Learn to speak Arabic

1. 1

   Week 1: sounds and greetings

   Say hello (مرحبا) and thank you (شكرا) until they feel natural. Learn the sounds that differ from English, and say ten short sentences about yourself. Arabic has sounds English does not use, produced at the back of the throat. Listening and then saying words out loud trains your mouth for them, and reading alone cannot.

2. 2

   Week 2: everyday requests

   Learn to order, ask the price, ask where things are and say you do not understand. Build each as a full sentence and say it three times.

3. 3

   Week 3: questions and answers

   Practise question words and the answers to them. Listen to each Arabic sentence first, then say it, then compare.

4. 4

   Week 4: short exchanges

   Chain sentences into a mini conversation: greet, introduce yourself, ask a question, answer one. Record yourself and listen back.

Arabic is written in the Arabic script. You learn to read it alongside speaking; you do not have to master it first.

It takes longer than European languages. The script runs right to left and the sounds are new. Sentence-by-sentence practice with audio makes both easier.

A good first target sentence: أين الفندق؟ (Where is the hotel?).

• Ten to twenty minutes, same time every day.
• Say everything out loud, even when alone.
• Learn whole sentences, not isolated words.
• Repeat yesterday's sentences before learning new ones.
• After a couple of weeks, find a conversation partner or tutor and use what you have practised. At 30 minutes a day, Arabic reaches working proficiency in roughly 12.1 years, and you will be speaking well before that.