Our WhatsApp front desk is an AI chatbot for small businesses. We are testing it on Yemeni Arabic, mostly the speech of Sana’a, with 30 written customer messages. It understood almost every one. It still sometimes drops a Gulf or Egyptian word into a reply, and we show those misses on this page.
21 of 30 test messages passed on 7 October 2026. The messages lean Sanaani, and a native speaker is still reviewing them.
Passed
Missed
Real messages and replies
These are messages from our Yemeni test set 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 03 of 30Sample restaurantPassed
Customer: أشتي أحجز طاولة لخمسة أشخاص الليلة الساعة ثمانية
In English: I want to book a table for five people tonight at eight. (أشتي means I want.)
Front desk: حيّاك الله! الليلة الأربعاء 7 أكتوبر الساعة 8:00 مساءً (20:00) لخمسة أشخاص متوفرة. على أي اسم أحجز؟ وأشتي رقم واتساب حقك عشان نتواصل معك.
In English: Welcome! Tonight, Wednesday 7 October, 8:00 pm (20:00) is available for five people. Under what name should I book? And I want your WhatsApp number so we can contact you.
Test 13 of 30Sample restaurantPassed
Customer: دحين فاتحين ولا مقفلين؟
In English: Are you open or closed right now? (دحين means now.)
Front desk: حيّاك الله! دحين مقفلين، وبنفتح اليوم الأربعاء الساعة 12:00 الظهر لين 11:30 بالليل (المطبخ يقفل 11:00 بالليل). تشتي أحجز لك طاولة؟
In English: Welcome! We’re closed now, and we open today, Wednesday, from 12:00 noon until 11:30 at night (the kitchen closes at 11:00). Do you want me to book you a table?
Test 30 of 30Sample restaurantPassed
Customer: يا رجال أنا جعان قوي وأشتي شي يسدّ الجوع، ايش تنصحني؟
In English: Man, I’m really hungry and I want something to stop the hunger. What do you recommend? (قوي means very here, not “strong”.)
Front desk: حيّاك الله! للجوع الكبير أنصحك بالمسخّن (42 رينغيت)، دجاج مشوي على خبز طابون، أو كفتة الغنم على الفحم (38 رينغيت). وإذا كنتم اثنين فالمشاوي المشكّلة (118 رينغيت) تكفي وزيادة. وجنبها حمّص (16 رينغيت) وخبز طابون طازج.
نفتح اليوم الساعة 12:00 الظهر، وتقدر تحجز طاولة لو تشتي.
In English: Welcome! For a big hunger I recommend the musakhan (RM 42), grilled chicken on taboon bread, or lamb kofta on charcoal (RM 38). If there are two of you, the mixed grill (RM 118) is more than enough. And next to it some hummus (RM 16) and fresh taboon bread. We open today at 12:00 noon, and you can book a table if you like.
Test 23 of 30Sample clinicPassed
Customer: كم حق تبييض الأسنان؟
In English: How much is teeth whitening? (كم حق means how much is.)
Front desk: حيّاك الله! تبييض الأسنان يبدأ من 1,200 رينغيت، وتاخذ الجلسة حوالي 60 دقيقة. هذا سعر البداية، والدكتور يأكد الخطة والسعر النهائي في أول زيارة. تشتي أشوف لك موعد؟
In English: Welcome! Teeth whitening starts from RM 1,200 and a session takes about 60 minutes. That is the starting price, and the doctor confirms the plan and the final price at the first visit. Do you want me to find you an appointment?
Test 04 of 30Sample restaurantPassed
Customer: أبغى طاولة لاثنين بكره الساعة تسعة بالليل
The assistant replies first. That reply is not recorded in our results.
Customer: الاسم أحمد، رقمي +601234567xx
In English: I want a table for two tomorrow at nine at night. Then: the name is Ahmed, my number … (This one leans Adeni: أبغى instead of أشتي.)
Front desk: أبشر يا أحمد، حجزك تأكد ✅
الخميس 8 أكتوبر، الساعة 9:00 بالليل، لشخصين.
الطاولة تنحفظ لك 15 دقيقة بعد وقت الحجز.
