Effective Arabic learning strategies for all levels

The main problem of studying Arabic is that even many native speakers struggle to speak and write Arabic correctly. They can only communicate flawlessly in their dialect.

Books written by European scholars are not only boring, you also need a Latin dictionary. Books written by American scholars are too simplified and ruin the beauty of Arabic. Books written by Arabic scholars usually are not written for beginners. So, you are mostly on your own.

In fact, it is all about dedication and patience.

How can you improve and become better at Arabic?

Be a copy machine – for beginners

Take an Arabic newspaper, the Qur’an, or a novel and write down (copy) two or three sentences every day. Write them on a paper – by hand.

If you are a beginner, don’t worry about the content. It is not relevant to understand the sentences. Your brain will get used to Arabic patterns.

It might sound old school, but it worked for me. Also, your eyes will get used to the Arabic script.

Create a playlist – for beginners

Conjugate verbs and record them (ask a native speaker), listen to them, again and again. After a year, the conjugation of the dual and the feminine plural will feel somehow natural.

If you don’t want to do it on your own: Matthew Aldrich (Lingualism) has developed some pretty good materials for Arabic dialects (Egyptian Arabic verbs, etc.)

He also offers Anki vocab files and mp3 files (recorded by native speakers).

Watch Netflix with Arabic subtitles

You can download (free) Arabic subtitles (some are great, some are of rather poor quality) for most Netflix series. It really helps to brush up your vocab.

There is a nice plugin which does the job. Learn more about it HERE.

Study THREE words a day – beginners

If you study three words per day, you will know more than 3,500 unique words after four years.

That is enough to have a decent conversation about any topic. I use Anki to build my vocab list.

Back to the roots – intermediate & advanced

As soon as you know how Arabic works, I would not advise studying words. Try to study roots. Even if you study only one root a week, you will improve quickly.

The important thing is to identify as many patterns as possible (and to derive their meaning). If you struggle to find the root, try Aratools (pretty good tool, but it is not always 100% correct).

Please feel free (as a comment) to share any tools, routines, etc. that helped you to improve your Arabic! I appreciate any ideas.

We also had an article on Arabic for Nerds on how to develop your Arabic with dictionaries.

• Tools and Apps

Essential tips for improving Arabic fluency

Online dictionaries are great – but they come at a price: they do not really train your memory. Here is how using dictionaries can improve your Arabic.

byGerald Drißner

August 25, 2019

• How good is the Arabic grammar checker Sahehly?
• An algorithm to find the ancient meaning of Arabic words
• Top AI Tools for Arabic Speakers and Writers in 2024

Note: The feature image was generated by AI and is for illustration purposes only. The Arabic script in the image makes no sense – so please don’t try to decipher it ;-)