RIYADH: Faced with a globalized workforce and cross-border operations, companies across the Middle East are now embedding live translation into the fabric of daily work, adopting a hybrid human-artificial intelligence strategy to break down language barriers.

For years, multilingual translation in the region was a logistical feature reserved for annual shareholder meetings, flagship conferences, or international trade shows. Today, it has become a daily operational necessity.

Nour Al-Hassan, founder and CEO of Tarjama and Arabic.AI, said in an interview with Arab News that “as companies in the Middle East expand globally, multilingual communication is no longer occasional, it is part of everyday work.”

Tarjama is a MENA-based language technology company that launched Arabic.AI, an advanced, specialized platform for the Arabic language, to deliver high-quality, culturally nuanced, and industry-specific translation and content solutions.

Al-Hassan’s sentiments were echoed by Edward Crook, vice president of strategy at AI-powered neural machine translation service, DeepL, who told Arab News: “In the UAE and Saudi Arabia, 84 percent of professionals have integrated AI translation into their daily workflows, signalling a rapid shift from using language AI tools for big events to making them a staple of daily operations.”

Oddmund Braaten, CEO of multilingual event technology company Interprefy, told Arab News that such language support was previously used only for major external sessions, with in-person interpreters brought in for specific language pairs. 

“What has changed is that live translation is now part of everyday operations,” he said, adding that the organization runs recurring virtual trainings and frequent internal briefings, and multilingual access is built in by default. 

“This has allowed Arabic- and English-speaking teams, along with additional language groups, to participate on equal terms,” Braaten explained.

According to the CEO, internal training uses remote simultaneous interpretation with live captions, especially for technical content. For larger audiences, “AI speech translation is added to extend language coverage.” 

This same language experience is maintained for both in-person and remote participants.

As companies across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Bahrain diversify their economies and attract talent from across the globe, the demand for inclusive communication has moved from the event stage to the weekly team huddle, the training webinar, and the internal strategy update.

This transition from occasional to essential is underscored by new research. A study by Interprefy revealed that 82 percent of Middle Eastern business event organizers now report high demand for multilingual services. 

Crucially, 61 percent see clear value in using live translation for webinars, 55 percent for business meetings, and 54 percent for internal “all hands” sessions.

This aligns with broader regional adoption trends that were observed from 2024 onwards. According to a separate survey by DeepL, 84 percent of professionals in Saudi Arabia and the UAE have already integrated AI translation tools into their daily workflows. 

The drivers are enhancing productivity, developing new language skills, and, for 46 percent of professionals, successfully expanding business into new markets. Crook added that the primary drivers are “both internal and external: from developing language skills, to boosting time efficiency, and managing supplier relationships.”

To meet this surging, everyday demand, businesses are increasingly adopting a pragmatic, hybrid approach. They are moving beyond a one-size-fits-all model to a two-track system that balances nuance with scale, and cost with critical accuracy.

According to Interprefy, for sensitive negotiations, confidential board discussions, legal proceedings, or complex technical workshops, the expertise of professional human interpreters remains irreplaceable. 

This ensures subtlety, cultural nuance, and absolute accuracy where the stakes are highest. 

This approach is mirrored by companies such as Tarjama. As Al-Hassan explained: “Tarjama combines professional human translation with its AI-driven CleverSo platform to deliver a hybrid model that mirrors the evolution of translation tools, enhancing productivity without replacing human expertise.”

For the constant stream of daily interactions, such as project check-ins, company-wide broadcasts, training modules, and supplier communications, AI-powered live translation and captions provide scalable, instantaneous, and cost-effective understanding. 

This layer ensures that language is never a barrier to participation, collaboration, or swift decision-making in fast-moving environments.

He explained how this hybrid model is practically implemented, noting it usually takes one of three forms. 

In some cases, professional interpreters cover the main spoken languages, while AI speech translation is added for languages spoken by a small number of participants. In other situations, professional interpreters are combined with live captions or subtitles. In a third scenario, all three are used together.

This foundational shift extends beyond spoken communication to the very systems that manage a company’s multilingual content. As organizations generate more material for diverse audiences, they require specialized technology that handles the region’s dominant language with native fluency.

For the written word, financial statements and marketing campaigns, Arabic-first Translation Management Systems are becoming critical. As highlighted in a 2025 report by Tarjama on its CleverSo platform, generic systems built for Latin scripts struggle with right-to-left layout, segmentation, and Arabic user interface needs, leading to inaccurate translations that hurt conversion and trust. 

Al-Hassan emphasized the need for specialized systems, stating: “High expectations for Arabic quality, multiple dialects, and regulatory requirements mean generic tools are not enough. Businesses now need specialized systems that fit into daily workflows and handle language with consistency, security, and cultural awareness.”

Modern, AI-native platforms designed around Arabic constraints are now seen as essential for governing quality, ensuring consistency, and speeding up the localization of all written assets, from scanned PDFs to mobile app strings. 

Regarding quality for high-stakes content, Al-Hassan added: “Our approach is built on a fundamental principle: quality cannot be inspected in; it must be designed in from the very beginning.”

The trend is set to intensify. With 77 percent of Saudi and Emirati professionals believing AI will positively impact daily work efficiency by 2029, the integration of intelligent language tools is becoming a benchmark for competitive, inclusive, and globally agile businesses. 

Crook confirmed this outlook, saying that some “77 percent believe AI will be the fundamental driver of workplace efficiency by 2029.”

When justifying the investment in everyday multilingual communication, business leaders point to measurable returns. Braaten shared that leaders justify it by removing friction, reducing risk, and enabling effective contribution at scale. The returns are visible in productivity, with fewer follow-up meetings and faster team alignment, as well as in employee inclusion and retention. 

He also noted that 85 percent of organizers report attendee frustration when multilingual support is not available.

Clients of companies like Tarjama quantify the return on investment on two levels. Al-Hassan stated that internally, they measure faster turnaround times and lower costs, while externally, they look at quicker market entry and faster campaign launches. For most, the real value combines improved internal efficiency with accelerated growth across markets.

As AI translation becomes ubiquitous, Tarjama sees the next competitive frontier in consultancy-driven localization of complex business, government, and advisory content, addressing challenges around regulatory compliance and scalable market launches.

This shift is operational, as explained by Braaten who gave an example of a GCC-headquartered organization now using live translation more frequently. According to the CEO, the firm — with teams and stakeholders across the Middle East and Europe — is now “delivering ongoing professional training rather than just a limited number of annual events.”

Al-Hassan describes this as a shift from “conference-scale” to “workflow-scale” translation, where “translation is built into business systems” and “content moves through the workflow and becomes multilingual as part of the process.”