Locale Ar Dz
Use when working with the Arabic (Algeria) locale (`ar-DZ`) — its endonym العربية (الجزائر), Arabic script, right-to-left (RTL) direction, or spoken-population data. Reference data and translation guidance (register, grammar, idiom, typography) for this specific locale; see [[locale]] for general i18n/l10n concepts (BCP 47, plural rules, RTL) that apply across all locales.
Reference data for the Arabic (Algeria) locale — endonym العربية (الجزائر), written in the Arabic script, right-to-left (RTL).
Identifiers
- BCP 47 tag:
ar-DZ - ISO 639-1:
ar - ISO 639-3:
ara - Script: Arab (Arabic)
- Region: DZ (Algeria)
- Text direction: rtl — right-to-left (RTL)
Speakers (approximate)
- L1 (native): 40,000,000
- L2 (additional): 3,000,000
- L1+L2 (total): 43,000,000
Set dir="rtl" for this locale (per Locale's text-direction guidance) rather than assuming left-to-right layout.
Base locale
This is a regional variant of Locale Ar 001 (Arabic), the base/macro locale for this language.
Pluralization
CLDR plural categories for this locale: zero, one, two, few, many, other (6 forms).
- zero —
n = 0(e.g. 0) - one —
n = 1(e.g. 1) - two —
n = 2(e.g. 2) - few —
n % 100 = 3..10(e.g. 3~10, 103~110, 1003, …) - many —
n % 100 = 11..99(e.g. 11~26, 111, 1011, …) - other — everything else (e.g. 100~102, 200~202, 300~302, 400~402, …)
See Unicode Messageformat for writing plural messages using these categories.
Translating into this locale
Apply Locale Ar 001 with these Algerian conventions. Arabic and Tamazight (Berber) are official; spoken Algerian Arabic (Darija) is far from MSA and is rarely written formally. French is widely used in business and education.
- Currency and numbers: Algerian dinar (DZD, د.ج); Western digits (0-9) are the norm in Algeria. Check CLDR
ar-DZ. - Month names: French-derived names (جانفي, فيفري, مارس, أفريل, ماي, جوان, جويلية, أوت, سبتمبر, أكتوبر, نوفمبر, ديسمبر) are the everyday forms in Algeria; MSA يناير / فبراير forms are used in some official or international contexts. Pick the form that matches the audience.
- French loans: terms such as "ordinateur" and "internet" appear in speech; in writing prefer MSA terms (حاسوب, الإنترنت) unless the project glossary says otherwise.
- Tamazight: if the product includes Tamazight, Tifinagh script and Latin script are both used; do not translate Berber names into Arabic spellings carelessly.
Common pitfalls
- Using Eastern Arabic-Indic digits by default.
- Mixing Darija expressions into formal text.
- The general pitfalls in Locale Ar 001 (calques, passive overuse, bidirectional text, and gender agreement) also apply.
Learn more
- Locale for BCP 47 identifiers, locale-sensitive formatting, pluralization, and text-direction concepts that apply across all locales.
- Unicode Messageformat for writing plural/selection messages correctly for this locale's grammar.
- Microsoft Localization Style Guide, Arabic (https://aka.ms/arabic-styleguide)
- Unicode CLDR locale data for digits, calendars, and currency formats (https://cldr.unicode.org)