Arabic
Arabic
Arabic
Essays
- Gives an overview of the language, speakers, media, culture, difficulties, etc.
UCLA profile for Arabic, MSA, Egyptian, Gulf & Moroccan Arabic
- Nice article on the history, related languages, grammar, script and role in society.
Wikipedia Arabic, MSA, Egyptian, Maghrebi, Levantine, Gulf, Syrian, Yemeni, Lebanese, Moroccan, Tunisian & Iraqi Arabic, etc
- Lots of info on Arabic dialects, grammar, vocabulary, history, writing systems and phonology.
Handbook for Students of Arabic
- Helpful information about Arabic, frequently asked questions by students, and lists of online and offline resources.
- Gives some information on the script with a nice chart of all the letters and links.
- FAQs on common questions about learning Arabic.
The Arabic Language & How to learn Arabic
- Covers how difficult it is to learn Arabic, resources for studying, which dialect to learn, and learning the Arabic script.
The art of Arabic calligraphy by Mamoun Sakkal
- History of Arabic writing and examples of different styles.
Diglossia by Andy Freeman
- Difficulties facing American students learning Arabic and MSA (Modern Standard Arabic) versus colloquial Arabic.
- Scroll down to see some advice on learning Arabic.
- Articles on Arabic linguistics, culture, script etc.
Why learning Arabic is so hard
- An article by an Arabic student about the difficulties of the language.
A First Hand Beginner's Guide to Studying Arabic at the College Level by J. Gvozdas, 2006
- A guide to studying Arabic at university, covering difficulty, which type of Arabic to learn, usefulness and prior knowledge which will make the learning process easier.
- Overview of the language, vocab, grammar and alphabet.
Courses Modern Standard Arabic
- Downloadable program with video based exercises.
- An Arabic reading & language course. Based on popular books by Dr Abdur Ravim. Downloadable pdfs are available here, videos, audio and other supplementary material available here.
- Many university online courses including 'Grammar', 'Arabic Class 1' , 'Tunisian Arabic' etc. Looks very useful.
- Online course with interactive exercises, audio & video recordings.
DLI Modern Standard Arabic Basic Course 1981
- Huge course with audio, teaches using dialogues, drills, exercises, grammar explanations, sound & script lessons, a grammar reference book etc. Designed to be used with a teacher, may be too overwhelming for a complete beginner.
Sustainment & Enhancement Arabic by the Defense Language Institute BROKEN LINK
- 30-40 hours of online instruction to improve listening & reading comprehension. For intermediate learners.
- Basic lessons with vocabulary lists, grammar explanations, audio and writing lessons.
L-Lingo Arabic Available in English, French, German & Spanish
- Interactive course with 40 lessons using pictures, audio and exercises to teach Arabic phrases and vocabulary.
Elementary Modern Standard Arabic
- Audio lessons of vocabulary, text and drills. NO LONGER AVAILABLE.
- Teaches almost entirely in Arabic through audio and pictures. Lots of activities and an active community.
- 6 free lessons of basic Arabic with dialogues, audio, pronunciation practice, extensive exercises and cultural information. The full course is available to purchase as a desktop program or iPad app. There are also more products to purchase such as a vocabulary training app and handwriting workbook.
Courses Dialects
Syrian Colloquial Arabic Course
- A downloadable course with audio teaching Syrian Arabic from everyday situations.
- Lessons on pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar.
- Grammar & vocabulary based lessons with Arabic script and transliteration.
- Thorough courses with audio that give you a solid grounding in the language. Saudi Arabic, Levantine Arabic, Classical Arabic writing system and more courses available.
TUFS Language Modules Only available in Japanese.
- Huge course that teaches Egyptian & Syrian Arabic using videos and loads of exercises. A Moodle version is available here.
GLOSS Arabic by the Defense Language Institute
- Improve your Arabic with listening & reading lessons from authentic material. Intermediate and beyond level.
Weekly Training Events by the Defense Language Institute
- Improve your Arabic with listening & reading lessons from authentic material. Intermediate and beyond level.
DLI Egyptian Arabic Basic Course 1981
- Large course with extensive audio, drills, exercises, dialogues etc. Prior knowledge of MSA is assumed and some of the exercises are designed to be used in a classroom.
