the page direction to rtl on the html element for Arabic, and use logical spacing (start and end, not left and right) so the layout flips by itself.
Which icons flip and which don't
Flip icons that show direction through content:
- Next, previous, back and “read more” arrows
- Sideways chevrons in menus and sliders
- Progress bars and step lines
- Icons that stand for lines of text, such as a list or paragraph-alignment icon
Keep these exactly as they are:
- Play, pause and fast-forward. Media controls follow the video's timeline, not the reading direction.
- Your logo and any brand mark
- Checkmarks, clocks and icons of real objects, like a phone or an envelope
- Photos. A flipped photo turns any writing in it backwards.
2. Choose a real Arabic font
Many popular English fonts have no Arabic letters at all. The phone then falls back to its own default Arabic font, and your Arabic pages end up looking like a different brand.
Choose an Arabic typeface that:
- Comes in several weights (at least regular, medium and bold), so Arabic headings carry the same weight as English ones.
- Stays clear at small sizes on a phone screen.
- Sits well next to Latin letters, since Arabic pages always include some English, like brand names and emails.
Free options worth testing include IBM Plex Sans Arabic, Tajawal and Noto Sans Arabic.
Arabic also needs a little more room. At the same font size, Arabic letters look smaller than Latin ones, and the dots and marks above and below the line need space. A good starting point is Arabic body text one or two pixels larger than the English, with more generous line height. Then judge it by eye on a phone.
Two things to avoid: letter spacing, which breaks the joins between Arabic letters, and italics, which Arabic doesn't really have. Use a bolder weight for emphasis instead.
3. Keep numbers, prices and phone numbers intact
Numbers are where mixed-direction text breaks most often.
- Pick one style of digits. We use Western digits (1, 2, 3) in Arabic, because they match what people type into forms and see on receipts. Eastern Arabic digits are a valid choice too. Mixing both on one site is not.
- Protect prices. A price like ₪1,500 inside an Arabic sentence can jump around, with the shekel sign landing on the wrong side or the number drifting away from the words around it.
- Protect phone numbers. An international number can come out as “972+” with its groups of digits reordered.
For your developer: wrap prices, phone numbers and other left-to-right fragments in an isolated left-to-right span (CSS unicode-bidi: isolate), and make phone numbers tappable links.
4. Write the Arabic, don't translate it
Machine translation gives you sentences that are roughly correct and sound like an appliance manual. Readers feel the difference, and it costs you trust.
- Brief, don't translate. Give your Arabic writer the goal of each section and let them write it fresh. Headlines, jokes and idioms almost never survive a literal translation.
- Choose the register on purpose. Modern Standard Arabic reads as professional and works across countries. Local dialect feels warm and close, but it narrows your audience and can look casual on a services page. A common split is Modern Standard Arabic on the website and dialect on social media and WhatsApp.
- Proofread on the live page, not in a document. Bad line breaks, wrong words in buttons and stray English only show up in place.
5. Get forms, dates and times right
- Labels, fields and error messages align right and are written in Arabic.
- Email, website and phone fields stay left to right even on the Arabic page, so the cursor and the typed text behave as expected.
- Validation accepts Arabic letters in names. A form that rejects an Arabic name has just turned a lead away.
- Write dates with the month as a word, like “15 October 2026”, so nobody wonders whether 10/12 means October or December.
- Choose the month names your readers use. In the Levant many people say تشرين الأول while others say أكتوبر. Pick one and use it everywhere.
- Show the time zone next to any booking or event time, and make sure date pickers run right to left in Arabic.
6. Give each language its own address
If English and Arabic share one URL and the language switches with a cookie or a script, Google will usually index only one of them. Each language needs its own address, like /en/services and /ar/services.
For your developer:
- Add hreflang links that connect each page to its other-language version.
- Give every page its own title and description in its own language. These are what people see in Google results and in WhatsApp link previews.
- List both versions in the sitemap.
- Send first-time visitors to their browser's language, but never lock them in.
7. Let visitors switch language on the same page
- Put the language switch in the header, where people look for it.
- Label each language in its own script: “العربية” and “English”. Avoid flags. Flags are countries, not languages.
- Switching should keep the visitor on the same page. Someone reading /en/services should land on /ar/services, not on the home page.
8. Test on real phones
Your visitors are most likely reading on a phone, so that is where the final check belongs. On at least one iPhone and one Android phone:
- Open the menu. Does it slide in from the right in Arabic?
- Swipe a carousel. Does it move in the reading direction?
- Fill in a form with the Arabic keyboard, then add an English email address.
- Check that your Arabic font actually loads, not the phone's default.
- Share a page on WhatsApp in both languages and check the preview.
Then ask one native Arabic speaker and one English speaker to do a simple task, like finding a price and sending a message. Watch where they hesitate.
How we build bilingual sites
Every website NazAdv builds is in Arabic and English from the first day, with right-to-left done properly, and handed over with training so your team can update both languages. You can see how we work on our services page. If you already have a site and want an outside view of what's slowing visitors down, a design audit is a good place to start.
Planning a bilingual site, or fixing the one you have? Book a free 30-minute call and we'll go through the checklist together.