If you print bilingual material in the UAE, three things decide whether it looks professional: the Arabic font you pair with your Latin font, the line height you give the Arabic text, and who proofreads the Arabic before the file goes to press. Get those right and a bilingual flyer costs exactly the same as an English-only one — 1,000 A5 flyers at 170 GSM are AED 270 either way. Get them wrong and you pay twice: once for the reprint, once for the client who noticed a broken Arabic word on your company profile. This guide covers the rules that actually matter in production, not in theory.
Why bilingual work goes wrong (and it is almost never the translation)
In nine out of ten reprints we see on bilingual jobs, the Arabic text itself was correct. The failure happened between the translator and the press:
- Letters disconnected. Arabic is a joined script. If the designer typed or pasted Arabic into software without proper Arabic text support — or converted the text to outlines in the wrong order — the letters separate into individual shapes. "مطبعة" becomes four unconnected characters. It is immediately visible to any Arabic reader and invisible to a designer who does not read Arabic.
- Reversed word order. Copy-pasting from a browser or a PDF into design software can flip the order of words in a line while keeping each word correct.
- Clipped diacritics and descenders. Arabic has marks above and dots below the baseline. At tight line spacing, the hamza on one line collides with the descender of the line above.
- Missing glyphs. The chosen font has no Arabic set, so the software silently substitutes another font — or drops characters entirely.
None of these show up on screen if you do not read Arabic. All of them show up on 5,000 printed brochures.
Typography: pairing Arabic with Latin
Match the weight, not the point size
Arabic set at the same point size as Latin almost always looks smaller and lighter, because Arabic letterforms sit lower relative to the em box and carry less visual mass. The practical fix: set Arabic 1–2 points larger than the Latin equivalent. If your English body copy is 9 pt, set the Arabic at 10 or 10.5 pt. On a business card where English is 7.5 pt, Arabic should be 8.5 pt.
Line height is the single biggest lever
Arabic needs more leading than Latin — plan on 1.4 to 1.6× the point size, against 1.2 to 1.3× for English. A bilingual A4 brochure page that holds 320 English words holds roughly 260 Arabic words in the same box at the same readable size. Budget for that before you lay out the page, not after the client sends the translation.
Font pairing that works in print
Pair by category, not by name. A geometric sans like Futura or Montserrat pairs with Kufi-style Arabic. A humanist sans pairs with a Naskh-based Arabic. A serif English font pairs with a traditional Naskh. What does not work: a heavy display Kufi next to a light English serif — the page looks like two different companies. If your brand font has a matching Arabic cut (many type foundries now ship both), use it and stop there.
Avoid these in print
Thin Arabic weights below 8 pt on coated stock — the hairlines fill in. Full diacritics (tashkeel) on body copy — it is only needed for Quranic text, children's material and names that could be misread. All-caps styling applied to Arabic — Arabic has no case, and the "all caps" button in design software will do unpredictable things to the glyphs.
Layout: mirror the page, do not translate it
Arabic reads right to left, and that changes the structure of the page, not just the text block.
- Reading entry point moves to the top right. Your logo, headline and the first thing you want read should sit on the right.
- Fold order reverses. On a tri-fold, the Arabic "front" panel is the one an English reader would call the back. Mark the panels clearly on your artwork before sending. This is the most common bilingual brochure error and it is caught at proof stage or not at all.
- Arrows, charts and timelines flip. A process diagram that flows left to right in English should flow right to left in the Arabic version. Bar charts and axis labels mirror too.
- Numbers do not flip. Numerals, phone numbers, prices and email addresses stay left to right even inside Arabic text. A phone number written backwards is a surprisingly frequent reprint cause.
- Punctuation mirrors. Arabic uses its own comma (،), question mark (؟) and semicolon. Brackets and quotes reverse direction.
Three bilingual layout models
Split layout — English one side, Arabic the other, on the same face. Works for business cards, table talkers and short signage. Cheapest option because it is still one piece.
Flip-side layout — English on the front, Arabic on the back. Standard for business cards, loyalty cards and DL flyers. No extra cost on a double-sided print, which is how most of our business card products are already priced.
Two separate versions — a full English document and a full Arabic document. Required for anything long: company profiles, catalogues, tender submissions, menus with descriptions. It doubles the artwork work but not always the print cost, because you are splitting one quantity across two versions.
