Saudi Arabia ranks around 115th of 123 countries on the 2025 EF English Proficiency Index — the "Very Low" band. International hotels and business districts in Riyadh and Jeddah manage in English, but souqs, taxis, government offices, and most everyday life run in Arabic, making a voice translator close to essential rather than a nice-to-have.
Why Saudi Arabia's Language Gap Is Larger Than Most Destinations in This Series
Saudi Arabia opened to international leisure tourism only in 2019, launching an e-visa system as part of the Vision 2030 push to diversify the economy beyond oil. Tourist numbers have grown fast since — nearly 30 million international arrivals a year and climbing over 15% annually — but the country's tourism infrastructure, while expanding quickly, hasn't caught up to the English coverage found in longer-established destinations like Spain or Turkey. Saudi Arabia ranks near the bottom of the EF EPI's 123-country list, in the "Very Low" proficiency band. International hotel chains, business districts in Riyadh, and Jeddah's more cosmopolitan areas do fine in English, largely because of a very large expatriate workforce. Traditional souqs, local taxis, government offices, and smaller cities run almost entirely in Arabic.
A few practical notes for first-time visitors: dress modestly in public (loose, non-revealing clothing for all genders is expected, though requirements have relaxed significantly in recent years), alcohol is prohibited nationwide, and non-Muslims are not permitted to enter Mecca or certain areas of Medina — plan visits to those cities accordingly. The weekend runs Friday–Saturday rather than Saturday–Sunday.
Setting Up Before You Arrive
- Install the app at home on Wi-Fi — VoiceTranslate.io works in any browser; tap "Add to Home Screen" in Safari or Chrome for a faster, full-screen launch.
- Set your language pair — English → Arabic. The app remembers your selection for the rest of the trip.
- Test your microphone permissions — on iPhone: Settings → Safari → Microphone; on Android: Settings → Apps → your browser → Permissions.
- Get a Saudi SIM — STC, Mobily, and Zain sell prepaid tourist SIMs at the airport (passport required to register) from around $20–30 for several GB of data.
Good to know: Business hours pause briefly around each of the five daily prayer times, particularly for smaller shops and some restaurants. It's a short interruption — typically 15–20 minutes — not a full closure, and larger malls and hotels usually stay open throughout.
Getting Around: Riyadh Metro, Taxis and Rideshare
Riyadh's new metro system has clear English signage and announcements alongside Arabic, making it one of the more approachable parts of getting around the capital. Uber and Careem operate widely in Riyadh and Jeddah and are generally the easiest way to get around — drivers are often expatriates from South or Southeast Asia and may have limited English or Arabic in common with you, which is exactly where a translator helps most. Traditional taxis outside the rideshare apps are far less predictable on language.
- Open VoiceTranslate and switch to the Text tab
- Type your destination or the address information you need
- Tap Translate — the Arabic appears instantly
- Show the screen to your driver, or tap the speaker icon to play it aloud
At Restaurants and Ordering Food
International hotel restaurants and chains in major cities have English menus. Local restaurants, especially outside Riyadh and Jeddah's central districts, often don't. The camera translation feature handles printed Arabic menus quickly — open the Camera tab, point at the menu, and translations appear over each item.
| English | Arabic |
|---|---|
| The bill, please | الفاتورة من فضلك (al-fatura min fadlik) |
| I am allergic to nuts | عندي حساسية من المكسرات (‘indi hasasiyya min al-mukassarat) |
| Without gluten | بدون غلوتين (bidoon gluten) |
| I am vegetarian | أنا نباتي (ana nabaati) |
| Thank you | شكراً (shukran) |
| Where is...? | وين...؟ (wain...?) |
Tipping tip: Tipping isn't mandatory but is increasingly common in restaurants and with drivers — 10% or rounding up is generally appreciated. It's less ingrained than in the US and not expected everywhere.
At Souqs and Traditional Markets
Traditional souqs — Souq Al Zal in Riyadh, the historic Al-Balad district in Jeddah — are where Arabic-only interactions are most likely, and where haggling over price is a normal, expected part of shopping rather than an exception. A translator makes an actual negotiation possible instead of relying on gestures and a calculator.
Use the Talk tab in two-speaker mode at market stalls — you speak into the mic in English, the vendor's Arabic response translates back in real time.