وهذا مطعم تجريبي (ديمو) وما انحجز شي فعلي.
In English: Consider it done, Ahmed, your booking is confirmed. Thursday 8 October, 9:00 at night, for two. The table is held for you for 15 minutes after the booking time. And this is a demo restaurant, nothing was actually booked.
Test 12 of 30Sample restaurantPassed
Customer: فيه بسباس كثير في الأكل؟ أنا ما أطيقش البسباس
In English: Is there a lot of chilli in the food? I can’t stand chilli. (بسباس means chilli.)
What the assistant doesIt understood «بسباس» as chilli and answered from the menu: only one dish, the red-pepper muhammara, is marked hot, so the customer can avoid it. It then offered to suggest dishes and to tell the team about any allergy.
Test 24 of 30Sample clinicPassed
Customer: ضرسي يوجعني قوي من أمس ووجهي منتفخ شوية، أشرب ايش؟
In English: My molar hurts a lot since yesterday and my face is a bit swollen. What should I take?
What the assistant doesIt gives no medicine advice, treats the swelling as urgent, tells the customer to call the clinic as soon as it opens, tells the team and asks for a WhatsApp number so they can reach the customer.
Test 18 of 30Sample restaurantPassed
Customer: توصلوا للبيت؟ أنا ساكن في شيراس
In English: Do you deliver to the house? I live in Cheras.
What the assistant doesIt has no delivery information, so it does not guess. It passes the question to the team and offers to have them contact the customer on WhatsApp.
What works, and where it still slips
Works well
It understood almost every message, including «أشتي» (I want), «دحين» (now), «كم حق» (how much is) and «بسباس» (chilli).
Its replies take up the customer’s own words: «دحين مقفلين» for “closed now”, «تشتي أحجز لك؟» for “shall I book you in?”.
It gave the right prices, hours and booking details from the sample restaurant and clinic, and it handed a party of 15 to the team instead of confirming it.
It did not guess about delivery or takeaway, and it gave no medicine advice for a toothache with a swollen face: it treated it as urgent and told the customer to call the clinic.
Still slips
A word from another dialect slips into a reply: six of the nine misses. Gulf («تبون»), Levantine («رح», «كتير»), Egyptian («بالعربية» meaning “by car”).
Three misses were different: two replies added a detail the automatic judge could not match to the sample restaurant’s data, and one skipped the question about children’s food.
Replies in Latin letters lean Gulf («wayed», «Tbi»).
Yemeni speech varies a lot from one region to another. Our set leans Sanaani; Adeni, Hadrami and Taizi speech need their own checks. A native speaker is still reviewing the 30 messages.
Real misses from the same run
Test 10 of 30Sample restaurantMissed
Customer: ايش أحسن شي عندكم؟
In English: What is the best thing you have?
Front desk: هلا والله! الزبائن دايم يطلبون الحمّص، وكفتة الغنم على الفحم (38 رينغيت)، والفتوش، والكنافة النابلسية. الكنافة تنخبز على الطلب وتاخذ حوالي 15 دقيقة، وتستاهل الانتظار. وإذا أنتم اثنين، المشاوي المشكّلة لشخصين (118 رينغيت) خيار حلو للمشاركة.
تبون أحجز لكم طاولة؟
What went wrongThe suggestions came from the real menu. But «تبون» (“do you want”) is Gulf. A Yemeni customer would expect «تشتوا».
Test 06 of 30Sample restaurantMissed
Customer: إحنا خمسة عشر واحد، عيد ميلاد، يوم السبت الساعة ثمانية
The assistant replies first. That reply is not recorded in our results.
Customer: +601234567xx
In English: We are fifteen, a birthday, on Saturday at eight. Then the customer sends their phone number.
Front desk: تمام، شكراً! سجّلت رقمكم، والفريق عنده طلبكم ورح يتواصل معكم على واتساب. ممكن تكتبوا لي الاسم اللي يكون عليه الحجز؟
(هذا العرض تجريبي، ولم يُحجز أي شيء فعلياً.)
What went wrongThe hand-over to the team happened, which is what the test checks first. But «رح» (“will”) is Levantine, and the reply never repeated the 15 people, the birthday or the time, so the customer cannot tell it understood.
