Why do Arabic speakers say “I am working with this client since 2023.”?

Arabic uses a present tense for a situation that started in the past and continues. English insists on the present perfect, and the present tense reads as a small factual error rather than a stylistic choice. The version that lands is “I’ve been working with this client since 2023.”. It is interference from Arabic rather than a gap in your English, which is why it survives years of fluency.

Do these Arabic patterns matter if everyone understands me anyway?

Being understood and sounding authoritative are different bars, and in a client meeting you are held to the second one. None of the 5 patterns on this page stop you being understood — that is precisely why nobody corrects them, and why they are still there after ten years.

How do I find out which Arabic habits I actually have?

Paste a transcript from a real meeting and say which speaker is you. Every finding quotes your own sentence back with the version a native speaker would have used, across 5 categories of Arabic interference, and the ones that keep recurring build into a profile so you can see the habit rather than a one-off.

English mistakes Arabic speakers make in meetings

Arabic and English disagree about articles, about how a sentence begins, and about how much warmth a business request needs. None of it obscures meaning. All of it is audible, and the article patterns in particular are the ones colleagues notice first.

The definite article where English wants none

We need to improve the performance in the production.

We need to improve performance in production.

Arabic marks definiteness far more often than English, and abstract and mass nouns carry it by default. The extra “the” is the single most recognisable Arabic-speaker tell in technical English.

“I am working here since” for the present perfect

I am working with this client since 2023.

I’ve been working with this client since 2023.

Arabic uses a present tense for a situation that started in the past and continues. English insists on the present perfect, and the present tense reads as a small factual error rather than a stylistic choice.

“Discuss about” and “explain me”

Let me explain you the architecture, then we discuss about the timeline.

Let me explain the architecture to you, then we’ll discuss the timeline.

Arabic verbs take their objects differently, so English verbs that need no preposition acquire one and verbs that need an indirect object lose theirs. Both are very frequent in meetings.

Elaborate courtesy that reads as evasion

If God wills, we will try to deliver by Thursday, and I hope this is suitable for you.

We’ll deliver by Thursday.

Arabic business register carries politeness that English business register puts elsewhere. Rendered literally it reads as hedging a commitment, which is the opposite of what was meant.

Verb before subject

Arrived the new requirements yesterday from the client.

The new requirements arrived from the client yesterday.

Verb-first order is standard in written Arabic and survives into English under pressure. It is understood, but it lands as distinctly non-native.

Questions Arabic speakers ask

What is the most common English mistake Arabic speakers make in meetings?: The one that shows up most — The definite article where English wants none. It comes out as “We need to improve the performance in the production.” where a fluent colleague would say “We need to improve performance in production.”. Arabic marks definiteness far more often than English, and abstract and mass nouns carry it by default. The extra “the” is the single most recognisable Arabic-speaker tell in technical English.
Why do Arabic speakers say “I am working with this client since 2023.”?: Arabic uses a present tense for a situation that started in the past and continues. English insists on the present perfect, and the present tense reads as a small factual error rather than a stylistic choice. The version that lands is “I’ve been working with this client since 2023.”. It is interference from Arabic rather than a gap in your English, which is why it survives years of fluency.
Do these Arabic patterns matter if everyone understands me anyway?: Being understood and sounding authoritative are different bars, and in a client meeting you are held to the second one. None of the 5 patterns on this page stop you being understood — that is precisely why nobody corrects them, and why they are still there after ten years.
How do I find out which Arabic habits I actually have?: Paste a transcript from a real meeting and say which speaker is you. Every finding quotes your own sentence back with the version a native speaker would have used, across 5 categories of Arabic interference, and the ones that keep recurring build into a profile so you can see the habit rather than a one-off.

Which of these do you actually do?

Reading a list is not the same as knowing which habit is yours. Paste a transcript from a real meeting and find out.

Check a real meeting

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