At Pharmacies and Clinics
Pharmacies (marked with a red crescent, the regional equivalent of the pharmacy cross) are widespread in Saudi cities and can advise on and dispense treatment for minor ailments. Staff in major-city pharmacies frequently speak some English, given the large expatriate healthcare workforce, but this isn't guaranteed everywhere.
- Describe symptoms clearly using the Voice tab
- Ask about dosage and side effects before you leave the counter
- Use Camera mode to translate any printed instructions on packaging
For emergencies, call 911 (the unified emergency number used in most areas) or 997 for ambulance service specifically in some regions.
Beyond Riyadh and Jeddah: AlUla and the Red Sea Coast
AlUla — home to the Nabataean tombs of Hegra, Saudi Arabia's first UNESCO World Heritage Site — has been developed heavily for international tourism, with well-organized tours and English-speaking guides at the main sites. Move away from the managed tourist experience, though — into surrounding towns or smaller Red Sea coast communities — and Arabic becomes the only practical language very quickly. This matches the pattern a "Very Low" EF EPI score predicts: strong, deliberately built English coverage in a handful of flagship tourism projects, very little elsewhere.
Voice Translator App vs. Hiring a Local Guide
A private English-speaking guide in Saudi Arabia typically costs $80–200+ per day — worthwhile for a single set-piece day like a guided tour of Hegra in AlUla or Diriyah near Riyadh, where context and history matter as much as language. For the rest of a trip — souq shopping, taxi rides, restaurant orders, pharmacy visits — a translator app costing $29.99 for the entire year covers every one of those moments across every day, at a fraction of one guided day's cost.
Tips for Best Results in Saudi Arabia
- Lean on it heavily with rideshare drivers — Uber/Careem drivers are often non-native Arabic speakers themselves, so a translator can bridge a genuine three-way language gap.
- Speak in full sentences — the AI performs better with natural sentence structure than single words.
- Use Camera mode for Arabic script — Arabic reads right-to-left and doesn't transliterate intuitively; scanning avoids guesswork.
- Save your hotel address in Arabic — translate and save it once so you can show it to any taxi driver without needing data each time.
- Plan around prayer-time pauses — a translator can help you quickly ask a shop's reopening time if you arrive during one.
For a full side-by-side breakdown of VoiceTranslate against Google Translate, DeepL, and iTranslate — pricing, offline support, and language coverage — see our detailed translator app comparison.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a translation app in Saudi Arabia?
Yes, more than in most destinations covered in this series. Saudi Arabia ranks near the bottom of the EF English Proficiency Index's 123-country list — the "Very Low" band. International hotels and business districts manage in English, but souqs, taxis, government offices, and most day-to-day interactions run in Arabic, where a translator is close to essential.
What's the cheapest way to get unlimited translation for a Saudi Arabia trip?
VoiceTranslate's annual plan is $29.99/year for unlimited, ad-free translation across 500+ languages — cheaper than a year of iTranslate Premium or DeepL Individual, and it works in-browser with no app download.
Is English spoken in Riyadh and Jeddah?
In international hotels, upscale malls, and business districts, yes, reasonably well — largely thanks to a very large expatriate workforce. Outside those zones — traditional souqs, local restaurants, government offices, and most taxis — Arabic is the practical default, which is exactly where a translator app becomes useful.
Can non-Muslims visit Mecca or Medina?
No — non-Muslims are not permitted to enter Mecca, and certain areas of Medina are similarly restricted to Muslims only. This is a longstanding rule enforced at checkpoints on the approach roads, so it's worth planning your itinerary around Riyadh, Jeddah, AlUla, and the Red Sea coast, all of which are fully open to all visitors.
Conclusion
Saudi Arabia is one of the fastest-growing tourism markets in the world, but its English coverage hasn't caught up to that growth yet — it sits in the "Very Low" band on the EF EPI, a genuinely larger gap than anywhere else covered in this series. International hotels and flagship sites like AlUla are well set up for visitors; souqs, taxis, and everyday city life are not. An AI voice translator closes that gap directly.
Combine the app with a little cultural awareness — modest dress, prayer-time pauses, and the Mecca/Medina access rules — and Riyadh, Jeddah, and AlUla become genuinely navigable on your own.
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