Can you learn arabic

Traditional teaching methods which are all about drilling grammar rules and tedious memorization are prevalent all over the world unfortunately. Also make sure that they understand and appreciate the value of spoken Arabic dialects over Modern Standard Arabic. For this reason, it can be quite challenging to find teachers who understand why you specifically want to speak a local dialect.

In fact, even with my own site for spoken Arabic dialects TalkInArabic. But even with the chances I did have to speak to people all those years ago, I was often very nervous and shy about making mistakes in front of people.

These days when I learn a new language I speak as much as possible as early as I can even if my grammar is horrendously bad. Mistakes have a way of working themselves out over time but you need to take every chance you can to practice the little that you do know. When I started learning Arabic all those years ago, there was hardly anything available for learning spoken Arabic.

My very first book for Arabic was a book from a local mosque that was absolutely atrocious. A waste of paper and ink but I persisted using it! Did I actually use this crap? Thankfully things have improved somewhat for dialects not a lot though unfortunately! For starters, see this review and this review that I wrote recently.

I also shared some of my favorite Arabic language books here and here. Most people, regardless of their political or religious affiliations, just care about the same stuff you and I care about.

Mundane things like getting married, having kids, going to work to put food on the table, buying a new home, the latest gadgets, a new pair of shoes, etc. Painting the entire Arab world as violent and psychopathic is a really naive and stupid thing to do. My first trip to the Middle East was not too long after September 11th and I was absolutely shitting myself that something was going to happen to me.

I loved it and went back for seconds, thirds, fourths, etc. For online Skype teachers and conversation practice for a few bucks an hour I recommend italki. Good point about choosing to learn a dialect first. I think most non native speakers don't grasp that concept in the beginning. My goal is to understand the Koran and everything ararbic around the life of prophete Muhomet sas. Thanks so much for the great post. A quick question: I totally get what you're saying about learning a dialect first, and also about avoiding transliterated books, but sometimes that can be a bit of a hard thing to do.

Are there any books you could recommend that teach Palestinian or Lebanese dialects that are not all transliterated? Any pointers would be much appreciated. Love this post. I speak English,French,some Spanish and am starting German. Your article is spot on! I'm the son of an Arabic native speaker, but grew up in an English-speaking house.

Total disconnect. I went to college and took three semesters of Modern Standard Arabic. More disconnect! All three are mutually intelligible, but one is pigeon-holed by other Palestinians depending on which Palestinian Arabic said person uses! A couple of my own suggestions beyond your article: 1 get Arabic writing capability on your computer so you get away from transliteration sooner than later, 2 learn how to write in Arabic by writing English words using Arabic letters by reading back English words with Arabic phonics rules, you'll develop an Arabic accent much faster that way , 3 think in triliteral roots same as in Hebrew and you'll remember words better, 4 learn early on how to use an Arabic dictionary by using the triliteral roots, 5 learn proverbs -- that always impresses Arabs!

This is exactly what I needed for a fresh start in Arabic. I tried to start with MSA but lost motivation If you're in the U. They have language lessons for several dialects. I'm currently working through their Levantine series, they have several units, supposedly focusing on how it's spoken in Damascus.

It's like Rosetta and Pimsleur in that they are heavy in repetition and listening but they also put everything on the screen in Arabic script, which makes it easy to take screenshots for flash cards.

Clicking the word gives you the transliteration with an accent note. The lessons also give occasional grammatical and cultural notes. I've combined it with the Syrian Colloquial course that Donovan mentions above, Mango is great as it provides much more listening practice and a different perspective on cultural aspects. Yes yes yes, I went through the same journey with MSA although as you say, after a year I did totally get the shape and grammatical structure of the language - just could barely speak a word!

I then focused on Lebanese Arabic at a great language school in Beirut called Saifi - and now I can speak to an advanced level. But I still think the learning method depends on what you intend to do with the language : I first learned MSA and then quickly tried to acquire a dialect for obvious communicative reasons and never regretted it.

For two main reasons : the first one because MSA strangely helped me learning dialects very quickly by being a sort of "base" or "glue" on which I piled up my dialects, and the second reason is because my life would be miserable without books and news and written stuff. Talking with people is not enough ; And since everything written is in MSA, if I hadn't learned it I would feel I missed on most of the things I loved in Arabic culture and the Arab world.

The only good thing of having first learned only MSA in my first year is to have let me the time to choose what part of the Arab world which was all the same to me in the beginning I loved the most, and then I went head-on with the appropriate dialect at the time, the levantine one, now I've switched to Gulf dialects.

And btw in certain parts of the Arab world people can totally speak to you in MSA when they see you're a foreigner they assume you don't know their dialect , it's funny and weird, but why not, it does help the poor Arabic student who never had any dialect lessons. Anyway, thank you for the post, I love reading about other people crazy about Arabic!

And points 4, 5 and 9 are so spot on, and so often sadly overlooked Hey Donovan. I agree about the importance of learning the arabic alphabet. I also think it's important to learn how to type the arabic alphabet, in this day and age when we probably type more than handwrite.

Myself, I like to type arabic letters into Google Translate because it's instant and doesn't require any keyboard configuration. I am currently working in East Africa but would like to work in the Middle East in the future, which is why I'm considering learning Arabic.

Do you know what accent is spoken in Lebanon and Jordan? Or what accent most people there would understand? Would Egyptian Arabic be an option? For me, I want to be literate. When I learn a language, I want to be able to engage with its literature and I like to read broadly more than speak this is my personality - I'm not that gregarious.

