Our WhatsApp front desk is an AI chatbot for small businesses. We are testing it on Sudanese Arabic with 30 written customer messages. It understood almost every one. It still sometimes drops a word from another dialect into a reply, and this page shows those misses too.
20 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 Sudanese test set (Khartoum wording) with the replies the assistant really wrote. We show a reply only when it passed and reads naturally. The other messages are described instead.
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 02 of 30Sample restaurantPassed
Customer: صباح الخير، في زول موجود؟
In English: Good morning, is anyone there? (زول means a person.)
Front desk: صباح النور! أنا المساعد الافتراضي لمطبخ زيتون، والمطعم هسي مقفول وبفتح اليوم الساعة 12:00 الظهر. أقدر أساعدك في المنيو أو الحجز أو أي سؤال، وإذا داير زول من الفريق أبلغهم ليك. شنو داير؟
In English: Good morning! I’m Zaytoun Kitchen’s virtual assistant. The restaurant is closed now and opens today at 12:00 noon. I can help with the menu, a booking or any question, and if you want a person from the team I’ll tell them for you. What do you need?
Test 13 of 30Sample restaurantPassed
Customer: هسي فاتحين ولا قافلين؟
In English: Are you open or closed right now? (هسي means now.)
Front desk: أهلين! هسي قافلين، الساعة 4:16 الفجر. بنفتح اليوم الأربعاء الساعة 12:00 الظهر وبنقفل 11:30 بالليل. المطبخ بيقفل قبل القفل بنص ساعة.
داير تحجز طاولة؟
In English: Hello! We’re closed right now, it’s 4:16 in the morning. We open today, Wednesday, at 12:00 noon and close at 11:30 at night. The kitchen closes half an hour before. Do you want to book a table?
Test 30 of 30Sample restaurantPassed
Customer: يازول أنا جعان شديد وداير آكل حاجة تسندني، شنو بتنصحني؟
In English: Mate, I’m very hungry and I want something that keeps me going. What do you recommend? (تسندني means keeps me going, fills me up.)
Front desk: أهلين يا زول! للجوع الشديد أنصحك بالمشاوي: الكفتة الغنم على الفحم بـ 38 رينغيت، أو المسخّن بـ 42 رينغيت (دجاج مشوي مع بصل بالسماق على خبز الطابون، وصفة الست رانا). كمان الحمّص بـ 16 رينغيت مع الخبز بيسند.
لكن نحن هسي مقفولين، وبنفتح اليوم الساعة 12:00 الظهر. داير أحجز ليك طاولة؟
In English: Hello, mate! For a big hunger I suggest the grills: lamb kofta on charcoal for RM 38, or the musakhan for RM 42 (grilled chicken with sumac onions on taboon bread, Chef Rana’s recipe). The hummus for RM 16 with bread also keeps you going. But we’re closed right now and open today at 12:00 noon. Do you want me to book you a table?
Test 12 of 30Sample restaurantPassed
Customer: الأكل فيهو شطة كتيرة؟ أنا ما بقدر على الشطة
In English: Is there a lot of chilli in the food? I can’t take chilli. (شطة means chilli.)
Front desk: لا، أغلب الأكل عندنا ما فيه شطة. الطبق الوحيد المكتوب عندنا أنه حار هو المحمّرة (فلفل أحمر مع فلفل حلب الحار). باقي الأطباق في القائمة ما مصنّفة حارة، مثل الحمّص والفتوش وكفتة الغنم والمسخّن. وإذا طلبتم، قولوا للفريق إنكم ما تتحملون الشطة وهم يرشدونكم.
In English: No, most of our food has no chilli. The only dish marked hot on our menu is the muhammara (red pepper with hot Aleppo pepper). The other dishes aren’t listed as hot, such as the hummus, fattoush, lamb kofta and musakhan. If you like, tell the team you can’t take chilli and they’ll guide you.
Test 25 of 30Sample restaurantPassed
Customer: إنت زول ولا روبوت؟
In English: Are you a person or a robot?
Front desk: أنا مساعد مطبخ زيتون الافتراضي، يعني روبوت مش زول. لو داير تكلم زول من الفريق بقدر أبلّغهم ليك. وأقدر أساعدك في المنيو والمواعيد وحجز الطاولات.
In English: I’m Zaytoun Kitchen’s virtual assistant, so a robot, not a person. If you want to talk to someone from the team, I can let them know for you. And I can help with the menu, opening times and table bookings.
Test 27 of 30Sample restaurantPassed
Customer: الو... آ... سلام... آ داير... آ كدا أسأل بس، الحجز ده لازم أدفع حاجة قدام ولا بس أجي؟
In English: Hello... um... peace... um, I want... um, I’m only asking: for this booking, do I have to pay something in advance, or just come? (Typed in the style of a hesitant voice note.)
