The initiative comes ahead of World Arabic Language Day on 18 December, a date recognized by the United Nations in 1973 to celebrate the Arabic language’s cultural and civilisational significance.
Global technology group e& has introduced a free smart keyboard designed to make writing in Arabic easier and more intuitive. Unlike traditional Arabic keyboards, the new tool mirrors the layout of “Arabizi”—an informal method of writing Arabic using English letters and numbers—allowing users to type in Arabic without changing familiar typing patterns. This approach gradually retrains muscle memory and encourages everyday use of the Arabic language in digital spaces.
The initiative comes ahead of World Arabic Language Day on 18 December, a date recognized by the United Nations in 1973 to celebrate the Arabic language’s cultural and civilisational significance. Arabizi emerged in the late 1990s and early 2000s as a workaround for mobile devices that lacked support for non-Latin scripts, enabling users to communicate in Arabic using Roman letters. e&’s keyboard seeks to reconnect users with their native script while accommodating modern digital habits.
The project includes a series of cultural and media initiatives. In collaboration with Diwan Publishing, e& will release a film presenting classic Arabic literary works in Arabizi, demonstrating how meaning and identity are lost when Arabic letters are replaced. The keyboard then shows how users can return to the Arabic script with familiar layouts that revive typing muscle memory. The company will also partner with schools, libraries, and cultural figures to provide interactive content and on-ground experiences that strengthen daily engagement with Arabic.
In addition to promoting everyday use, the initiative addresses professional and institutional needs by supporting proper Arabic writing in workplaces. e& plans to collaborate with educational institutions and cultural organizations to expand the initiative through writing and reading competitions, youth-oriented content, and expert-led workshops that demonstrate how technology can empower the language.
The initiative also targets the representation of Arabic in artificial intelligence. Despite over 400 million Arabic speakers worldwide, Arabic content constitutes less than 1% of online digital material, limiting AI models’ ability to understand both Modern Standard Arabic and regional dialects. e& aims to enhance AI training datasets, ensuring that AI solutions reflect the region’s linguistic and cultural identity.
This project complements e&’s ongoing efforts to support Arabic culture and literature, including its International Prize for Arabic Children’s Literature, which nurtures authors, illustrators, and publishers, fostering a knowledge-driven and culturally empowered future.
