Our WhatsApp front desk is an AI chatbot for small businesses. Iraqi is where it has done best so far: 27 of 30 written customer messages passed. We show the three misses as well as the good replies, because a score means little without them.
27 of 30 test messages passed on 7 October 2026. A native speaker is still reviewing the messages.
Passed
Missed
Real messages and replies
These are messages from our Iraqi test set (Baghdadi wording) with the replies the assistant really wrote. All of these replies passed and read naturally. The three misses come after them.
The tests run through the website chat of a sample restaurant and a sample clinic that we made up in Kuala Lumpur, which is why some replies mention ringgit prices or ask for a WhatsApp number. On WhatsApp the assistant already has the customer’s number. Replies are shown exactly as the assistant wrote them. Test phone numbers are shortened.
Test 01 of 30Sample restaurantPassed
Customer: السلام عليكم، شلونكم؟
In English: Peace be upon you, how are you all? (شلونكم means how are you.)
Front desk: وعليكم السلام ورحمة الله! هلا والله، بخير الحمد لله، شلونك أنت؟ أبشر، شتحتاج؟ أكدر أساعدك بالمنيو أو الأسعار أو حجز طاولة.
In English: And peace and God’s mercy be upon you! Welcome, I’m fine, thank God, how are you? What do you need? I can help with the menu, the prices or a table booking.
Test 09 of 30Sample restaurantPassed
Customer: شكد سعر الحمص؟
In English: How much is the hummus? (شكد means how much.)
Front desk: هلا والله! الحمص بـ 16 رينغيت، وإذا تريد الحمص باللحمة (لحمة مفرومة وصنوبر وزبدة) سعره 26 رينغيت. الأسعار شاملة الضريبة وماكو رسوم خدمة.
In English: Welcome! The hummus is RM 16, and if you want hummus with meat (minced meat, pine nuts and butter) it is RM 26. Prices include tax and there is no service charge. (ماكو means there is none.)
Test 13 of 30Sample restaurantPassed
Customer: هسه فاتحين لو مسكرين؟
In English: Are you open or closed right now? (هسه means now, لو means or.)
Front desk: هلا والله! هسه مسكرين، نفتح اليوم الأربعاء الساعة 12:00 الظهر ونداوم لـ 11:30 بالليل (المطبخ يسكر قبل بنص ساعة). تريد أحجزلك طاولة؟
In English: Welcome! We’re closed now. We open today, Wednesday, at 12:00 noon and stay until 11:30 at night (the kitchen closes half an hour before). Do you want me to book you a table?
Test 04 of 30Sample restaurantPassed
Customer: أريد طاولة لاثنين باچر الساعة تسعة بالليل
The assistant replies first. That reply is not recorded in our results.
Customer: الاسم علي، رقمي +601234567xx
In English: I want a table for two tomorrow (باچر) at nine at night. Then: the name is Ali, my number …
Front desk: تم الحجز، عيوني! ✔️ طاولة لشخصين باسم علي، الخميس 8 أكتوبر الساعة 9:00 بالليل (21:00). الطاولة تنحجز 15 دقيقة بعد الموعد.
هذا ديمو، يعني ما انحجز شي حقيقي.
In English: Done, my dear! A table for two under the name Ali, Thursday 8 October at 9:00 at night (21:00). The table is held for 15 minutes after the time. This is a demo, so nothing real was booked.
Test 17 of 30Sample restaurantPassed
Customer: اكو مشروبات كحولية عدكم؟
In English: Do you have alcoholic drinks? (اكو means is there, عدكم means you have.)
Front desk: لا ماكو، المطعم ما يقدم أي مشروبات كحولية أبد. إحنا حاصلين على شهادة حلال (JAKIM) وما نقدم كحول إطلاقاً. عدنا مشروبات ثانية مثل الليمون والنعناع، الجلاب، عصير الرمان وقهوة عربية، إذا تحب أكملك عنها.
In English: No, there isn’t. The restaurant serves no alcoholic drinks at all. We are halal-certified (JAKIM) and serve no alcohol whatsoever. We have other drinks such as lemon and mint, jallab, pomegranate juice and Arabic coffee, and I can tell you more if you like.
