How to Learn Arabic: Part 1

Many students start to learn Arabic either with a basic classical (Arabic syntax) text like naḥwal-Ājurrūmiyyah, or an immersion Arabic textbook for teaching Arabic to foreigners (e.g. al-Kitāb al-Asāsī, or al-'Arabiyyah li al-Nāshi`īn, or The Medina University course).

My personal experience of learning Arabic and seeing how quickly and efficiently students who have taken various different routes to the language have progressed, has left me in no doubt that both of these approaches are grossly deficient.

Classical naḥw texts were written by Arabs (or scholars of the Arabic language) who spoke fluent classical Arabic, for Arabs who spoke fluent classical Arabic, as a means to analyse the language. It was never intended that foreigners would learn Arabic from scratch using texts like al-Ājurrūmiyyah or Qaṭr al-Nadā! This is clear from even a cursory look at the way these books are presented - the focus is entirely on abstract theorising of grammatical categories, rather than practical usage.

As for immersion textbooks like al-Kitāb al-Asāsī, quite apart from the several errors in these books, they were written for use by modern Arabic teachers, who don't speak the languages of their internationally diverse students. Using them, when one has recourse to much more accurate, much more systematically laid out and much more complete grammars of the Arabic language written in one’s own mother tongue, is a terribly inefficient way to start.

The grammar courses offered by Arabic-Studio.com (such as Basic Arabic Grammar - see the section Arabic Courses) are based on a third approach, which is that students should learn Arabic grammar rigorously and head on. The courses aim to teach grammar systematically, in English, with lots of translation exercises. This is also the approach adopted by books such as Haywood and Nahmad (which would be ideal as a supplement to Basic Arabic Grammar, as the vocabulary is similar, but it has different translation exercises and different grammatical explanations).

Note that if you decide to work through Haywood and Nahmad, you only need to complete the first 35 chapters (i.e. approximately to the end of the chapters which cover verbs); the grammar covered in later chapters is 'advanced', and is best left to when you start studying naḥw.

Working through a chapter means memorizing the vocabulary and repeatedly doing the exercises until you can translate them in your head. Note that this may require you to do the exercises and go over the grammar a number of times (e.g. six, seven or even more).

Pay particular attention to understanding and memorizing the weak verb tables, as these are often not learnt as thoroughly as they need to be for the student to use them and read them correctly. So, for example, for doubled verbs you should know the difference in verb conjugation between verbs on the patterns [radda, yaruddu], [farra, yafirru] and [malla, yamallu]; for defective verbs you should know the difference in verb conjugation between verbs on the patterns [nasiya, yansā], [da’ā, yad’ū] and [ramā, yarmī].

As a second textbook Tritton's Teach Yourself Arabic (published around 1950, not the modern textbook) is very useful - it will reinforce the rules you learn from the course Basic Arabic Grammar and Haywood and Nahmad, as well as provide extra vocabulary and useful phrases.

Continue to Part 2 - Reading

How to Learn Arabic

1 - Arabic Grammar