DLI Iraqi Arabic Basic Course 1983
- Large course with extensive audio, drills, exercises, dialogues etc. Prior knowledge of MSA is assumed and some of the exercises are designed to be used in a classroom.
DLI Syrian Arabic Basic Course 1983
- Large course with extensive audio, drills, exercises, dialogues etc. Prior knowledge of MSA is assumed and some of the exercises are designed to be used in a classroom.
Websites
Basics of Iraqi Arabic by the Foreign Service Institute
- Online Iraqi phrasebook with audio and pictures.
- List of survival phrases in Arabic.
- Flash based exercises for learning Arabic numbers and colours.
- Interactive exercises with audio for learning Arabic vocabulary.
- Flash based lessons for learning the script and some basic grammar and phrases. Includes Arabic alphabet song.
- Lots of phrasebooks with audio, some armed forces related, for several Arabic dialects (incl. Morrocan, Egyptian, Syrian, Iraqi etc)
- Lots of vocabulary and grammar tutorials.
- Many useful links for learning Arabic.
- A short quiz and some survival phrases with audio.
アラビア講座 Only available in Japanese
- 38 lessons with text, pictures, audio, translations and some exercises.
- Extensive vocab guide with pictures and pop-up translations. Site available in many languages.
- Several lessons available on phrases & the writing system and dialogues for upper levels.
Orientaal's Classroom Only available in German
- Several interactive exercises in transliterated Arabic.
An introduction to Lebanese Arabic
- 20 grammar based lessons with exercises. Written in romanised characters, no audio.
- Some short lessons, a grammar guide, dictionary, common phrases and song lyrics in Lebanese Arabic.
Madrasa Only available in Spanish
- 36 lessons with grammar explanations, dialogues and vocab.
Almadrasa Only available in Spanish
- Several courses on Arabic grammar, survival phrases, script, courses for beginners etc.
- A frequently updated post for Arabic links.
- Short lessons for MSA and Egyptian Arabic made by a community of Arabic speakers with a love for the Arabic language.
Lebanese Arabic Learning Material (archived old site), Archived new site
- A grammar, wordlists, dictionaries, pronunciation etc.
- Basic lessons on Egyptian Arabic grammar.
- 5 basic conversation lessons teaching around 80 common words, uses romanization.
- Based around the Al-Kitaab textbooks, but some parts can be used independently. Features video interviews with lots of exercises.
Arabic Grammar Resource from the Defense Language Institute
- Searchable database of Arabic grammar, with links to specific DLI lessons and video explanations.
Arabic Lexicon Available in English and French
- Lists of Arabic vocabulary arranged by topic, with links for videos. No audio.
Study Arabic Guide
Script
DLI Arabic Basic Course: Arabic Sound & Script 1976
- 200 page textbook with audio teaching the sounds and script of Arabic, with extensive exercises and an evaluation test at the end.
DLI Arabic Basic Course: The Writing System of Modern Standard Arabic 1976
- 300+ page textbook teaching the letters, alternate letter forms and numerals of the Arabic script, with extensive reading & writing exercises. No audio unfortunately.
- Tutorial on the Arabic alphabet with videos showing how to write the characters.
- Flash based guides to the Arabic script, and an alphabet song.
- 6 Progressive lessons showing how to write Arabic letters and words, and reading practice.
E-books
101 rules of Arabic grammar by Mohammed Jiyad
- Word document covering grammar and script. Looks very useful.
- Course books, books on learning the script etc.
Tunisian Arabic by Rached Ben Abdelkader
- Peace Corps course based on everday situations.
Mauritanian Arabic literacy by Francis & Hanchey
- Peace Corps course teaching Arabic script in the Mauritanian dialect. To be used before:
Mauritanian Arabic by Hanchey & Francis
- Peace Corps course teaching language and culture in 30 themed units.
Mauritanian Arabic grammar by Francis & Hanchey
- Grammar guide from the Peace Corps series.
Spoken Chad Arabic by Absi & Sinaud
- 40 lessons with dialogues, exercises, grammar & vocabulary.
- PDFs on the language, culture, vocabulary, grammar, script etc.
Peace Corps Jordanian Arabic (+audio)
Peace Corps Hassaniya (Mauritanian) Arabic (+audio)
Peace Corps Moroccan Arabic (+audio)
- Basic courses introducing Arabic vocabulary and useful phrases with audio.
