How to Learn Arabic

The Arabic language is the sixth most used language in the world. It is the language spoken in all of the Arab countries and since many of these countries are open to visitors from other parts of the world, you definitely need to speak the language if you intend to travel or do business in these countries. Most people have the idea that they have to travel to one of these counties when they want to know how to learn Arabic, but this is not the case. There are many online sites that offer instruction in the Arabic language, but like learning any new language, learning to speak Arabic does take time and practice.                                                    

The root system of Arabic is one that you need to master first when learning the language.  Since there are so many regional dialects of the language, the best way to start is by learning the standard Arabic. Although native speakers will think that you are speaking rather formally, at least they will understand you. Once you become more knowledgeable about standard Arabic, when you spend time in a particular country or with a speaker from one of the Arab countries, you will be able to adapt to that dialect.                                                                         

The Arabic language consists of 28 consonants and three vowels. Just as in English, the vowels can be long or short. Even though some of the sounds of these letters are very difficult to learn to pronounce correctly, you will still be able to say the words properly enough so that you can be understood.  In sentences, the normal sequence of words is noun, verb and object.  Nouns are either feminine or masculine just as they are in other languages, such as French and Spanish. English speakers who do not know another language have to get their heads around this concept.

When making nouns plural in Arabic, feminine nouns have added to them, but masculine nouns change how the word is spelled. Therefore it is important to learn how to spell the words in Arabic so that you don't make any mistakes when you want to form the plural and say something completely different from what you mean.

There are very few irregular verbs in the Arabic language and there is no word for the present tense. If you translate sentences from Arabic to English, you may think that there are words missing in the sentence. Whereas in English you would say the food is good in Arabic you would say the food good.

Once you start learning Arabic you will also realize that many of the words you use in English are actually Arabic in origin. These include such words as mecca, safari, alcove, arsenic, spinach, massage and many, many more. There are many types of software you can purchase so that you learn on your own by using your computer. Through these programs you can learn to read and write Arabic script, listen to the pronunciation of words and play games to help you learn vocabulary.