Test 25 of 30Sample restaurantPassed
Customer: انته إنسان لو بوت؟
In English: Are you a human or a bot?
Front desk: أنا المساعد الافتراضي لمطبخ زيتون، يعني بوت مو إنسان. أقدر أساعدك في المنيو والأسعار وأوقات الدوام والحجز. وإذا تحب تكلم أحد من الفريق، أبلغهم لك.
In English: I’m Zaytoun Kitchen’s virtual assistant, so a bot, not a human. I can help with the menu, prices, opening times and bookings. And if you want to talk to someone from the team, I’ll tell them for you.
Test 26 of 30Sample restaurantPassed
Customer: هلا والله حجي، آني وصلت من أسبوع من بغداد وأريد أجي آني وعائلتي، يعني احنا ستة، يوم السبت إن شاء الله بعد المغرب، اكو شي للأطفال؟ وتقبلون كاش لو بس كارد؟
In English: Hello, my friend. I arrived from Baghdad a week ago and I’d like to come with my family, six of us, on Saturday after Maghrib, God willing. Is there anything for the children? And do you take cash, or only card?
Front desk: هلا والله بيك وبعائلتك، ونورتوا كوالالمبور! 🌿 المطعم مناسب للعائلات وعدنا كراسي أطفال. بس ما عندي معلومة عن قائمة خاصة بالأطفال أو عن الدفع كاش لو كارد، فأكدر أسأل الفريق عنهم.
للحجز لستة أشخاص يوم السبت 10 أكتوبر، أي ساعة تريدون بالضبط، وعلى أي اسم؟ وإذا تعطيني رقم واتساب يتواصل وياك الفريق بخصوص الدفع.
In English: Welcome to you and your family, you have lit up Kuala Lumpur! The restaurant suits families and we have children’s chairs. But I have no information on a special children’s menu or on whether payment is cash or card, so I can ask the team about them. To book for six people on Saturday 10 October, what time exactly, and under what name? And if you give me a WhatsApp number, the team will contact you about payment.
In English: My molar hurts a lot since yesterday and my face is a bit swollen. What should I drink or take? (هواي means a lot.)
What the assistant doesIt gives no medicine advice and treats the swelling as urgent. It tells the customer to call the clinic when it opens or to message the clinic’s WhatsApp, warns that trouble swallowing or breathing means going to emergency, and asks for a WhatsApp number so the team can reach the customer.
What works, and where it still slips
Works well
It understood almost every message, including «اكو», «ماكو», «شكد», «هسه», «هواي», «كلش», «باچر», «وياي» and «مالتي».
Its replies are full of Iraqi wording: «هلا والله», «ماكو», «هسه», «شتحتاج», «أكدر», «عيوني». The wrong-dialect words our automatic check looks for (such as Levantine «بدك» and «هلق», or Gulf «الحين») appeared in none of the Arabic-script replies.
It did not guess. Asked about a children’s menu and about cash versus card, it said it had no information and offered to ask the team.
It confirmed a complete booking, handed a party of 13 to the team, and gave no medicine advice for a toothache with a swollen face.
In Arabic script, 27 of 28 messages passed.
Still slips
Latin letters are the weak spot. Both Iraqi Arabizi messages missed: the assistant understood them but replied with Levantine spellings («kteer», «tawle», «hadol»).
A clinic check-up request got a restaurant-style question, “how many people are coming?”, and the reply never named the check-up.
Our set is Baghdadi wording. Speech in Basra, Mosul and the Euphrates towns differs, and we have not tested it.
A native speaker is still reviewing the 30 test messages.
In English: I want to book a check-up and a cleaning next week.
Front desk: أهلاً وسهلاً! أكيد، أي يوم تناسبكم الأسبوع الجاي؟ وكم شخص بيحضر؟ (الدوام من الاثنين إلى الجمعة 9:30 صباحاً - 7:00 مساءً، والسبت لين 4:00 عصراً)
What went wrongIt asked which day suits, but it never said it understood “check-up and cleaning”, and “how many people are coming?” sounds like a restaurant booking. The form «بيحضر» is Levantine or Egyptian; an Iraqi reply would say «راح يجون».
Test 29 of 30Sample restaurantMissed
Customer: shinu 3idkum akil nabati?
In English: What vegetarian food do you have? (Arabic in Latin letters.)