- Nicely presented lessons for learning the basics.
All the Arabic You Never Learned the First Time Around by J. M. Price, 1997
- A thorough, no-nonsense (& somewhat humorous) review of MSA grammar, primarily aimed at getting intermediate MSA students to the point where they can read native materials independently.
Modern Standard Arabic: Intermediate Level Part I, Part II & Part III by P. Abboud et al, 1971
- Designed to improve a student's reading and listening abilities, uses authentic texts, drills, exercises and grammar explanations. Unfortunately no audio, but looks like it would be good for improving reading skills.
A Constrastive Study of English and Arabic from the Defense Language Institute, 1974
- Compares the grammar, phonology, sentence structure etc of English and Arabic, uses romanised Arabic throughout. Also looks at English spoken by Arabic speakers.
SOLT Arabic from the Defense Language Institute
- Extensive course with audio, however, it looks like it would only be useful used in a class, as most of the exercises are classroom exercises.
An Arabist's Guide to Egyptian Colloquial by D. Piper, 1983
- A useful 61 page book covering Egyptian Arabic grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary for students already familiar with Written Arabic.
Note: For more e-books please see the Language e-books section.
Podcasts
- Different levels, dialogue based podcasts. Looks good.
- Grammar based podcasts with selected native songs and recordings.
- Teaches situational Arabic through dialogues, which it then breaks down into vocab and grammar points.
阿拉伯語教學I Only available in Mandarin Chinese
- 88 lessons with a 'lecture' style of teaching, one teacher talking.
阿拉伯語教學II Only available in Mandarin Chinese
- 86 lessons for learners who have completed the previous podcast series, same format of teaching.
阿拉伯語教學III Only available in Mandarin Chinese
- 87 lessons for graduates of the previous series, similar teaching style.
- 10 lessons and PDF guides available free, 50 more available to pay for.
Forums
- Support for learners of Arabic.
Learning Arabic from Islamic network
- Active forum for advice about learning Arabic.
- A forum about the meaning of words & Arabic usage.
Phrasebase Arabic, Egyptian & Lebanese
- Unfortunately since the forum was rebooted and all the old messages deleted there are not as many useful threads as before but you may find some help if you post. Some threads are preserved in the site's archive.
Blogs
- Arabic words and phrases from current events, arts & culture, celebrations, entertainment, Islam, cuisine and more.
- Lots of videos with transcripts and translations, grammar notes, links to useful resources and more.
- For students and teachers of the Arabic language. (discontinued)
- Posts on the Arabic language and a fantastic choice of links.
- Blog about the Arabic language, culture, politics, grammar, vocabulary and more.
Egyptian Arabic Dialect Course
- Blog with 15 lessons, teaches the Egyptian Arabic dialect through songs.
Authentic Materials
- News in simplified standard Arabic, with transcripts and exercises.
Arabic Accents from the Defense Language Institute
- Authentic passages read aloud in different Arabic accents, with a variety of topics and ability levels.
Phone Conversations from the Defense Language Institute
- A collection of casual phone calls in Egyptian, Levantine and Iraqi Arabic with lesson plans for teachers.
BBC, DW, NHK, KBS, TRT, CRI, RFI
- News, radio and video (on DW, KBS & RFI) in Arabic.
- Radio and podcasts about culture, news, science, entertainment; lots of interesting material.
- Lots of info, links and articles about Arabic culture, cinema, poetry, literature, television etc. A treasure trove of information.
- Large collections of Arabic poetry.
- An impressive collection of videos in Arabic, arranged by proficiency level. Mainly MSA but contains some dialects and MSA & dialect mixes at intermediate levels and beyond.
- Arabic and Egytian Arabic wikipedias, with more than 7,000 articles for Egytian Arabic and more than 145,000 for Arabic.
Technical
Loading Arabic with Windows XP
- Tutorial on how to write Arabic on your computer.
- Use the online keyboard to type Arabic and copy & paste the text.
- A Firefox & Windows download for typing in Arabic. Simple & easy to use.
Commercial
- An audio and visual approach to learning MSA and Colloquial Egyptian Arabic grammar, with colour-coded text, audio, videos and podcasts.