Locale Ar Iq
Use when working with the Arabic (Iraq) locale (`ar-IQ`) — its endonym العربية (العراق), 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 (Iraq) locale — endonym العربية (العراق), written in the Arabic script, right-to-left (RTL).
Identifiers
- BCP 47 tag:
ar-IQ - ISO 639-1:
ar - ISO 639-3:
ara - Script: Arab (Arabic)
- Region: IQ (Iraq)
- Text direction: rtl — right-to-left (RTL)
Speakers (approximate)
- L1 (native): 35,000,000
- L2 (additional): 3,000,000
- L1+L2 (total): 38,000,000
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 Iraqi conventions. Arabic and Kurdish are official languages; the spoken dialect is Iraqi Arabic.
- Currency and numbers: Iraqi dinar (IQD, د.ع). Check CLDR
ar-IQfor the default digits. - Month names: Iraq uses the Levantine-style names (كانون الثاني, شباط, آذار, نيسان, أيار, حزيران, تموز, آب, أيلول, تشرين الأول, تشرين الثاني, كانون الأول).
- Kurdish: where Kurdish is included, use Sorani (Arabic-based script) as the writing standard in Iraq, or Kurmanji where it is the project's target; do not substitute Arabic for Kurdish names.
- Tone: formal and courteous; religious and national observances differ by community, so check holiday content.
Common pitfalls
- Using Gulf or Maghrebi month names.
- Transliterating Kurdish names through Arabic spelling rules without checking.
- 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)