Arabic Proofreading: More Than Grammar and Spelling
Arabic proofreading requires expertise that goes far beyond what is needed for European languages. The Arabic script has unique characteristics, connected letters, contextual letter forms, diacritical marks, and right-to-left text direction, that create an entire category of errors that English proofreaders would never encounter.
Arabic-specific issues that our proofreaders check:
- Hamza placement, The hamza (ء) is one of the most commonly misplaced Arabic characters, even by native speakers. It can appear on the line, on alif (أ إ), on waw (ؤ), or on ya (ئ), with placement rules that depend on the surrounding vowels. Incorrect hamza placement is a hallmark of unprofessional Arabic text.
- Ta marbuta vs ha, The Arabic letters ة (ta marbuta) and ه (ha) look identical in many fonts but are grammatically distinct. Confusing them is a common typing error that changes word meaning and gender agreement. Our proofreaders catch these errors systematically.
- Tashkeel (diacritical marks), Formal Arabic text, religious content, educational materials, and children's books often require tashkeel (vowel marks) to clarify pronunciation and meaning. Adding tashkeel correctly requires deep knowledge of Arabic grammar and morphology. Incorrect tashkeel is worse than no tashkeel at all.
- MSA consistency, Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) is the standard for formal writing, but dialect expressions and informal constructions frequently creep into text, especially when the writer is a native Arabic speaker accustomed to using dialect in daily life. Our proofreaders ensure consistent MSA register throughout formal documents.
- Kashida and text justification, Arabic text uses kashida (letter stretching) for justification rather than word spacing. Poorly configured desktop publishing software may use word spacing instead, producing awkward gaps in Arabic text that look unprofessional. Our proofreaders flag these DTP issues.
Whether you need a light proofread of Arabic marketing content or a thorough copy-edit of an Arabic legal document, our native Arabic editors deliver polished, professional text that reads naturally.
