Arabic (اَلْعَرَبِيَّةُ, al-ʿarabiyyah, [al ʕaraˈbijːa]) is a Semitic language that first emerged in the 1st to 4th centuries CE. It is considered to be one of the most difficult languages to learn. If you’re reading this and you’ve decided to learn Arabic but don’t know anything about it, it’s important that you know there are lots of different Arabic dialects. These are called dialects. Linguists call Arabic a diglossic: There’s one form for reading and writing and another form for conversing. The written version (called Modern Standard Arabic, MSA, or Fusha) is consistent across the Arab world, while the spoken dialects vary from country to country and region to region. People often don’t mention diglossia at the start—they don’t want to discourage you. But it’s a critical detail that will shape your study. 

This is the first step in learning Arabic. The Arabic language has different forms or dialects from region to region. A common question that is asked is

“What dialect do I choose?”.

There are several dialects you can learn. You can learn the Gulf dialect or if you’re visiting Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon you can learn the levant dialect. You can learn Egyptian, Levant, Algerian, Moroccan, North African, Algerian, and many others. One tip for this would be that you should learn the Arabic language that is on the television and the news, and mostly all TV shows. This is the Fusha dialect. In English, it is known as MSA ( Modern Standard Arabic) or formal Arabic. it is understood everywhere and universally spoken, it is not colloquially spoken but is a major means of communication across the Arab world. But, if you are going to be working in the Gulf then you probably want to learn the gulf dialect. Choose one dialect, don’t try to learn all dialects because they are like different languages. But, you should anyway learn Fusha, it gives you a good foundation in Arabic. 

This is necessary. You need to be committed, you need to be motivated. Everyone’s motivation varies, maybe you live in the Middle East, maybe you live in Kuwait, maybe you are an expert in Dubai or maybe you’re going to work in Qatar or you are visiting Syria or Jordan on holiday. Whatever your motivation to learn Arabic is, try and remember that. Try and write it down. These are generic tips but motivation is important enough. If you have an Arabic-speaking friend who can motivate you along the way, that will also be helpful.

There are so many good channels on YouTube like Esra Osh who teaches gulf Arabic, Spoken Arabic Simplified for levant dialect,  Hannah AlFardan who teaches the Emirati dialect, and many others. Utilize YouTube, there’s an endless supply of videos, so many different channels, different dialects to learn. Find a channel that you like and that you can rely on. Many YouTube videos are fun, engaging, and easy to understand. Additionally, videos are offered in different Arabic dialects. Most of the Arabic learning resources available are in Modern Standard Arabic. 

 Meet them for an hour a week, 2 hours a week. Get advice from a native speaker. Italki is an amazing site, where you can find an Arabic teacher online. Having a teacher is the best way to achieve fluency in a language. 

There are a few apps that are designed especially for learning Arabic. A great app to consider is Learn Arabic – Salaam. Considering it’s free, this app is packed with resources and learning tools. It’s an excellent app for developing good pronunciation.

Now you are at a stage where you want to get some fluency in the language. People who are living in Arabic, who are surrounded by people speaking Arabic, in the gulf or around can catch up easily with the language because of immersion. There’s nothing quite like the immersion you get being in that environment in learning a new language. But if you’re not living in Arab, you can still immerse yourself in the language by watching movies, TV shows, talking in Arabic, listening to podcasts, songs in Arabic, and having fun with the language. 

The most important step is to speak. Whatever you can, no matter how little it is, just start speaking. You’ll learn better through your mistakes. 

Learning any language requires a lot of hard work and dedication, and Arabic is a language that is totally different from most languages. There are different methods and ways to learn it, however, you should try the ways that have already been tried and tested and have proven successful for other learners. The tips given above are curated in the same way. Whatever you do, learn it properly. Do not take shortcuts. Immerse yourself in the language and if you’re consistent enough, you’ll become fluent in Arabic very soon! 

As-Salaam-Alaikum!