People generally think of Arabic as a single language, but it’s more accurately conceptualized as a family of closely related languages. The language is divided up among a couple dozen “dialects” that function more like distinct languages, given that speakers of one Arabic dialect often can’t understand speakers of another. In writing, Arabic speakers typically use Modern Standard Arabic, an artificial standard that speakers of all Arabic varieties learn—but that isn’t anyone’s native language. What people actually speak at home and in life is one of the local Arabic varieties, such as Jordanian Arabic.
With nearly 10 million native speakers, Jordanian Arabic is a large and influential variant of Arabic spoken throughout Jordan. Despite its considerable differences from Classic Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic, Jordanian Arabic is not recognized as the country’s official language, and it suffers from poor representation, with written materials seldom published in the dialect. At TranslationServices.com, we believe each regional variety of Arabic is just as important as Modern Standard Arabic, which is why we’re proud to support Jordan’s native language with our new Jordanian Arabic translation services.
If you’d like to see how much our Jordanian Arabic translation services cost, we invite you to request a free quote!
Jordanian Arabic: the native language of Jordan
Jordanian Arabic is, of course, spoken throughout Jordan, but the language isn’t uniform across the whole country. Rather, Jordanian Arabic can be divided into the subdialect clusters of Sedentary Jordanian Arabic and Bedouin Jordanian Arabic, with the Ammani subdialect standing as the most spoken and most influential variety of Jordanian Arabic. Jordan’s Arabic is generally classified as a Levantine dialect, similar to that spoken in Lebanon and Palestine, although the southern dialects more closely resemble Arabic varieties spoken in Iraq or Saudi Arabia.
Naturally, Jordanian Arabic’s grammar is highly similar to that of other forms of Arabic, including Modern Standard Arabic, but the native vernacular of Jordan also features numerous differences from the artificial written standard of the Arabic-speaking world. For example, Jordanian Arabic lacks the dual pronouns that exist in Modern Standard Arabic—instead, it has only singular and plural pronouns. Since the person is marked on the verb with a prefix or suffix, Jordanian Arabic usually omits independent subject pronouns, similar to Spanish. The dialect also has different words for “you” depending on whether the listener is male or female, which can pose a challenge to translators. But that’s why we only work with the best Jordanian Arabic translators.
Jordanian Arabic translation services you can count on for any occasion
Accuracy and reliability are imperative in translation. To this end, we’ve searched far and wide all over Jordan to fill our team with the best Jordanian Arabic translators we possibly can. Our translators have years of experience in the translation industry, transforming texts both from English to Jordanian Arabic and from Jordanian Arabic to English, so whether you’re looking to branch out beyond Jordan or narrow in on an audience in the Middle Eastern country, our team can help.
What if you’re looking for specialty translation services? Don’t worry—our translation team includes members who work in more niche areas of translation, including academic translation, business translation, and literary translation. Our academic translators work with researchers, professors, and other scholars in all kinds of fields, and our business translators serve entrepreneurs and business owners in just about any industry you can think of. We also have literary translators on our team who can help creatives in Jordan and beyond prepare their books, poems, stories, and more for a new audience, whether in English or Jordanian Arabic.
If you want great Jordanian Arabic translation services, we’re the team for you. Send us a message today so we can discuss your needs.