Case Study
A humanitarian foundation’s international-facing About Us page
A localisation review of a major humanitarian foundation’s primary English identity page. The observations below are drawn from a wider review and represent a cross-section of the issues found across the page: factual discrepancies between the Arabic and English versions, inconsistencies with the organisation’s own established English, culturally meaningful omissions, institutional register, structural compression, and smaller wording choices that collectively give the page a translated quality.
The Arabic and English versions of the same page give different figures for the Foundation’s reach. The Arabic states that its assistance has reached more than 107 countries, while the English states more than 87. Whether this is a synchronisation error or a difference in reporting periods, it is a material factual inconsistency on a primary identity page and needs to be resolved.
The revision also improves the English around the figure. “The various assistance given by the Foundation” reads as translated, while “the Foundation’s various forms of assistance” is more natural institutional English. “Since its establishment” expresses the same timeframe more cleanly than “since its inception until the present date.”
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The Arabic vision statement means “Pioneering Initiatives in the Service of Humanity.” The Foundation already uses this wording on its own English Vision and Mission page, but the About Us page instead says “Pioneering Initiatives for Welfare.”
“For Welfare” narrows the Arabic, which refers broadly to serving humanity rather than specifically to welfare provision. It also creates inconsistency between two English pages belonging to the same organisation. The revision restores the organisation’s established English wording and separates the vision from the strategy so that both ideas read more clearly.
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The Arabic includes the standard honourific رحمه الله, used when referring to someone who has passed away. The existing English leaves this unrepresented, so an English reader receives no indication that the Foundation’s founder is deceased.
Translating the phrase literally would sound unfamiliar in institutional English, but omitting it loses meaningful information. “The late” is the natural English equivalent: respectful, clear, and familiar to the reader.
The revision also corrects the legal phrasing. An institution is normally described as established “under” a law, not “by” a law. “Issued in July 2007” also makes clear that the date refers to the law’s issuance.
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The Arabic presents vocational education and health-related needs as two separate areas of work, connected by كما تشمل, meaning “it also includes.” The English compresses them into a single sentence, making vocational education, malnutrition, child protection, and safe water appear as one undifferentiated list.
The revision follows the source structure more clearly. It first states the Foundation’s educational work, then introduces its health and humanitarian work as a distinct area. It also replaces “vocational educational projects” with the more natural “vocational education projects.”
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Several phrases distributed across the page give it a translated quality rather than reading as confident institutional English. None is a major factual error alone, but together they affect the professional tone of a page introducing the Foundation to international readers.