A loan application in Arabic
A bank branch, a talk with a consultant in Arabic. 6 phrases that the conversation is made of: «مرحبا, أريد التحدث عن قرض عقاري.» — Hello, I want to talk about a mortgage; «أهلا بك. للمنزل أم للشقة؟» — Hello. For a house or an apartment? The conversation is predictable: few lines, and almost all of them repeat from one exchange to the next.
How the whole thing sounds
The situation: a bank branch, a talk with a consultant. The conversation is short and predictable — which is exactly what makes it good for a first try: few lines, and almost all of them repeat from one exchange to the next.
- مرحبا, أريد التحدث عن قرض عقاري.мархаба, уриду ат-тахаддус ʿан кард ʿакаарий.Hello, I want to talk about a mortgage.
- أهلا بك. للمنزل أم للشقة؟ахлян бик. ли-ль-мансиль ам ли-ш-шакка؟Hello. For a house or an apartment?
- للشقة. السعر حوالي مئة ألف يورو.ли-ш-шакка. ас-сиʿр хавааля миʾа альф йуро.An apartment. The price is around a hundred thousand euros.
- مدة القرض تغير الدفع الشهري. عشرون عاما؟муддат аль-кард тугаййир ад-дафʿ аш-шахрий. ʿишруун ʿааман؟The loan term changes the monthly payment. Twenty years?
- نعم, عشرون عاما. عندي عمل ثابت وعقد طويل.наам, ʿишруун ʿааман. ʿанди ʿамаль саабит ва-ʿакд тавииль.Yes, twenty years. I have a steady job and a long contract.
- ممتاز. سنجيبك بعد مراجعة الوثائق.мумтаз. санджуибук баʿд мурааджаʿат аль-васааʾик.Great. We will answer you after checking the documents.
Lines one by one
| Arabic | Reading | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| مرحبا, أريد التحدث عن قرض عقاري. | мархаба, уриду ат-тахаддус ʿан кард ʿакаарий. | Hello, I want to talk about a mortgage. |
| أهلا بك. للمنزل أم للشقة؟ | ахлян бик. ли-ль-мансиль ам ли-ш-шакка؟ | Hello. For a house or an apartment? |
| للشقة. السعر حوالي مئة ألف يورو. | ли-ш-шакка. ас-сиʿр хавааля миʾа альф йуро. | An apartment. The price is around a hundred thousand euros. |
| مدة القرض تغير الدفع الشهري. عشرون عاما؟ | муддат аль-кард тугаййир ад-дафʿ аш-шахрий. ʿишруун ʿааман؟ | The loan term changes the monthly payment. Twenty years? |
| نعم, عشرون عاما. عندي عمل ثابت وعقد طويل. | наам, ʿишруун ʿааман. ʿанди ʿамаль саабит ва-ʿакд тавииль. | Yes, twenty years. I have a steady job and a long contract. |
| ممتاز. سنجيبك بعد مراجعة الوثائق. | мумтаз. санджуибук баʿд мурааджаʿат аль-васааʾик. | Great. We will answer you after checking the documents. |
How to prepare for a conversation like this
Memorizing the lines is not enough: the other person will say their own thing, not what is written. What helps more is catching the key words by ear and keeping three rescue phrases ready: “I don't understand”, “repeat, please”, “slower”.
And one more thing phrasebooks do not mention: awkwardness gets in the way more than not knowing the words.
- Fear of making mistakes gets in the way of learning a language, and noticeably so. The link turns up study after study, and together those studies cover almost twenty thousand people.checked many timesTeimouri, Goetze & Plonsky, 2019, Studies in Second Language Acquisition 41(2) · 19,933 participants from 23 countries; correlation with results r = −0.36.
- That fear can be dealt with — the methods have been tested and they work.checked many timesXiong et al., 2024, Journal of Language and Social Psychology · 37 studies, anxiety reduced by −0.61. Of the seven conditions examined, only age turned out to matter.
Frequently asked
How do you start a conversation in Arabic in this situation?
“مرحبا, أريد التحدث عن قرض عقاري.” (мархаба, уриду ат-тахаддус ʿан кард ʿакаарий.) — Hello, I want to talk about a mortgage. The first line in such a conversation is almost always the same, and that is the one worth learning: the other person will carry it from there.
What if you did not understand the reply?
Say “I don't understand” and “repeat, please” — both are in the rescue set. Admitting your language is still shaky almost always makes the other person more patient.
Should you memorize the dialogue?
No. It is more useful to catch the key words by ear: the other person will say their own thing, and a memorized line will not always fit their reply.