How to Learn Arabic by Yourself in 13 Simple Steps

Arabic is one of the Semitic languages, the fourth most spoken language in the world, with nearly 467 million people speaking it worldwide and the official language for the Arab and some other countries.

Arabic has an entirely different system of alphabets, and there are almost no shared words between it and the English language. Fortunately, there are useful steps for a learner to make the learning method easier. Without a doubt, these steps need perseverance, commitment, hard work, and time.

1 – Decide Which Form of the Arabic Language You Want to Learn:

Sometimes an Arabic speaker cannot understand other dialects even if both have the same origin, Arabic. A very critical reason that may help a foreigner to choose which type to learn is the purpose he/ she seeks. For instance, if you are a Muslim and you want to learn how to read the Holy Qur’an, to feel the sweetness of the words of the Almighty Allah, and to understand his teachings, you need to learn the old standard Arabic. Also, if you want to learn Arab history or science, the new standard Arabic will be sufficient for this purpose. Whereas if you want to know the Arab culture, understand their music and films, then the dialectic language should be your choice. You need to choose which one is suitable for you to learn; the Egyptian and Levantine are the most popular ones.

 2 – Mastering the Arabic Alphabet:

Knowing the letters is the actual first step in learning Arabic and the hardest one, but you will be able to achieve your goal by following organized guidance. Firstly, you need to download the alphabet chart of the Arabic language and practice Arabic letters. Secondly, familiarize yourself with the vowel diacritics and other symbols. It is important to mention that the diacritics in the Arabic language are almost equal to the vowels in English. Since a speaker pronounces them after each letter and at the beginning of any word – the Arabic language starts with a vowel, not a consonant letter. The diacritics, for example, are the fat-hah, the kasrah, and the damma. Thirdly, you need to study the changes of the letterforms; Arabic has ten usual verb patterns. Finally, you have to listen to the Alphabet spoken by the native speakers.

3 – Immerse Yourself in the Language:

​After being familiar with the Arabic letters and their sounds, you need to start to get involved in the language. Many linguists have said that the principal role for learning any language is by exposure, and that could be achieved through dealing with the language; especially, through listening to the native speakers. First, you should listen to Arabic broadcasts to familiarize yourself with common words and phrases. Another thing is to watch and listen to television interviews and news; so, you get involved in actual situations and everyday conversations. You will find most films using the Egyptian and Levantine dialects- then you can proceed to the documentaries, and historical and Islamic films, which are in standard Arabic.

4 – Practice Listening and Reading Comprehension Texts:

Practice, practice, and more practice is the most effective method to gain any skill. As a beginner learner of a foreign language, you need to practice the skills you have learned and ensure a full understanding and comprehension of passages in that language. 

5 – Speak Arabic with Natives

A careful listener is a great speaker. If you listen carefully to your teachers’ instructions, to the sounds of the letters you have been taught, to the passages you have heard and read silently; then, you will be able to speak the language. 

And, what is the benefit of learning a language without speaking it? For that, the most prominent benefit you can gain from speaking a language will be through speaking with its natives. By that, you will practice the authentic language within real situations, be exposed to the correct ways of the pronunciation of the words, and be familiar with the different sounds of the letters. Find a partner and practice with them. We should, therefore, thank technology for making practicing a language with the natives possible and available.

6 – Never Quit Learning

Many find this step unreasonable, or at least do not consider it to be a step-in basis. But, in my modest opinion, it is the most challenging step which if being missed, your efforts will go in vain. Therefore, you may need to enhance what you have already learnt and continue to learn something new each day.

7.Learn the right words, the right way.

Starting a new language means learning new words. Lots of them.

Of course, many people have a bad memory for learning new vocab, so they quit before even getting started.

But–here’s the key–you absolutely do not need to know all the words of a language to speak it (and in fact, you don’t know all the words of your mother tongue either).

8. Learn cognates: your friend in every single language.

Believe it or not, you already—right now—have a huge head start in your target language. With language learning, you always know at least some words before you ever begin. Starting a language “from scratch” is essentially impossible because of the vast amount of words you know already through cognates.

9.Interact in your language daily without travelling.

Another reason (or excuse, depending on how you look at it) people cite for not learning languages is that they can’t visit a country where it’s a native language.  No time, no money, etc.

Take it from me—there is nothing “in the air” in another country that will magically make you able to speak their language.  I’ve done a lot of experiments to prove this (e.g. learning Arabic while living in Brazil).

10. Skype today for daily spoken practice.

One of my more controversial pieces of advice, but one that I absolutely insist on when I advise beginners, is that you must speak the language right away if your goals in the target language involve speaking it.

Most traditional approaches or language systems don’t work this way, and I think that’s where they let their students down.  I say, there are seven days in a week and “someday” is not one of them.

11.Embrace mistakes.

This means that monolingualism is a cultural, not a biological, consequence. So when adults (at least in the English speaking world) fail at language learning, it’s not because they don’t have the right genes or other such nonsense. It’s because the system they have used to learn languages is broken.

12.Become a polyglot.

This post has been an extremely detailed look at starting off and trying to reach mastery in a foreign language (and even passing yourself off as a native of that country).

If your ultimate goal is to speak multiple languages, you can repeat this process over multiple times, but I highly recommend you focus on one language at a time until you reach at least the intermediate level. Take each language one by one, until you reach a stage where you know you can confidently use it. And then you may just be ready for the next ones!

13.Realize that adults are actually better language learners than kids:

I’m glad to be the bearer of good news and tell you that research has confirmed that adults can be better language learners than kids. This study at the University of Haifa has found that under the right circumstances, adults show an intuition for unexplained grammar rules better than their younger counterparts. 

Kindly download the Arabic Alphabet Chart, start memorizing it. You could practice for 20 to 30 minutes with a single letter or two each day; after that, try to immerse yourself with the language; listen to as many sources of the native language as you could watch news and documentaries, practice comprehension passages available through online resources, try to speak the language with its native speakers and finally keep practising and learning as much as you can. 

There’s an amazing new way to learn Arabic! Want to see what everyone’s talking about!