2 months of learning Arabic : tracking my progress and how long it actually takes ?
Before I start with the actual post , let us discuss some statistics. Arabic is the fifth most spoken language in the world ; there are around 313 million Arabic speakers in the world and so Arabic becomes an important language for both strategic and business purposes , "maybe" even more important than some European languages one learns at school. However, Arabic is also the second most toughest language after Mandarin (Chinese) and learning Arabic from scratch definitely requires a lot of effort.
This term , my college introduced us to Arabic as one of the foreign languages we would have to learn for the trimester. Due to the pandemic, all our classes were held online and we were pretty much tackling the language on our own. I used several resources to learn the language apart from my online class like Youtube , Arabic book , Arabic TV shows , Duolingo and even Pinterest.
I am in no way an expert but I thought tracking my journey would help those who want to start learning Arabic as a beginner.
Tip: Do not start your Arabic learning process using any language app like Duolingo , these apps would be the slowest learning process and might not clear your basics, however at a later stage , maybe after 2 weeks or so , apps like Duolingo would be beneficial.
Some Frequently Asked Questions about the Arabic learning process-
Q-Can we write Arabic after 2 months of practice?
A- Yes, I think you can. I can now write Arabic after 2-2.5 months of practice , my handwriting or speed may not be perfect but I can surely write it or even type the language and I have to admit that I was not very regular while learning the language , still if you study the language thrice a week , you might be able to write it.
Q- Can we speak Arabic fluently after 2 months of practice? If not, how long does it take to learn Arabic?
A - I still cannot speak Arabic fluently , I can speak a few phrases ; can translate certain words in Arabic but I am not even close to speaking it fluently, maybe because I was not regular. I think it will take me about 3 more months to be able to speak the language.
Q- Where to start?
A- Start with the Arabic alphabet , just like you started learning English. Arabic has 28 alphabets but each alphabet has three forms depending on the placement of the letter. The letter placed in the beginning , middle or end will be denoted differently. To make it easier for you , refer this list - Here ; this list consists of the letter and its forms depending on the placement and also what each letter is called. You can start your Arabic learning process using this list.
After learning these alphabets , you can download "Doulingo" from the playstore and start with their initial alphabet quizzes.
Fun Fact - Arabic does not have a letter for pronouncing "Ch" and "P" , even though they have 28 letters! "Sh" is used instead of "Ch" and "B" is used instead of "P" .
So , Pizza would actually be written as "Bizza" ( بيتزا ) in Arabic :P
Unlike most languages , Arabic is written from right to left.
YouTube Channels that you might find helpful for learning Arabic-
Duolingo along with these Youtube channels will definitely help you write Arabic within a couple of months!
If you know any good Arabic songs or shows , do tell us their names in the comments section below!
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