Arabic, which is the native tongue of more than 200 million people worldwide, ranks 6th among the major languages of the world. Arabic is the official language of Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen as well as one of the six official languages of the United Nations. In addition, it is widely spoken in countries such as Somalia and is the language of the holy writings of Muslims throughout the world.

Arabic is at least 1,500 years old. Classical Arabic originated in the sixth century, but earlier versions of the language existed, including the Safaitic dialect, an old Arabic dialect used by the pre-Islamic nomadic inhabitants of the Syro-Arabian desert.

Ya Rab is regarded as the Father of the Arabic Language. The justification for this is the simple fact that he is counted amongst the oldest speakers of the Arabic language. He has also written various literary notes and works in Arabic. This again supports the fact that he was probably the first native Arabic speaker.

Arabic is unique because in the Arabic language words always begin with a consonant, followed by a vowel. 

Very different from many words in the English language that have two consonants in succession, sometimes even having silent letters. The Arabic alphabet comprises 28 letters. However, only three of these are vowels. These three vowels have five different variations. This means the majority of the Arabic words just have consonants. Also, Arabic is written right to left.

1. Read Arabic books.

Reading is very beneficial for language learning.  

At first, you may dislike reading materials in the Arabic language, or also think it is hard to read Arabic. However, if you choose something that you really like, for eg, suspense novels, biographies, web novels, etc, it will become a fun way of learning the language.

When you come across words in several different contexts through reading, you start to understand and comprehend vocabulary in a more meaningful way. You can learn much more about language and culture than you could ever discover by reading a language-learning book.

2. Online Audio & Podcasts will Help You to Learn Arabic.

Podcasts are a great way to learn Arabic especially if you are a good listener. You can listen to it whenever you want to, for example, when you are going on your commute, when you’re running out to the corner shop, or while you do chores around the house.

Here’s where to start with Arabic language audio:

ArabicPod101 is a favorite of the Fluent in 3 Months team. It’s free to sign up for, and has an impressive amount of Arabic content available at every level from complete beginner to advanced. You get a one-week free trial to test out lessons at all skill levels. After that, you do have to pay for the more advanced lessons and premium material, and it’s very much worth it.

Language Transfer is a popular Arabic language course that’s designed for intensive learning. It’s similar to the Michel Thomas method.

TuneIn: You can listen to radio from many Arabic-speaking countries on TuneIn. Test out a few stations based on the dialect you’d like to learn, see what catches your attention.

Forvo is a great place to listen to Arabic words spoken by a native speaker. It has a large database and is a good reference for pronunciation.

LanguageGuide.org is a well-curated collection of Arabic vocabulary with audio accompaniment.

3. YouTube also provides Arabic learning.

Easy Arabic: I love the Easy Languages channel because it offers you a lot of local culture and context. In this series, the hosts go out onto the streets of Cairo, Egypt, and interview the people they meet there. It’s a great way to hear the way people speak real Arabic. You’ll pick up conversational Arabic expressions, and improve your listening comprehension.

Learn Arabic with Maha: Maha is a popular Arabic language teacher on YouTube. Her channel has dozens of short, fun videos.

Learn Arabic with Zakaria: These bite-sized, animated cartoons are a cute way to learn Arabic. It’s aimed at kids but is ideal for any beginner learner.