Global Language Solutions Blog Localizing for Right-to-Left Writing Systems

The right-to-left (RTL) writing system is most widely used in the Middle East. As the name suggests, writing of RTL scripts starts from the right of the page and continues towards the left. Popular RTL language scripts include Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew and Urdu.With an estimate of about 540 million native speakers, Arabic, Persian and Hebrew are the most widely used RTL writing systems in modern times. E-commerce is a growing trend in the Middle East, with plenty more room for growth. According to Global Arab Network, e-commerce in Arab countries is projected to be worth more than $20 billion by 2020. This is a significant increase on $14 billion in 2014. Daily News Egypt states that the number of online buyers in the Middle East is expected to increase by 14% in 2016 because of a more prevalent use of the internet across the region. This provides a good opportunity for businesses to increase their reach via e-commerce in this fast-growing region.Providing consumer content and services in the Middle East in the region is no easy task. Welocalize, our parent company, published a blog detailing three aspects businesses should take into consideration when localizing content from left-to-right (LTR) to RTL writing systems.Click here to read the post.Contact us for professional life sciences and medical translation services in Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew and Urdu.