Arabic from scratch!
Lingust gives you the opportunity to discover and learn one of the oldest and most widely spoken languages in the world – Arabic.
Arabic is considered an official language in the following countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestinian Authority, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Western Sahara, Yemen. More than 400 million people speak Arabic, of which about 380 million are native speakers.
The Arabic language has played a major role in the history of world culture: an extensive artistic and scientific literature was created in it during the Middle Ages. A huge number of Arabic words have entered the languages of many Asian and African peoples. Even in European languages, including Russian, there are words borrowed from Arabic (algebra, azimuth, zenith, alcohol, genie, magazine, treasury, coffee, safari, tariff, etc.).
Currently, the Arabic language exists in two significantly different forms. On the one hand, there is Literary Arabic – the common language of education, press, radio, science, literature, and public speaking for all Arab countries. On the other hand, there are colloquial Arabic languages, or dialects, which the population uses in everyday communication. The spoken language of each Arab country differs both from Modern Standard Arabic and from the spoken languages of other Arab countries.
About the Arabic language course on the website
Like everyone learning the language from scratch, we will talk about Literary Arabic. The online lessons on the website are based on the self-study guide by V. S. Segal (©). Its peculiarity is that it allows you to get acquainted with the language gradually, without immediately overwhelming you with a stream of incomprehensible and complex Arabic letters. Errors have also been corrected, letter animations have been added, as well as answers that can be viewed by hovering your mouse over the key: 
. Furthermore, audio has been added! Not only will you learn to read and write in Arabic, but you will also begin to understand the language by ear. The lessons are free.
Go to → the list of lessons ← (Click)
Why learn Arabic
If the opportunity to communicate with 290 million people is not a great motivation for you to learn Arabic, then it could be, for example, the desire to stand out from the crowd. After all, few people know Arabic. And if right now you will just seem very smart, in the future you can build a successful career. The Middle East has a very large economic potential, so knowledge of the language and culture is profitable and promising.
In today’s conditions of growing hostility between the Arab world and the West, understanding the Islamic religion is key information for overcoming the crisis. People who know Arabic can overcome the cultural and linguistic barrier between countries, help resolve or avoid international conflict, and also help businesses successfully conduct international trade. In addition, knowing Arabic opens the door to other languages. For example, 50% of the vocabulary of Farsi consists of Arabic words. A similar situation exists with Urdu and Turkish. Also, Hebrew is linguistically related to Arabic, making it easier to understand grammatical and semantic concepts in the languages.
Arabs are hospitable. As soon as you utter a few words in Arabic in the presence of a native speaker, they will be delighted and will want to help you in any way possible. Try doing the same thing, for example, in German in front of Germans – it’s unlikely to surprise them much. Arabs are proud of their language and will be happy to see that someone is making an attempt to learn it.
Arabic is the 5th most spoken language in the world, and migration processes in recent years have only increased its spread. Just recently, Arabic became the second most spoken language in Sweden, whereas it had always been Finnish. So before Arabic takes over the whole world, you still have time to learn it!
Interesting facts about the Arabic language
- Arabic text is read from right to left, but numbers in it are written from left to right. It turns out that when reading a number in a text, the eyes must “switch” in the opposite direction.
- There are 28 letters in the Arabic alphabet, and they are all consonants. Vowel sounds are indicated by special marks (harakat) above or below the letters, but in ordinary texts they are usually not written. The reader must guess the vowels from the context.
- Each Arabic letter has up to 4 different shapes depending on its position in the word: initial, medial, final, or isolated.
- For the word “love” in the Arabic language, there are more than 10 words, each of which describes a different stage or shade of love.
- The Arabic numerals used by the whole world (1, 2, 3...) were actually borrowed by the Arabs from the Indians. In the Arab countries themselves, different numeral shapes are used: ١، ٢، ٣.
Start learning Arabic right now
Arabic is one of the oldest languages in the world, spoken by more than 400 million people. Our course allows you to master Arabic writing gradually, with letter animations and audio. Everything is free, everything is online – start with the first lesson.
Go to → the list of lessons ← (Click)