Front desk: Ahlan! 3indna akl nabati kteer: Hummus, Moutabal, Muhammara, Fattoush, Tabbouleh, Falafel, w Warak enab, kamaan Za'atar manakish w Spinach fatayer, kullhom vegan. W fi aklat jibn zay Grilled halloumi w Cheese manakish, hadol vegetarian.
Tehib a3tik fikra 3an el as3ar aw ta7jez tawle?
What went wrongIt understood and named real vegan dishes, but the spelling is Levantine, not Iraqi: «kteer» (a lot) where an Iraqi writes «hwaya», and «tawle», «hadol», «kamaan» and «zay».
The words it listens for
The assistant works in two layers. A list of Iraqi words gives it a hint about who it is talking to, and the AI model reads the whole message itself, so a word that is not on the list is still understood. These are the words on the list. Iraqi texting also uses two extra letters, چ and گ, and the assistant reads both «باچر» and «باجر» for “tomorrow”.
اكو · ماكوthere is · there isn’t
شلونك · شلونكمhow are you
شكدhow much, how many
هسهnow
هواي · كلشa lot · very
باچر · باجرtomorrow
آنيI
وياي · وياكwith me · with you
مالتي · مالتكmine · yours
تكدر · أكدرyou can · I can
عدكم · عدكyou have
حجي · يمعودa friendly way to address someone, like “mate”
ثلاثطعش · أربعطعشthirteen · fourteen
شنوwhat (also Gulf and Sudanese, so it only breaks ties)
Also in our test messages (the AI model reads these without a list)
لوor («فاتحين لو مسكرين؟»)
شتحتاج · شتحبwhat do you need · what would you like
عيونيa warm “gladly, my dear”
In Latin letters (Arabizi)
aku · makuاكو · ماكو
shkadشكد · how much
hwaya · kleshهواي · كلش · a lot · very
bacherباچر · tomorrow
Words it uses back
هلا والله
أبشر
اكو
ماكو
شكد
هسه
هواي
تكدر
عيوني
Words it is told to avoid for this dialect
بدك
هلق
تبي
كتير
Voice notes and Arabizi
We measured the speech recognition on Yemeni, Algerian, Moroccan and Sudanese speech, but not on a set of Iraqi speech, so we cannot give you a number for Iraqi voice notes. The safety step is the same everywhere: when a voice note asks for a booking, the assistant says back what it understood (“a table for 4 tonight at 8, right?”) and waits for the customer’s yes before it books anything.
Iraqi customers who write in Latin letters (“salam, areed a7jiz tawla le 4 ashkhas el leyla”) are understood, and the assistant answers in Latin letters, but the spelling drifts towards Levantine («kteer», «tawle», «hadol»). Both of our Iraqi Latin-letter tests missed for that reason. If your customers write this way, treat it as the weakest part of this page.
Where this dialect is spoken
Iraqi Arabic is spoken across Iraq. Our test messages use Baghdadi wording. Speech in Basra and the south, in Mosul and the north, and in the Euphrates towns differs, and in the north Kurdish is also widely spoken. Large Iraqi communities live in Jordan, the Gulf states, Turkey, Europe, North America and Australia.
Baghdad
Basra
Mosul
Questions about this dialect
Does it understand Iraqi spelling with چ and گ?
Yes. The assistant reads both «باچر» and «باجر» for “tomorrow”, and in our tests it understood «آني», «وياي», «مالتي» and «عدكم». Its replies use Iraqi wording such as «هلا والله», «ماكو» and «هسه».
How well does it do in Iraqi so far?
27 of 30 test messages passed on 7 October 2026, the best of our three dialects in testing (Sudanese 20, Yemeni 21). The three misses are shown on this page, and a native speaker is still reviewing the test messages.
Does it work for Basra or Mosul, not only Baghdad?
Our test messages are Baghdadi. We have not tested Basra, Mosul or the Euphrates towns. Send us 20 real messages from your customers and we will show you every reply before you decide anything.
What if my Iraqi customers write in Latin letters?
They are understood and answered in Latin letters, but this is our weakest spot: both of our Iraqi Latin-letter tests missed because the reply used Levantine spellings. In Arabic script, 27 of 28 messages passed.
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