Many global brands have a tone of voice guide in English. When the brand moves into the Middle East, that guide leaves many questions open, because Arabic asks writers to make choices that English does not. Without written rules, each agency and writer answers these questions differently, and the brand starts to sound like several brands. This guide explains how to build an Arabic brand tone of voice for the Middle East, and what to put in the guide.
Why Your English Tone of Voice Guide Is Not Enough
An English guide might describe the brand as friendly, clear and confident. Those values still apply in Arabic, but they leave five decisions open:
- Whether to write in Modern Standard Arabic or a dialect.
- How formal to be when you address the reader.
- How to handle masculine and feminine forms.
- Which English words to keep, and how to spell the brand name in Arabic.
- How to use religious and cultural expressions.
Modern Standard Arabic, Dialect or a Mix
Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) is understood in every Arab country and suits websites, product pages and formal content. Dialects such as Gulf, Egyptian and Levantine Arabic sound closer and more personal, and many brands use them on social media and in some ads. Decide which register to use on each channel and in each country.
| Channel | Common choice |
|---|---|
| Website and product pages | Clear Modern Standard Arabic |
| Social media | Simple MSA, or light dialect for one country |
| Ads | MSA for regional campaigns, dialect for campaigns in one country |
| Customer service | Simple MSA, matching the customer's dialect where possible |
| B2B content | Formal MSA |
Our guide to Arabic copywriting explains the difference between the two registers in more detail.
How Formal Should Your Brand Be?
Arabic lets you address the reader in the singular (أنت) or the plural (أنتم), and each choice changes the tone. The singular sounds direct and personal and suits many consumer brands. The plural can sound more respectful, and it suits banks, healthcare and B2B brands, or messages to a group. Word choice matters too: formal vocabulary and long sentences sound serious, while short sentences and everyday words sound friendly.
Masculine and Feminine Forms
In Arabic, verbs, adjectives and pronouns change with gender. "Start now" is ابدأ الآن to a man and ابدئي الآن to a woman. Brands usually choose one of these approaches:
- Use the masculine form for mixed audiences, which is the traditional default in Arabic.
- Use the feminine form for products and campaigns aimed at women.
- Use phrases that avoid gender, such as التسجيل مفتوح الآن ("Registration is now open").
- Personalise emails and app messages by gender when you know the customer's gender.
Whichever approach you choose, write it into the guide, because mixing approaches in one campaign looks careless.
English Words and Your Brand Name
Many English words are common in everyday Arabic, especially in technology, fashion and e-commerce, such as أونلاين (online). Decide which English terms to keep, which to translate and how to spell each one in Arabic letters, then list them in a glossary. Use the same Arabic spelling of your brand name everywhere, as our guide on how to translate a brand name into Arabic explains.
Religious and Cultural Expressions
Expressions such as إن شاء الله ("God willing") and seasonal greetings such as رمضان كريم ("Ramadan Kareem") are part of everyday Arabic. Used naturally and respectfully, they help a brand sound local. Keep them out of jokes and hard sales messages, and have native writers check every use. Our Ramadan marketing guide covers seasonal messages, and our guide to common Arabic marketing mistakes shows what to avoid.
Humour, Emojis and Punctuation
- Humour often depends on one country and one dialect, so test jokes with native speakers in each market before you use them across the region.
- Agree how many emojis to use on each channel, if any.
- Use Arabic punctuation, such as the Arabic comma (،) and question mark (؟).
What to Put in an Arabic Tone of Voice Guide
| Section | What it contains |
|---|---|
| Voice attributes | Your brand values described for Arabic, with example sentences |
| Register by channel | MSA or dialect for each channel and country |
| Formality and gender | How you address the reader, and your rule for masculine and feminine forms |
| Glossary | Approved Arabic terms, English words to keep and words to avoid |
| Brand and product names | The Arabic spelling of every name, and when to use Latin letters |
| Do and don't examples | Before and after rewrites of real copy |
Show how each English value sounds in Arabic. "Friendly" might mean simple MSA, the singular "you" and short sentences. "Premium" might mean formal MSA, fewer English words and no emojis.
Roll Out and Test the Arabic Voice
Share the guide with every agency, writer and customer service team that writes Arabic for the brand. That includes the teams that write Arabic product descriptions and Arabic emails. Ask native speakers in each main market to review sample copy, and update the guide when a new question comes up. If you draft content with AI, add the guide to your prompts and have native writers edit the result, as our guide to using AI for Arabic content explains.
Conclusion
An Arabic tone of voice turns your English brand values into clear rules for register, formality, gender, vocabulary and style. GOTOMENA builds Arabic brand voices and writes content with them through our Arabic content creation and copywriting services. To build yours, contact our team.