Stanford University has an interactive chart available at https://web. stanford. edu/dept/lc/arabic/alphabet-disable/ that will help you learn how to write the letters properly. Visit https://www. arabic-course. com/arabic-alphabet. html for a free online video course on the Arabic alphabet.
Arabic Reading Course, available at http://arabicreadingcourse. com/index. html, is designed to help you recognize individual letters in words. The basic version is free and can also be used on mobile devices. If you pay for the premium version, you get additional flashcards and quizzes.
You can watch and listen to a basic video introducing the Arabic alphabet and the sound each letter makes at https://youtu. be/53Nf8xVrN24. There are plenty of similar videos on YouTube that can also help you. When watching videos, try to write down the words that appear most frequently or the ones you think are most important (usually, the most practical ones).
Diacritics and other marks are designed to help you understand how to pronounce words in written Arabic or to distinguish similarly spelled words so you can tell them apart when you’re just learning the language and may not completely understand the context.
Download Arabic language courses from the US Foreign Service Institute (FSI) at https://www. livelingua. com/arabic/courses/fsi/. The FSI courses include the Levantine (Jordan, Lebanon) and Hijazi (Saudi Arabia) Arabic dialects, as well as written Arabic. Flashcards can be a great tool in helping you learn a new language. They’re easy to make, carry, and even dispose of. As long as they serve the purpose of helping you memorize the new vocabulary, you don’t need to create anything fancy.
Some popular apps include Tinycards, Duolingo, Memrise, and Clozemaster. You can use these apps for free. However, there are also premium features in each app that you’ll have to pay to access.
Look for TED talks by Arabic activists and natives. They will give you a glimpse into the culture and issues facing Arab nationals.
The quickest way to be fluent is to immerse yourself in the target language environment as much as possible, and use it as often as possible. Some of these exchanges also have mobile apps so you can chat with your language partner on your smartphone or other mobile device. Basic access to these sites is typically free, although you may have to pay a monthly subscription fee to unlock premium features.
Sprachcaffe, a leading language school in Europe, offers free Arabic level testing at https://www. sprachcaffe. com/us/english/language-test. htm. Simply scroll down and click on the link for the “Online Arabic Proficiency Test. " Cactus Language offers free Arabic language testing at https://www. cactuslanguage. com/language-level-tests/. The course uses transliterated Arabic.
Major music streaming services typically have an Arabic channel or Arabic playlists. Check with your favorite streaming service to find out what’s available. If you happen upon an artist that you like, search them online. You may be able to download their albums or watch music videos for some of the songs you like.
Fantasy and historical drama tend to be dubbed in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), while contemporary comedies and dramas are usually dubbed in either Egyptian Arabic or Levantine Arabic. Reality television tends to use a limited vocabulary and exposes you to more realistic unscripted conversations.
Visit the Arabic Collections Online at http://dlib. nyu. edu/aco/ to access more than 10,000 free digitized books in Arabic.
Extensive Arabic vocabulary lists are available at http://arabic. desert-sky. net/vocab. html to help you create your labels. Once you’ve committed your first set of labels to memory, take them off and use different labels. Generally, it’s a good idea to go from large to small so you don’t get confused about what the label applies to. For example, you might first label your sofa as a whole, then add labels for “arm” or “cushion. "
Even if you don’t use the video resources, you can take advantage of the online dictionary available on the site to look up words you don’t know. Al Jazeera broadcasts and language lessons primarily focus on Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). However, you’ll also find lessons on Mediterranean Arabic.
Try to go to a country that speaks the form of Arabic you’ve been studying, or you may find you have a difficult time understanding people despite your study. For example, if you’ve been studying Levantine Arabic, you would want to travel to Lebanon or Jordan rather than to Egypt.
