Menu Translation, Arabic & English: UAE Best Practices

Translate, transliterate, or leave it alone?

Every item on a bilingual menu forces the same decision, and most menus make it differently on every line. There are only three options:

Translate — give the meaning in the other language. "Orange juice" becomes «عصير برتقال». Use this when the item is a description made of ordinary words that exist in both languages.

Transliterate — write the sound of the name in the other alphabet. "Flat white" becomes «فلات وايت»; «كرك» becomes "Karak". Use this when the name is the product and customers ask for it by that sound whichever language they speak.

Keep the original and add a short gloss — the name stays, and a few words explain it. "Luqaimat — sweet fried dumplings with date syrup." Use this when the name is right but some of your customers won't know what it is.

A quick test settles most cases: what would a customer say out loud at your counter? An Arabic speaker ordering a flat white says "flat white". An English speaker ordering shawarma says "shawarma". Nobody asks for "white flat coffee" or "rotating meat wrap". Write what people say.

Three worked examples:

• Karak. Transliterate into English: "Karak". Translating it to "strong tea" loses the name people search the menu for. A gloss is optional: "Karak — spiced milk tea."
• Shawarma. Transliterate, no gloss needed in this market. Translate the variation: "Chicken shawarma" / «شاورما دجاج».
• Flat white. Transliterate into Arabic: «فلات وايت». A literal translation would describe a drink no one recognises.

Our guide to bilingual menus covers why names should be written rather than translated word for word, and how right-to-left layout works. This guide is about the writing itself.

Arabic item names customers actually say

The Arabic on a UAE café menu is read by people from many countries, and the same food has different everyday names across them. Formal dictionary Arabic is understood by all of them and used at the counter by almost none.

Some practical rules:

• Use the word your own customers use. Listen at the till for a week. If they say «ساندويتش», don't print «شطيرة».
• Borrowed words are normal. «برجر», «لاتيه», «موهيتو», «كرواسون» are how these items are ordered. Arabising them into something "purer" makes the menu harder to read, not better.
• Pick one spelling and keep it. Borrowed words have several accepted spellings — «كابتشينو» and «كابوتشينو», «ساندويتش» and «سندويش», «تشيز» and «جبن». None is wrong. Using three of them on one menu looks careless.
• Don't add diacritics unless a word is genuinely ambiguous without them. They clutter small text on a phone.
• Keep the brand name of an item as it is. If your signature drink has an English name, transliterate it; don't invent an Arabic meaning for it.

The same applies in the other direction. English transliterations of Arabic names vary — "shawarma" and "shawerma", "falafel" and "felafel", "paratha" and "parotta". Choose the form your customers recognise and use it on every line.

A simple tool helps: keep a glossary sheet with two columns — the agreed English spelling and the agreed Arabic spelling of every recurring word (chicken, cheese, sandwich, iced, large, extra). Whoever adds an item next year uses the sheet instead of deciding again.

Descriptions: same length, same promise

A description exists to answer "what is in it?" It should answer that equally in both languages.

The common failure is an English description of fifteen careful words beside an Arabic one of three, or the reverse. The customer reading the shorter version is being told less about the same item at the same price.

• Say the same things in the same order: main ingredient, how it is cooked, what comes with it.
• Translate the meaning, not the adjectives. English menu copy leans on words like "crispy", "loaded" and "signature". Carry over the ones that describe the food and drop the ones that are just decoration; Arabic copy reads better plain.
• Keep facts identical. If the English says "served with fries", the Arabic must too. If one says "spicy", both do.
• Skip the description when the name is enough. "Water" needs none in any language.

Numbers, prices and AED

Decide one convention and apply it to the whole menu.

Digits. Western digits (1, 2, 3) and Arabic-Indic digits (١، ٢، ٣) are both readable to Arabic speakers. Either is acceptable; mixing them is not. Prices in one style and sizes in another make a menu look assembled from two sources.