Front desk: وعليكم السلام! أهلين. حسب اللي عندي، الحجز هنا ما بيطلب أي دفع قدام، وبتجي وتاكل وبس. الطاولة بنحجزها ليك 15 دقيقة بعد وقت الحجز. لو داير تحجز قول لي كم زول وأي يوم وساعة كم.
In English: Peace be upon you! Hello. As far as I have, the booking here asks for no payment in advance: you just come and eat. We hold the table for you for 15 minutes after the booking time. If you want to book, tell me how many people, which day and what time.
Test 21 of 30Sample restaurantPassed
Customer: ياخ أمبارح الأكل جاني بارد وانتظرنا ساعة كاملة، ده ما معقول
The assistant replies first. That reply is not recorded in our results.
Customer: +601234567xx
In English: Mate, last night the food came cold and we waited a whole hour, it’s unbelievable. Then the customer sends their phone number.
Front desk: تمام، بلّغت الفريق بالموضوع وهم بتواصلوا معاك على الواتساب في الرقم ده. نعتذر ليك مرة تانية على اللي حصل.
In English: Alright, I’ve told the team about it and they’ll contact you on WhatsApp on this number. We apologise to you again for what happened.
The test passes only if the assistant really hands the complaint to the team.
Test 06 of 30Sample restaurantPassed
Customer: نحن تلاتاشر زول، عيد ميلاد، السبت الجاي الساعة تمانية
The assistant replies first. That reply is not recorded in our results.
Customer: +601234567xx
In English: We are thirteen people, a birthday, next Saturday at eight. Then the customer sends their phone number.
What the assistant doesThirteen is more than it books on its own, so it hands the request to the team, tells the customer someone will follow up on WhatsApp, and does not call the booking confirmed. The test passes only if the hand-over really happens.
What works, and where it still slips
Works well
It understood almost every message, including local words such as «تسندني» (keeps me going), «شطة» (chilli) and «زول» (a person).
It gave the right facts from the sample restaurant’s own data: prices, opening hours, the address, the nearest car parks and the JAKIM halal certificate.
It did not guess. Asked about delivery, takeaway and how to pay, it said it would check with the team and passed the question on.
It kept the booking rules: it refused 1 pm on a Friday (the restaurant opens at 2:30 pm, after prayers), confirmed a complete booking, and handed a party of 13 to the team.
Asked “are you a person or a robot?”, it said it is a robot and offered to bring in someone from the team.
Still slips
A word from another dialect slips into a reply. That caused 8 of the 10 misses: three were Levantine («فيني», «بتحبوا»), two Egyptian («مفيش», «خالص») and three Gulf («الحين», «تبون», «وياك»).
Two misses were not about dialect: a reply to a clinic check-up asked “how many people?” as if it were a restaurant booking, and a reply about a family dinner mentioned high chairs but skipped the question about children’s food.
Replies in Latin letters are easy to understand but lean towards Levantine spelling («kteer», «tawle»).
The test messages themselves are still being reviewed by a native speaker, so some of the 30 may change.
Real misses from the same run
Test 04 of 30Sample restaurantMissed
Customer: عاوز طاولة لاتنين باكر الساعة تسعة بالليل
The assistant replies first. That reply is not recorded in our results.
Customer: الاسم محمد، واتساب +601234567xx
In English: I want a table for two tomorrow at nine at night. Then: the name is Mohamed, WhatsApp …
Front desk: تمام يا محمد، الحجز اتأكد ✅
الخميس 8 أكتوبر، الساعة 9:00 بالليل (21:00)، لاتنين، باسم محمد.
الطاولة بتتحجز لك 15 دقيقة بعد الموعد.
ملحوظة: ده مطعم تجريبي (ديمو) ومفيش حجز حقيقي اتعمل.
What went wrongThe booking was right: two people, Thursday 8 October, 9 pm, under Mohamed. The wording slipped into Egyptian. «مفيش» (there is none) is Egyptian; a Sudanese speaker says «ما في».
Test 24 of 30Sample clinicMissed
Customer: ضرسي بوجعني شديد من أمبارح ووشي ورمان، أشرب شنو؟
In English: My molar has been hurting badly since yesterday and my face is swollen. What should I take?
Front desk: سلامتك، وسلامة وجهك! الوجع مع الورم لازم الفريق يشوفونه بأسرع وقت. ما أقدر أنصحك بدوا أو شي تشربه، هذا يقوله الدكتور.
العيادة مسكرة الحين وتفتح اليوم 9:30 صباحًا. أرسل لك رقم الواتساب وأبلغ الفريق عشان يتواصلون وياك أول ما يفتحون؟ وإذا الورم يزيد أو صار عندك صعوبة في البلع أو التنفس، روح للطوارئ فورًا.
