Arabizi known as Arabglish or Arabglizi is a language that gained popularity among young generations with the emergence of technology and social media. Arabizi is a mixture of English and Arabic words, the Arabic text is written in its transliterated form using Latin characters and numbers that represent certain alphabets in Arabic, basically writing Arabic in English. Arabizi has become a great phenomenon due to having an English keyboard yet people are used to communicating in Arabic dialect, the mixture came up to simplify the communication between friends and family. We have gathered the ultimate guide to the Arabizi language!
First, we will go through the Arabic chat alphabet:
When people in the Middle East gained access to technology and social media they learned about other ways of life and new opportunities that they weren’t aware of. The use of the internet helped unite and reconnect families that became separated due to migrations and conflicts. With the extensive use of social media communication the Arab-speaking youth developed Arabizi.
With the chart, we have provided you we illustrate the innovation of Arabizi and the use of numbers to replace letters that are not translatable to the Latin alphabet.
On another note, Arabizi uses simple words such as “thanks”, “yes”, “no”, “hi”, “hello”, etc.. Now even that social media offers Arabic keyboards and script, the younger generation still use Arabizi because they tend to find it faster, trendier, and easier to type compared to formal Arabic.
We have come up with a conversation that goes on between two people in Arabizi;
A: Saba7o, Kifna? (Good Morning, How are you?)
B: Hello, mni7 w inta? Shu a5barak? (Hello, good and you? What’s new?)
A: Kelo tamem, rawa2 mafi shi jdid, 7ala2 bel beit w rayi7 3al she5el w reji3 da7ir ma3 lshabeb w inte? (I am good. Nothing new the usual, currently at home and leaving to work and later going out with the guys and you? )
B: Kamen bel beit, w rej3a rayha ma3 mom 3end l7ela2. (Home as well, going with mom in a bit to the hairdresser.)
A: Okay deal mendal 3a tawasol laken. (Okay deal, we’ll stay in touch.)
Now the use of numbers in conversations between different Arab countries is the same, yet the dialect changes. The numbers replace the same letters in all countries Arabizi is used. Then how do they differ? We have a few examples for you.
1- Levant Arabizi: Shu a5barik? (What’s new?)
UAE Arabizi: Sha5barich? (What’s new?)
2- Levant Arabizi: Ana bade di2a (I need a minute!)
UAE Arabizi: Ana ab8’a da8ee8a (I need a minute!)
3- Levant Arabizi: Ta3 nrouh 3al mat3am (Let’s go to the restaurant.)
UAE Arabizi: Ta3al 2nrou7 3alal mat3am. (Let’s go to the restaurant.)
I am a personal user of Arabizi in my daily use of social media, such as communicating on Whatsapp with friends and family or using an Instagram direct message, I find it to be easier than writing in Arabic script. It is faster and more fun typing and helps you express more. To someone who already knows Arabic, it is really easy to communicate in Arabizi.
Joseph Yaghi
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