Currency. Choose how the dirham is written in each language — for example "AED" in English and «درهم» or «د.إ» in Arabic — and use it everywhere, in the same position relative to the number.

Decimals. "15", "15.0" and "15.00" should not all appear. If any price needs fils, show two decimals on every price.

Units. Write sizes the way they are ordered: "Small / Medium / Large" and «صغير / وسط / كبير», or millilitres in both — not millilitres in one language and words in the other.

Tax. However your café shows VAT, the wording should match in both languages. Our guide to VAT-inclusive menu prices covers the rule and the arithmetic.

One related point that is often confused with menus: the UAE Government portal's consumer-protection page states that invoices must be in Arabic, and that the provider may add any other language. That statement is about invoices. Whether any rule applies to the language of your menu or signage is something to confirm with your local economic department or municipality rather than assume.

Sizes, add-ons and allergens in both languages

This is where bilingual menus most often break. The item name is translated with care, the customer taps it, and the choices underneath are in English only: "Extra shot", "Oat milk", "No onion".

For a customer reading Arabic, that is the point where the menu stops being usable — at exactly the moment they are trying to order.

Check every layer:

• Size names in both languages.
• Add-on group titles ("Choose your bread" / «اختر نوع الخبز»).
• Each choice inside the group.
• Removal options ("No sugar" / «بدون سكر»).
• Category names and any labels such as "New" or "Spicy".
• Allergen and dietary notes. Words like "contains nuts", "vegetarian" and "gluten" matter more than any description, because a customer acts on them. Have these checked by a fluent speaker, and write them the same way on every item.

Common mistakes

Machine translation, unreviewed. Automatic tools translate words, not dishes. They turn "hot dog" into a hot animal and "club sandwich" into a sandwich belonging to a club. Customers notice, and it tells them nobody checked.

Mixed spellings of the same word across the menu.

Translating names that should be transliterated, so the item can't be recognised.

English-only add-ons and sizes under Arabic item names.

Different prices or facts in the two versions, usually because one language was updated and the other was forgotten.

Arabic typed in a tool that breaks it — letters disconnected or in reverse order. If the Arabic looks wrong on the phone, it is wrong.

A translator who has never seen the food. They will translate the words correctly and the dish incorrectly.

A short review checklist before publishing

1. Has a fluent Arabic speaker who knows the food read every Arabic line?
2. Has a fluent English reader done the same for the English?
3. Is each recurring word spelled one way throughout, in both languages?
4. Does every size, add-on, group title and label exist in both languages?
5. Do descriptions say the same facts in both?
6. Are digits, currency and decimals in one consistent style?
7. Are allergen and dietary notes present and identical in meaning?
8. Have you read the menu on a phone in each language, start to finish, as a customer would?
9. Is there a named person who updates both languages whenever something changes?

Where Cupcloud fits

Cupcloud gives a café a bilingual Arabic and English menu with a real right-to-left layout. The café types its own Arabic names, descriptions, sizes and add-ons; there is no automatic translation, which means the wording is yours and the decisions in this guide still have to be made by someone who knows your food. The same digital menu opens in the phone browser from a QR code or link.

Common questions

Should I translate or transliterate dish names? Translate items that are plain descriptions, such as orange juice. Transliterate names customers ask for by sound, such as karak, shawarma or flat white. Add a short explanation when the name alone won't be understood.

Can I use automatic translation for my menu? Use it as a first draft at most. It translates words rather than dishes, so every line needs review by a fluent speaker who knows the food.

Which Arabic should a UAE café menu use? The everyday words your customers say at the counter, including common borrowed words, spelled consistently — not formal dictionary terms nobody orders with.

Do add-ons and sizes need translating too? Yes. An Arabic item name followed by English-only choices leaves the customer unable to finish the order in their language.

Is an Arabic menu required by law in the UAE? We have not verified a rule for menus. The UAE Government portal states that invoices must be in Arabic; for menus and signage, confirm with your local economic department or municipality.