Facilitating mixed Arabic and English teams

In a mixed Arabic and English workshop, the language you run it in quietly decides whose ideas count. Agree openly how language will work before you start, let people write in whichever language they think in, put key prompts and decisions in both languages, and build in time for translation rather than squeezing it into the margins. Do this and you get the full room's thinking, not just the most fluent speakers'.

Why language becomes a power problem

In many Gulf organisations, English is the language of slides, reports and senior consultants, while Arabic is the language of corridors, customers and much of the real knowledge. A workshop run only in English quietly favours people educated abroad and newer hires from outside the region. A workshop run only in formal Arabic can leave expatriate specialists guessing, and may still not match the dialect people actually speak with each other.

The effects are easy to miss because nobody complains:

• Fluency is mistaken for quality. The person who speaks fastest in the dominant language sounds most convincing, whatever the merit of their idea.
• Ideas lose nuance in translation. People simplify what they mean to fit the vocabulary they have in their second language.
• Thinking time is unequal. Working in a second language is tiring. By the afternoon, those participants contribute less, and it is not for lack of ideas.
• Customer insight gets distorted. When research was done in Arabic and the workshop happens in English, quotes are paraphrased and the texture that makes them useful disappears.

None of this needs a translation budget to fix. It needs design.

How to facilitate a mixed-language session, step by step

1. Find out who works best in what. In the invitation or a short pre-session note, ask each participant which language they prefer to write in, read in and speak in. They are often different. Many professionals read English comfortably but write ideas faster in Arabic, or the reverse.

2. Make a language agreement at the start. Spend two minutes on it, aloud. For example: "Speak in whichever language you think best in. Write notes in either. Prompts and decisions will be on the wall in both. If you don't follow something, ask; that is the facilitator's job, not a weakness." Saying this openly lifts a burden that many people carry silently.

3. Write first, in any language. Silent writing before discussion is helpful in any group and essential in a bilingual one, because it removes the speed advantage of fluent speakers. Use brainwriting or a short individual round. Our guide to silent-first ideation covers the mechanics.

4. Put prompts in both languages, and write them natively. A how might we question should be written in Arabic by someone who thinks in Arabic, not machine-translated from English. Literal translations of design jargon often land as stiff or unclear. Keep the English term in brackets where people know it, for example التفكير التصميمي (Design Thinking).

5. Translate outputs, not every word. You do not need everything in both languages. You need the clusters, the decisions and the actions in both. When grouping notes with affinity grouping, pair a native speaker of each language to name each cluster in both. The act of naming in two languages often sharpens what the cluster really means.

6. Use language-pairs for small group work. Mix tables so each has at least one person comfortable in both languages. That person becomes a bridge, not an interpreter: they check meaning, not grammar. Thank them openly; this is real work.

7. Slow down at decision points. Before any vote or decision, read the options aloud in both languages and pause. Ask: "Does this mean the same thing in Arabic and in English?" You will be surprised how often it does not.

8. Write the record in the language of the people who will act on it. If the delivery team works in Arabic, the decision record goes out in Arabic first, with an English version for those who need it. Not the other way round.

Working with an interpreter

For formal or large sessions, especially with external partners, a professional interpreter may be the right choice. A few practical points:

• Brief them on the method and the vocabulary beforehand. Send the agenda, the key terms and any pre-read. Workshop jargon is unfamiliar to most interpreters.
• Consecutive interpretation suits small groups; simultaneous suits large ones. Consecutive doubles the time of every exchange, so plan for it. Simultaneous needs equipment, or a platform that supports interpretation channels if you are online.
• Speak to the participant, not the interpreter. Look at the person you are addressing.
• Do not interpret silent work. Let people write in their own language and translate the results afterwards. This saves time and keeps the original voice.

Illustrative example

Illustrative. A regional logistics company in Dubai ran a workshop to redesign its delivery exceptions process. The operations supervisors were mostly Arabic speakers; the technology and analytics team were largely English-speaking expatriates. Two earlier sessions had been run in English, and the supervisors had said little.

For the third session the facilitator opened with a language agreement, put the question on the wall in Arabic and English, and ran a silent writing round in which people chose their language. More than half of the notes were in Arabic. Mixed pairs named the clusters in both languages. One cluster that had been labelled "customer communication" in English was renamed by a supervisor in Arabic as something closer to "the driver is left to apologise alone". The room recognised that as the real issue. The team agreed to test a script and an escalation route for drivers, and used a feedback capture grid in both languages to gather reactions after two weeks.

Do's and don'ts

Do

• Ask people's language preferences before the session.
• State a language agreement aloud at the start.
• Let people write in whichever language they think in.
• Write prompts natively in each language, not by literal translation.
• Name clusters and decisions in both languages, with a native speaker of each.
• Send the record first in the language of those who will act on it.

Don't

• Assume that reading a language well means thinking in it quickly.
• Ask bilingual participants to interpret informally all day without acknowledging it.
• Use machine translation for prompts without a native speaker checking.
• Treat Arabic as a translation of the "real" English content. In many sessions it is the other way round.
• Rush decision points. That is where meaning drifts between languages.

Questions people ask

Which language should a workshop in Saudi Arabia or the UAE be run in? In the language most participants think in, with key materials in both. If the group is genuinely mixed, run it bilingually with a clear language agreement rather than choosing one and hoping everyone copes.

How do I facilitate if I only speak one of the two languages? Pair with a co-facilitator who speaks the other, and agree roles beforehand. You can still run the structure; your partner checks meaning, names clusters, and catches what you would miss.

Does a bilingual workshop take longer? Somewhat, mainly at decision points and when sharing back. Plan around a fifth more time for those moments, or cut one activity. Silent writing does not take longer, and saves time overall.

Where to go next

This piece belongs to our wider guidance on how to run a workshop that ends in decisions. For sessions where seniority adds a further layer, read running a workshop with senior executives. Useful method guides: brainwriting, affinity grouping, how might we and the feedback capture grid. Every Tiremesù method guide is available in Arabic and English, along with four other languages.