Test 29 of 30Sample restaurantMissed
Customer: eish 3andkum akl nabati?
In English: What vegetarian food do you have? (Arabic in Latin letters.)
Front desk: Ahlan! Eywa, 3andna akl nabati wayed: hummus, moutabal, muhammara, fattoush, tabbouleh, w falafel kollhom vegan. Fi kaman warak enab, za'atar manakish w spinach fatayer.
Halloumi w cheese manakish vegetarian (fihom jibn). Tbi a-3rrefk 3ala as3ar aw a-7jezlk tawla?
What went wrongIt named real vegan dishes, but «wayed» (a lot) and «Tbi» (do you want) are Gulf, and «Eywa» (yes) is Egyptian or Levantine. A Yemeni customer would expect «tishti».
The words it listens for
The assistant works in two layers. A short list of Yemeni 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.
أشتي · تشتيI want · you want
دحينnow
بسباسchilli
يا رجالhey, man (a friendly way to start)
كم حقhow much is (حق means “of, belonging to”)
Also in our test messages (the AI model reads these without a list)
يا شيخhey, friend
فيهthere is
قويvery (not “strong”)
شيsomething
الحجز حقيmy booking (حق = of, belonging to)
ايشwhat (also Gulf)
In Latin letters (Arabizi)
ashtiأشتي · I want
dahinدحين · now
besbasبسباس · chilli
Words it uses back
حيّاك الله
أشتي
دحين
ايش
تمام
أبشر
فيه
Words it is told to avoid for this dialect
بدك
هلق
تبي
كتير
Voice notes and Arabizi
Yemeni speech is the hardest case for voice notes. On real Yemeni television dialogue in our own tests, the speech recognition we use (ElevenLabs) got 53% of the words wrong, and only 11 of 50 clips came out mostly right. A calm voice note is easier than television, but it shows why the assistant is set up not to book from a voice note straight away: it first says back what it understood (“a table for 4 tonight at 8, right?”) and waits for the customer’s yes. A typed message is the safer way.
Yemeni customers who write in Latin letters (“salam, ashti a7jiz tawla le 4 ashkhas el leila”) get Latin letters back, and the assistant reads «ashti», «dahin» and «besbas» as Yemeni. Our two Latin-letter tests split: the booking message passed, while the vegetarian question was answered with Gulf spellings, as shown above.
Where this dialect is spoken
Yemeni Arabic is spoken across Yemen, and it changes a great deal from place to place: Sana’a and the highlands, Aden and the south, Hadramawt in the east, Taiz, and the Tihama coast each have their own speech. Our test set leans towards Sana’a. Large Yemeni communities live in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, in East Africa, the UK and the US, and Hadrami families have lived in Southeast Asia for generations.
Sanaa
Taiz
Aden
Questions about this dialect
Does it understand Yemeni words like «أشتي» and «دحين»?
Yes. «أشتي» (I want), «دحين» (now), «بسباس» (chilli) and «كم حق» (how much is) are on the assistant’s list of Yemeni words, and in our 30 test messages it understood almost all of them. Its own replies use «حيّاك الله», «أشتي» and «تشتي».
Which Yemeni dialect does it follow: Sanaani, Adeni or Hadrami?
Our test set is mostly Sanaani, the speech of Sana’a and the highlands, with two messages that lean Adeni (the south). Hadrami, Taizi and Tihami speech are not tested. If most of your customers come from one of those places, send us 20 of their messages and we will check.
Why does it sometimes answer a Yemeni customer with Gulf or Egyptian words?
Because it is still learning this dialect. On 7 October 2026, 21 of 30 replies passed. Six of the nine misses had a word from another dialect in them, for example the Gulf «تبون» where a Yemeni says «تشتوا». The customer is still understood and the facts are right. We show these misses on this page so you can judge for yourself.
Are voice notes safe for bookings with Yemeni customers?
Only with a safety step. On real Yemeni television dialogue in our tests, the speech recognition we use got 53% of the words wrong. So the assistant is set up not to book from a voice note straight away: it says back what it understood and waits for the customer’s yes. Typed messages are safer.
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