Ahlan/ sabah al khair/ masa al  khair/ hi (Figured I should show off what Arabic I know)

My journey learning Arabic has not been smooth in the least, and you can still catch me screaming in frustration. The level I’m at right now has me reading Arabic with the harakah (the symbols-fataha, kasra, damma etc) fluently, but without the harakah, I still struggle. I think this is a major problem for many people around the world who can read Quran. I’m told the remedy for this is merely exposure to more Arabic.

 Also, I have a very basic understanding of some of the most recurring verbs in the Quran from a list I got at http://corpus.quran.com/verbs.jsp. I can conjugate easy verbs in present and past tense(which are roughly the only tenses that require conjugations). This helps me to have a vague interpretation/ translation of the Quran when I read it.

I may or may not have impressed you with my above talents, but I still have A LOT to work on. In this post, I’ll be sharing my tips for learning Arabic fast, a couple of sites, books and apps that I use to learn Arabic.

The Quran was revealed in Arabic, so in my opinion if you really want to understand, or ponder upon the verses, you need to learn Arabic. Regularly reading the Arabic Quran side by side with the English translation can help you get a good grip of what you’re reading. While reading a tafsir is very beneficial, a direct translation is good for recognizing and relating Arabic nouns and verbs. I use this translation by Yusuf Ali. One of the things I did that helped me to merge Arabic and English was to listen to a recitation of the Quran in Arabic while reading the English translation simultaneously. Coupled with the trusty website corpus.quran.com, which provides word for word translations and more for example, whether a verb is 2^nd person plural masculine (I know that seems like a handful) I’m able to study the Quran and understand it better.

I never really gave much thought  to Arabic grammar until I got this textbook. Using this book, I learned how to conjugate verbs and other basic grammar rules that made sense to me later on when I would read a passage in Arabic.

I got this dictionary last year in December and I go through some of the topics which interest me. So far, I know what cheese and butter are in Arabic. I’m just kidding, the pages with foods and stuff interested me so I spent some time studying them. Going through these topics can help you improve your vocabulary because it has thousands of nouns and verbs as well.

Before getting on memrise.com, I had no clue how important verbs are in understanding Arabic. It’s basically a website that uses repetitive learning to cement new aspects you learn. It’s got a load of courses to study. It has many courses for learning Arabic, but personally I use this one called 1500 Frequency Verbs. It opened this huge understanding of Arabic. 

According to me, verbs constitute of 85% of Arabic. If you learn 50 everyday verbs, you’re well on your way to understanding Arabic.

These guys provide podcasts for learning Arabic. They’re really thorough and explain every word clearly. They have various levels of learning, though you have to pay to listen to the intermediate and advanced levels. www.arabicpod.net

This is probably my best ever website for Quran. Corpus.quran.com Every time I’m memorizing or studying Quran, corpus Quran is always right next to me. You could say it’s the best Quran website out there. It’s got verse translations, word by word translations, audio and various other categories. I really like checking out the frequently appearing verbs in the Quran to see how I’m progressing. http://corpus.quran.com/verbs.jsp

Poetry is a kind of cool way to learn Arabic. You could search on the internet for poetry translation in English. It can help you to learn Arabic, plus if you like poetry, you’ll enjoy.

Translating Nasheeds or kids songs is actually an easy way to learn Arabic, although I can’t be held responsible if you’re singing the Arabic version of Sesame street’s opening for 3 days. You can get these on Youtube.

This app is like corpus quran because it shows word for word translations, although it doesn’t go into details. This is fine for me because I have a small idea of verb forms and nouns.

This is memrise.com’s app. It has apps for android and ios. It’s good for on the go learning. Plus, some courses can be downloaded and used offline.