Real prices for bilingual print jobs
Bilingual does not carry a language surcharge. You pay for quantity, size, stock and finishing — the same as any job. Prices below are live store prices in AED, VAT inclusive, for full-colour printing.
| Item | Spec | Quantity | Price (AED) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business cards | 350 GSM, matt laminated, 2 sides | 500 | 99 |
| Business cards | 350 GSM, matt laminated, 2 sides | 1,000 | 170 |
| Flyers A5 | 170 GSM glossy, 2 sides | 1,000 | 270 |
| Flyers A5 | 170 GSM glossy, 2 sides | 2,000 | 540 |
| Brochure A4 | 100 GSM wood free | 1,000 | 475 |
| Brochure A4 | 170 GSM glossy | 1,000 | 610 |
| Brochure A4 | 170 GSM glossy | 5,000 | 1,100 |
| Letterheads A5 | 100 GSM wood free | 1,000 | 230 |
| Menu A4 to A5 | 350 GSM, matt laminated | from 500 | from 550 |
| Acrylic wall signage | Indoor, wall mounted | 1 | 495 |
| Roll-up banner | 85 × 200 cm, with stand | 1 | 190 |
| Custom stamp | 32 × 32 mm | 1 | 210 |
Two things that do add cost: a second version of the same document (separate plates or a separate digital run), and translation or Arabic typesetting if you do not supply the Arabic text yourself. Browse the full range in Print & Marketing.
The proofreading sequence that prevents reprints
This is the part most companies skip, and it is the cheapest insurance you will buy. Run it in this order:
- Approve the Arabic text first, as plain text. Before any design, get the translation signed off in a Word or text document by a native Arabic speaker in your own company. Not the designer, not the printer, not a translation app.
- Check the designed file on screen for connection. Zoom to 400% on every Arabic headline. Letters within a word must touch. If any word looks like separated shapes, the file is broken — send it back.
- Read the Arabic out loud from the proof. Reversed word order is caught by reading, not by looking.
- Verify every numeral and Latin fragment. Phone numbers, website, email, licence numbers, prices. These sit inside Arabic text and are where reversal happens most.
- Request a PDF with outlined fonts for final approval. Once fonts are outlined, the Arabic cannot shift or substitute between your file and the press. Approve that file, not the editable one.
- On runs above 2,000, ask for a hard proof. On-screen approval does not show you how a 7 pt Arabic weight behaves on 170 GSM glossy.
How to order bilingual print in Dubai
Send your approved artwork as a print-ready PDF with fonts outlined, 3 mm bleed on all sides and a 5 mm internal safety margin — Arabic descenders sit lower than Latin ones, so keep text further from the trim than you would in English. Build in CMYK; see our notes on CMYK vs RGB if your file came from a web designer. If you only have an editable file, send the fonts with it.
Standard production is 5 working days after final artwork approval for offset items such as flyers, brochures, letterheads and envelopes. Business cards, posters and signage move faster. Express next-day business cards are available from AED 149. Delivery is free within Dubai on most orders and runs to Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and the Northern Emirates on a next-day schedule. All store prices are VAT inclusive.
If you are unsure which paper GSM suits a bilingual document that will be handled repeatedly — a menu, a company profile, a site file — send us the page count and we will quote both options.
FAQ
Does printing in Arabic cost more than English?
No. The print price is driven by quantity, size, stock and finishing. A bilingual A5 flyer at 1,000 pieces on 170 GSM glossy is AED 270 — the same as an English-only one. Cost only increases if you need two separate versions printed, or if you ask us to handle translation and Arabic typesetting.
Is Arabic legally required on signage and printed material in the UAE?
Requirements depend on the emirate, the authority and the type of material. Shopfront and external signage, food labelling and certain regulated notices commonly require Arabic, often given equal or greater prominence than English. Rules are set by the relevant municipality or free zone authority and they change, so confirm the current requirement with the authority that issued your licence before you commit to a signage layout.
Why do the Arabic letters look separated in my PDF?
The text was pasted or typed into software without Arabic script support, or the glyphs were outlined incorrectly. It cannot be fixed at the press — the Arabic has to be re-set in software with proper right-to-left and ligature support, then re-approved.
Should Arabic go on the front or the back of a business card?
Convention in the UAE is English on the front, Arabic on the back, with the card reading from the opposite short edge so the Arabic side is upright when flipped. Most of our double-sided business card products cover both sides at no extra cost — 1,000 matt-laminated cards at 350 GSM are AED 170.
How much extra space should I leave for Arabic in my layout?
Plan for roughly 15–20% more vertical space than the English equivalent, driven mainly by the larger line height Arabic needs. If your English block is fixed by a template, reduce the Arabic word count rather than shrinking the type.
Can you translate the Arabic for us?
We can arrange translation and Arabic typesetting, but we always ask that the final Arabic text be approved by a native speaker inside your company before it goes to artwork. A printer cannot be the last reader of your Arabic copy.
Get your bilingual job quoted
Send your artwork, page count and quantity on WhatsApp at +971 52 210 0909 or call 0522100909, and we will confirm the price, the stock and the production date before you pay. Browse the full catalogue in Print & Marketing.