Also, with regards to dialects. If you want to learn Egyptian Arabic, maybe you can gather a decent variety of resources, but, I mean, Arabic resources suck in general without trying to find a variety of resources for a specific dialect. My husband speaks Arabic, but there are zero resources available in his dialect. I've just studied MSA and then listened and observed the differences and how to adapt. I believe a lot of native teachers don't appreciate dialects because this is what we were taught.

Arabs are taught that the dialects are a cheap way to make 'real' Arabic less important, and that dialects are merely made-up languages whose origin is Classical Arabic. Whether this claim is true or not, we all tend to believe so.

Another reason is perhaps because we are never taught our dialects. We acquire them from our parents, so we are usually not aware of their grammatical rules. Thanks for your helpful posts Donovan. I just started my Arabic language learning journey a couple of months ago.

Our teacher is Palestinian, so we are learning the spoken Levantine dialect, but also covering MSA for reading and writing. A friend of mine at another university learned only MSA and then went to Jordan on vacation, where locals would often laugh at him when he spoke because it sounded so unnaturally high-falutin'. Great post, I love your approach and emphasis on assimilation.

I'm starting to learn Arabic for work, I'm in the US and my company is soon opening offices in Dubai and I'd like to position myself for a future working there.

My question is if I should focus on Emirati Arabic. Aside from Youtube, Emirati Arabic feels slim on resources. Would Levantine serve me well as I'm getting into Dubai or would I be better served to make do with the Emirati resources available? Hi Donovan. I began my learning experience learning MSA, thinking I was getting somewhere [although slowly!

These tips will be most beneficial for those who can already read the Arabic alphabet and have a basic knowledge of the language.

Before you do anything, make sure you get clear on WHY you want to learn Arabic. This will give you the sense of purpose you need to stay motivated and keep moving forward when things get tough. Speaking, listening, or writing…? Finally, make sure you celebrate your wins, no matter how small. Those little moments of success along the way will keep you moving forward! There are many smartphone apps available to help you build an Arabic study habit and learn on the go, many of which offer a great service for free.

Here are a few we recommend:. Drops: Drops allows you to learn and practice vocabulary from a wide variety of topics with their fun and interactive, game-style app. With their free plan, you can play for 5 minutes a day. Duolingo: Duolingo is one of the most well-known and widely-used language apps, and its Arabic offering is great to help you practice at home or on the go. Quizlet: The Quizlet app offers plain and simple vocabulary flashcards rather than a structured course or interactive games.

Memrise: Memrise goes deeper than most other apps, offering more complex grammatical and sentence structures as well as subject-specific vocabulary. However, you can only complete a small part of their courses on their free plan. For example, we love Drops for practical, day-to-day vocab, Duolingo for general practice, and Quizlet for more niche or dialect-specific vocabulary practice.

Short news videos are great if you only have a few minutes to spare. If you have a little more time, you can also find hundreds of documentaries either produced or dubbed in Arabic on YouTube — try following BBC Arabic, Al Jazeera, Vice Arabia a brilliant and edgier outlet which covers more unique, and sometimes controversial stories than other networks , Nat Geo Abu Dhabi, and DW Documentary.

Thankfully, there are steps that anyone can take to make the learning conversational Arabic easier. There are many types of Arabic. It is the mother tongue and official language of nearly 30 countries in the middle east and northern Africa. There are different accents and a variety of local pronunciations. One such example is Egyptian Colloquial Arabic , which is the most widespread regional Arabic dialect and is most often used in television and movies.

However, brand new students should also consider Modern Standard Arabic, the official language of 22 Arab countries and one of the official languages of the United Nations. Think about how we learned English back in school. First, you learn your letters, then you form those letters into words, then you learn how to form sentences, and then you learn more about proper syntax and grammar.

Taking shortcuts will only slow you down. This task is not as easy as it sounds. In an Arabic dictionary, words are generally organized around three-letter roots. To look up a word, you need to know what the root is and what letter the root starts with — which is not necessarily the first letter in the word. Using the dictionary takes practice, but the sooner you learn it the better. It will make the entire process easier and more enjoyable.

This is a critical step in learning any language, but doubly so when learning Arabic. Without studying abroad somewhere in the Arab world, whether it be in North Africa or the Levant region or the Gulf etc. Islam is not only a religion to many Arabs, but also a lifestyle. If you are interested in learning and understanding more about Islam, then studying Arabic is your gateway into a better understanding of this complex and intriguing religion.

A language with such fascinating ancient origins is bound to offer students of the language access to a whole other world, with a rich history and foundations in another civilization and another time. Studying Arabic will offer you a more nuanced understanding of Arab culture.

Learning a language allows you to also delve deeper into the culture and traditions of the country or countries where that language is spoken. Studying Arabic will give you greater access into understanding more of the nuances and intricacies of Arab culture, which is often misunderstood and misrepresented through Western cultural lenses. How can we fight stereotypes and surface-level interactions? Learning a language is a powerful way to fight ignorance of places and people.

Arab culture is rich and interesting. Learning the language will enable you to read some of the famous classic literature. If you are someone who enjoys traveling off the beaten path, someone who always has itchy feet, or unquenchable wanderlust, then you will definitely want to consider studying Arabic. Travel will be much easier in Arab countries if you speak, read, and write Arabic.

Once a native speaker of Arabic hears a foreigner speak a few words in Arabic, they are usually very eager and happy to help you learn their language. If you are fortunate enough to travel or study abroad in an Arabic-speaking country, by just being a foreigner, you will become an ambassador and begin to promote intercultural understanding.

At the same time, events in the Middle East affect our daily lives.