Arabic dialect translator
Most translators answer in Modern Standard Arabic, the Arabic of newspapers and speeches. In a taxi in Cairo or a shop in Amman, people speak their own dialect, and the standard form can sound stiff or simply unfamiliar. Parlo lets you choose the dialect: Egyptian, Levantine, Gulf or Moroccan Arabic, or the standard form. Speak or type, and the translation comes back the way people there talk, read aloud.
Why the dialect matters
The same everyday questions, in standard Arabic and in Egyptian Arabic, from Parlo's phrasebooks:
| English | Standard | Egyptian |
|---|---|---|
| Where is the bathroom? | أين الحمّام؟ayna l-ḥammām? | الحمّام فين؟el-ḥammām fēn? |
| I don't understand | لا أفهمlā afham | مش فاهمmish fāhim |
| How much is this? | بكم هذا؟bikam hādhā? | بكام ده؟bikām da? |
| Please | من فضلكmin faḍlak | لو سمحتlaw samaḥt |
| Yes | نعمna'am | أيوهaywa |
| Do you speak English? | هل تتكلم الإنجليزية؟hal tatakallam al-injlīziyya? | بتتكلم إنجليزي؟bititkallim inglīzi? |
The question word moves to the end (fēn, "where"), "not" becomes mish, and the polite word for "please" changes completely. A standard-Arabic answer is usually understood, but it is not how anyone in the street would say it.
The dialects Parlo speaks
- Egyptian Arabic: Egypt. Also widely understood across the Arab world, thanks to Egyptian film and television.
- Levantine Arabic: Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestine.
- Gulf Arabic: The United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and much of Saudi Arabia.
- Moroccan Arabic (Darija): Morocco.
- Modern Standard Arabic: Writing, news and formal speech everywhere in the Arab world.
How it works
- Pick the dialect in the language list, for example Arabic (Egyptian).
- Type or speak in English or any of Parlo's 86 languages and dialects. Parlo writes the translation in everyday dialect, in Arabic script, and reads it aloud.
- For a two-way conversation, open the hands-free interpreter and put the phone between you. Dialect conversations use Parlo's own dialect translation, so the answer stays in dialect.
- Tone carries over: polite stays polite, casual stays casual. With Parlo Plus you can ask for a casual or a polite version whatever you said.
For Egyptian Arabic, Parlo also adds the missing vowels to common words before reading them aloud, and says the Egyptian "g" sound for words like جميل (gamīl, "beautiful"), so the voice sounds Egyptian rather than formal.
Honest limits
- Translations are made by AI and can be wrong. Check anything important.
- Offline, Egyptian Arabic has its own phrasebook; Levantine, Gulf and Moroccan use the standard Arabic phrasebook until you are back online.
- For a doctor, a lawyer or a court, use a professional interpreter. In Australia, TIS National provides interpreting for many of these situations.
Try it in Egyptian Arabic
Free to use in your browser. No app to install.
Learning a few words first? See the Egyptian Arabic phrasebook and the standard Arabic phrasebook, or read Egyptian Arabic for travellers.