Technical Translation Time PT to AR

PT→AR Technical Translation Time

For specialized material, Portuguese-to-Arabic technical translation tends to land around 200–300 words/day. Arabic runs right-to-left (RTL) on a 28-letter abjad, and each letter changes shape depending on whether it sits at the start, middle, or end of a word, or stands alone. Short vowels usually get dropped, so the translator has to rebuild the vocalization from context. Mix in Latin terms, numerals, and the occasional inline equation, and you end up wrestling with Unicode and BIDI control characters to keep the bidirectional text from scrambling.

The math is straightforward: days = (pages × words_per_page) / daily_throughput. SINTRA tariffs for the pair sit at R$ 0.80–1.50/word. Part of what pushes the rate up is diglossia, the gap between Modern Standard Arabic and the regional dialects, which means you also have to pin down the target variant up front (MSA, Egyptian, Levantine, Maghrebi).

Applications

Brazil is home to roughly 10 million descendants of Arab immigrants, the largest such diaspora anywhere outside the Arab world, and that drives steady demand for Lebanese, Syrian, Palestinian, and Moroccan document work: citizenship dossiers, family records, commercial contracts. On the technical side, the volume comes from halal certification, halal food exports to the Gulf states, and engineering specs for Brazilian construction firms working in Saudi Arabia and the UAE. ARABCAT (Associação Árabe-Brasileira) and the Brazil-Arab Chamber of Commerce handle much of the professional networking.

FAQ

MSA or dialect? Technical and legal documents stick to Modern Standard Arabic (Fus'ha). You only see dialects in marketing, dubbing, or localized UX copy.

Does RTL break my DTP layout? Often, yes. You will need the Adobe InDesign Middle East edition, or the World-Ready Composer in standard InDesign. From there, mirror the page templates, reverse the navigation, and flip your charts and diagrams.

Are Arabic numerals translated? Much of the Mashriq uses Eastern Arabic numerals (١٢٣), while the Maghreb leans on Western Arabic numerals (123). Check with the client which set the target audience actually reads before you commit.