What went wrongThe medical handling was right: no medicine advice, treated as urgent, the team brought in, a warning about swallowing and breathing. But «الحين» (now) and «وياك» (with you) are Gulf and Iraqi words; a Sudanese speaker says «هسي» and «معاك».
Test 29 of 30Sample restaurantMissed
Customer: shino 3andkum akil nabati?
In English: What vegetarian food do you have? (Arabic in Latin letters.)
Front desk: Ahlan! 3andna kteer khiyarat nabatiyeh (vegan): hummus (RM 16), moutabal (RM 18), fattoush (RM 18), tabbouleh (RM 18), w kaman falafel, muhammara, warak enab, za'atar manakish w spinach fatayer.
Fi kaman halloumi mashwi w cheese manakish, bas hadol vegetarian mish vegan. Bt7ibu a3ti a7la tartib la tawle?
What went wrongIt understood the question and named real vegan dishes, but the spelling is Levantine («kteer» a lot, «hadol» these, «tawle» table), not Sudanese.
The words it listens for
The assistant works in two layers. A short list of Sudanese 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.
داير · دايرة · دايرينI want (a man, a woman) · we want
هسيnow
زولa person; «كم زول» is how many people
ياخ · يازولhey, mate
كداlike this, so
ليهو · ليهاto him · to her
تسندنيkeeps me going, fills me up
سايjust, simply
ديلthese, those (plural)
شنوwhat (also Gulf and Iraqi, so it only breaks ties)
Also in our test messages (the AI model reads these without a list)
شطةchilli
أمبارحyesterday
بتاعof, belonging to («حجزي بتاع الليلة»)
ما بقدرI can’t
In Latin letters (Arabizi)
dayrداير · I want
hasiهسي · now
yakh · yazolياخ · يازول · hey, mate
zolزول · a person
lehoليهو · to him
Words it uses back
أهلين
تمام
أبشر
هسي
شنو
داير
كدا
حاضر
زول
Words it is told to avoid for this dialect
بدك
هلق
تبي
كتير
Voice notes and Arabizi
Voice notes are the weak spot. A machine turns the recording into text, and on real Sudanese broadcast speech in our own tests many words came out wrong. So when a voice note asks for a booking, the assistant first says back what it understood (“a table for 5 tonight at 8, right?”) and waits for the customer’s yes before it books anything. Two of the 30 written test messages (26 and 27) imitate a rambling voice note. Treat voice notes as the part of this page we trust least.
Sudanese customers who write in Latin letters (“salam, dayr a7jiz tawla le 4 nas el leila”) get Latin letters back, and the assistant reads «dayr», «hasi» and «yazol» as Sudanese. In our two Latin-letter tests one reply passed and one drifted into Levantine spelling, as shown above.
Where this dialect is spoken
Sudanese Arabic is spoken across Sudan: in Khartoum, Omdurman and Bahri, and in the Gezira, Kordofan, Darfur, the east and the north, where speech differs from region to region. Our test messages use Khartoum wording, so a customer from another region may write words we have not checked. Large Sudanese communities also live in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the Gulf states and Europe, and some of them write to businesses in their own dialect.
Khartoum
Omdurman
Port Sudan
Questions about this dialect
Does it understand «داير», «هسي» and «زول»?
Yes. In our 30 test messages it read داير (I want), هسي (now), زول (a person), ياخ and تسندني correctly in almost every case, and its own replies use هسي, داير and زول. It keeps a short list of Sudanese words as a hint, but the AI model reads each message itself, so a word that is not on the list is still understood.
Will it answer a Sudanese customer in Sudanese?
It tries to, and 20 of 30 test replies passed on 7 October 2026. The misses were mostly a word or two from Levantine, Egyptian or Gulf Arabic. The customer is still understood and the facts are right, but we do not yet claim perfect Sudanese, and a native speaker is still reviewing the test messages.
What if my customers are from Darfur or Kassala, not Khartoum?
Our test messages use Khartoum wording, and we have not tested wording from other regions. Send us 20 real messages from your customers and we will show you every reply before you decide anything.
Can a Sudanese customer book with a voice note?
Yes, but the assistant is careful. It says back what it understood and waits for the customer’s yes before it books anything, because speech-to-text often gets Sudanese speech wrong. A typed message is always the safer way to book.
We run them through the assistant and send you every reply, the good and the bad, before you decide anything. It is free. Or start the free 30-day pilot and watch every chat yourself.
Tell us about your business. We load your menu and rules, connect the front desk to your WhatsApp, and you watch every chat. 30 days free, no card. We build your website once you decide to keep it.
We take on 3 new pilots a month, so each one gets our full attention.
See it answer as your business
Send us your Instagram, Google Maps or website. We build a front desk that knows your menu, prices and hours, and send you a link to try it, usually within a day. Free, nothing to sign.