Arabic and English Documents for Oman Customers and Suppliers

One document for two readers

A ministry office may read Arabic first while a regional manager at the same buyer reads English. If you keep two versions of a quotation, they drift apart: a price is edited in one and forgotten in the other. A single bilingual document removes that risk, because both languages sit on the same record.

TAQNIX ERP produces Arabic and English quotations, sales orders, invoices and purchase orders, so your own team can read Arabic while an overseas supplier reads English on the same purchase order. Write the content once, then check a sample printout against your letterhead. This also saves time when a customer asks for a copy, since there is only one version to find.

Consistent names

A customer's name should be spelled the same way on every quotation, invoice and receipt, in both languages. Choose the Arabic and English names once, ideally from the registration papers the customer gave you, and store both on the customer record. Mixed spellings make statements confusing and invite questions from the buyer's accounts team.

• One spelling per language, copied from official papers
• VAT number kept on the customer record, not typed on each invoice
• The same rule for supplier names on purchase orders
• Contact person and address kept up to date

Item descriptions that read in both languages

Write each product or service description in both languages and keep it short. 'Supply and install split air conditioner' works better than a long sentence, and the Arabic should say the same thing, not a looser version. A buyer comparing the two should find the same item, quantity and unit.

Agree your unit words in advance, such as piece, box, day and month, and use one translation of each. Small mismatches, like one unit word in English and a different one in Arabic, are the ones customers remember and quote back to you. Write them into a short list that everyone preparing quotations can see.

Totals in rials with three decimals

Every total, in both languages, should show rials with three decimals, because 1 rial is 1,000 baisa. For example, a net amount of OMR 1,250.500 plus 5% VAT of OMR 62.525 gives OMR 1,313.025. If the Arabic side shows 1,250.5 and the English side 1,250.500, readers will wonder whether they match.

Show the net amount, VAT and total on separate lines so a buyer can check each one. Before you send the first document to a new customer, print it and compare the totals block in Arabic and English line by line. A short check here saves a long exchange of emails later.

One template, not two

Set up one template for quotations and one for invoices, each carrying both languages, and use them for every customer. A single template keeps the logo, address, VAT number and payment terms in the same place each time, and any change you make reaches every document. Use the same wording for the same thing, such as Total and VAT, in every template.

Before rolling it out, ask one Arabic reader and one English reader to check a sample for sense and figures. Fix what they find in the template once, rather than in each document afterwards. Once it is approved, keep a copy of the final wording where your team can find it, so new colleagues do not build their own version.