Many events in Qatar speak to two audiences at once: guests who are most at home in Arabic, and guests who work in English. Serving both well is not a matter of translating the programme at the end. It is a set of decisions that shape the running order, the budget, the people you hire and the time each segment takes.
This article covers those decisions in the order you will meet them, from the first conversation about strategy to the final check by a native speaker.
Decide the language strategy early
The first decision shapes all the others: will one language lead, with the other supporting it, or will both be fully equal?
- One primary language suits events where most of the audience shares a language. The programme runs in that language, with key moments, signage and materials available in the other.
- Both fully equal suits official occasions, public events and audiences that are genuinely mixed. Every spoken segment, screen and printed item works in both languages, and nobody should feel they are following a translation.
Full equality takes more time and more preparation, so choose it deliberately rather than by default. Write the decision into the brief, so the venue, the production team, the designers and the staffing partner all plan for the same event.
The MC: one bilingual host or two
A single MC who is fully fluent in both languages keeps the event personal and the pace brisk. They can switch languages naturally, summarise rather than repeat, and read the room in both. The catch is that genuine fluency in both, at the level a formal stage demands, is rarer than a CV suggests, so audition for it rather than taking it on trust.
Two MCs, one for each language, give each audience a native voice and suit a more formal style. They need careful scripting so that the handovers feel planned rather than repetitive, and they add time to every link. Whichever you choose, script the host's lines in both languages and rehearse the switches.
Speeches, interpretation and the order of languages
The order of languages
Agree who speaks in which language, and in what order. A common approach at formal events in Qatar is to give the welcome and opening remarks in Arabic first, then in English. Some speakers will want to deliver their whole speech in their own language; others will alternate. Settle this with each speaker in advance and write it into the running order, including whether their slides follow them or stay in one language.
Simultaneous or consecutive interpretation
If some guests will not follow a speech in one of the languages, you need interpretation. There are two main options, each with its own trade-offs:
- Simultaneous interpretation: interpreters work from soundproof booths while the speaker talks, and guests listen through headsets. The programme keeps its normal pace, which suits conferences and long sessions. It needs booths, equipment, technicians and interpreters who usually work in pairs and take turns, so it costs more and takes up space in the room.
- Consecutive interpretation: the speaker pauses after each passage and the interpreter repeats it in the other language. It needs no special equipment and suits short remarks, small meetings, signing ceremonies and question-and-answer sessions. It can nearly double the time a speech takes, and it breaks the flow.
Brief your interpreters early with speeches, slides, names and technical terms. Interpretation is only as good as the preparation behind it.
Plan the practical side as well: where guests collect and return headsets, a short announcement on how to use them, and a sound check with the interpreters before doors open. If you record the session and want to publish it later, record each language channel separately.
Question-and-answer sessions need a plan of their own. Questions can come in either language, so decide whether the moderator summarises each one in the other language or the interpreters cover it. Make sure the roving microphones reach questioners quickly, because an interpreter cannot relay a question nobody could hear.
Screens, slides and video
Decide early whether slides will be separate for each language or dual-language on the same slide. Separate decks look cleaner and give each language room, but someone has to switch between them at the right moment. Dual-language slides keep both audiences on the same page, but only work with little text and a layout designed for both languages from the start.
Arabic reads from right to left, and that changes the whole layout, not just the text. Charts, timelines, arrows and the reading order of images need to run the other way on Arabic slides. Choose a typeface family with a well-drawn Arabic version, make sure it is installed on every computer that will show the slides, and test them on the actual screens. A missing font can turn Arabic into disconnected letters, broken shapes or empty boxes.
Expect the two languages to take up different amounts of space. A heading that fits neatly in English may run longer or shorter in Arabic, and Arabic often needs a slightly larger size to read comfortably from the back of a room. Leave space in every layout rather than squeezing text to fit.
Two smaller decisions are worth making early. First, choose whether Arabic slides use the same digits as the English slides or Eastern Arabic numerals, and apply the choice everywhere. Second, watch for lines that mix directions, such as an English name or a figure inside an Arabic sentence. Software often reorders these in ways a non-reader will not spot, so have a native reader check each one on the final slides.
Any video shown at the event should work for both audiences. Subtitles are usually the simplest route, and voice-over and on-screen text are options too. Our guide to subtitles and voice-over in bilingual video covers the choices in detail.
Signage, badges, programmes, forms and emails
Everything a guest reads should follow the language strategy you chose. Check each item:
- Signage and wayfinding: decide whether Arabic sits on the right or on top, and apply the same rule everywhere.
- Badges: spell names the way guests write them, which means asking for names in both Arabic and English at registration.
- Printed programmes: either separate versions, or one booklet that opens from both ends, with the Arabic side opening from the right.
- Place cards and seating plans: names and titles in the agreed spelling and order, checked against the guest list in both languages.
- Registration forms: available in both languages, with fields that accept Arabic and English names and a mirrored layout in Arabic.
- Emails and reminders: sent in each guest's preferred language, or in both languages clearly separated rather than mixed line by line.
Build extra time into the design and print schedule for bilingual material. Every item needs proofreading in both languages, and a change in one has to be matched in the other.
Bilingual segments run longer
Anything said in both languages takes longer, and that time has to come from somewhere. A welcome repeated in full can take close to twice as long, an MC switching languages needs a little more time for each link, and interpretation adds its own pauses. Build this into the running order from the first draft, and cut content rather than rushing speakers. Our guide on how to build a run of show explains how to set timings that hold up on the day.
Staff, hosts and language skills
Registration staff, hosts and ushers are often the first people your guests speak to, so their languages matter as much as the MC's. Decide which positions must be bilingual, such as the registration desk, the VIP welcome and the information point, and which can work in one language. Test spoken Arabic and English at the briefing rather than relying on a CV. Language requirements are one of the factors behind staffing budgets, and our guide to what drives the cost of event staffing in Qatar explains the others.
Native review, greetings and protocol
Every piece of Arabic and English content should be reviewed by a native speaker of that language, not only translated. A translation can be accurate and still sound wrong: too literal, too informal, or simply not the phrase a native speaker would use on a stage or a sign. Review the final artwork as well as the text file, because layout is where Arabic most often breaks.
Greetings and protocol deserve the same care. Agree the order in which guests of honour are acknowledged, how titles and honorifics are written and spoken in each language, and how names are pronounced. If the client has a protocol team, involve them early. Small details, such as the correct form of a title or the order of the opening greetings, are exactly what guests notice.
Planning in two languages comes down to deciding early and checking twice. If you would like help with a bilingual programme, from the MC and staffing to slides and signage, ARZO can support you at every stage. Share your plans through our request a proposal page, and we will help you shape an event that works for both audiences.
