Arabic has been one of the most influential languages throughout history, dominating large parts of the Middle East and North Africa. Classical Arabic, spoken between the 7th and 9th centuries before branching off into regional varieties, lives on today as a liturgical language of Islam and forms the base of Modern Standard Arabic, a pan-Arabic written standard that unites speakers of all Arabic varieties. The modern-day Arabic dialects that people actually speak are quite a bit different from Classical Arabic—but the closest is Yemeni Arabic.
Yemeni Arabic is divided into five main dialect groups—San’ani, Ta’izzi-Ibb, Tihamiyya, Hadhrami, and Yafi’i—and is collectively spoken by around 30 million people as a native language. The biggest dialects are San’ani and Ta’izzi-Ibb, accounting for roughly 13 million and 12 million speakers, respectively. Like many other regional varieties of Arabic, Yemeni Arabic has no official status, even though it’s the primary language in Yemen—instead, Modern Standard Arabic is used in official contexts. At TranslationServices.com, we want to support Yemeni Arabic—so we’ve launched our own Yemeni Arabic translation team.
To request a free quote for our Yemeni translation services, just message us!
Yemeni Arabic: the modern Arabic variety closest to Classical Arabic
Although Yemen is a relatively small country, it’s rife with dialectical diversity, with several distinct varieties of Yemeni Arabic spoken natively throughout the Arab nation. The dialects have been influenced by the indigenous languages of Yemen, including Razihi, Faifi, Mehri, and Soqotri, all of which are still spoken today. Yemeni Arabic dialects are considered some of the most conservative in the Arab-speaking world, retaining features of Classical Arabic long since abandoned in most other modern Arabic variants. Although Classical Arabic is still used as a liturgical language, most people don’t speak it, which makes Yemeni Arabic difficult to understand for other Arabic speakers.
The vocabulary of Yemeni Arabic, particularly the San’ani dialect, spoken in the capital city of Sana’a, is distinct and highly conservative, preserving classical words that have fallen into disuse in other Arabic varieties. The difference from other Arabic varieties is so stark that when a Yemeni politician once appeared on an Al-Jazeera TV broadcast, even the host needed a translation into Modern Standard Arabic to understand what he was saying. The grammar and syntax of Yemeni Arabic can also differ dramatically from other types of Arabic, with a distinct future tense and an exclamatory sentence construction retained from Classical Arabic. All this means that Modern Standard Arabic translators are in no way qualified to provide Yemeni Arabic translation services—but our Yemeni Arabic translators are proud native speakers who intimately understand the language.
Our Yemeni Arabic translation team tailors their services to uniquely fit your needs.
What kind of Yemeni Arabic translation services are you looking for? If you’re eying translation services for San’ani, we have experienced translators from all over Sana’a and beyond, and if you’re looking for Ta’izzi-Ibb translation services, we’ve hired translators from all areas of Ta’izzi and Adeni. Of course, we also offer translation services for Hadhrami, Tihamiyya, and Yafi’i. Our translators provide services both to and from Yemeni Arabic—so you can break down the language barrier from either side.
Since we have a lot of specialists on our translation team, we can also cater to clients who need translation services for niche purposes, whether in academia, business, literature, or another domain. We can help researchers connect with local Yemeni Arabic speakers in a wide range of fields, we can assist business owners with their marketing efforts in different locales in Yemen, and we can aid creative writers with expanding their audience—whether inside or outside of Yemen. If you have any special requests, just ask—we’re here to help.
Our Yemeni Arabic translators are passionate about helping clients translate to and from Yemeni Arabic. Place your first order now to get started!