Reading in two or three languages without scattering your library

In a multilingual library, language becomes one more dimension. A single subject may be covered by an Arabic book, a French work and an English translation, and these three never see each other on the shelf.

Language as its own field

Don't fold it into the subject. Put it on the record as a separate field. Then you can show "everything I own on this subject, in every language", and "only what's in Arabic" in one click.

Sorting and searching

Each language sorts and searches in its own way. In Arabic, search has to ignore short vowels and alif variants, or "الإمام" and "الامام" count as two books. It is a technical detail, yet it decides whether the catalogue is of any use.

Qimtar does this by default, in all three interface languages.

Translations

Record them as separate books and point to the original in a note. When you own the text and its translation, you know which copy to open depending on the day.