Arabic is a tough language to learn. But millions speak it as a second language and millions more have picked up bits and parts of Quranic/classical Arabic. But there are many millions (again) of aspiring speakers who would love to learn but get discouraged, disillusioned, and (emotionally) destroyed by the process of learning Arabic. Here's my pathway to learning Arabic (as an intermediate learner) informed by my experiences learning multiple other languages.

Now, people learning Arabic can be divided into three camps. Those wanting to focus a specific dialect, those wanting to focus on Modern Standard Arabic (MSA/Fusha), and those wanting to focus on Quranic Arabic (aka classical Arabic). Everyone should find this article helpful. But while I have your attention, let me say this. Focus on what you want, but do not igore, let alone denigrate, the other versions of Arabic. Dialects, MSA, and classical Arabic all are beautiful, and all are related. Efforts spent in learning one or more will not be wasted. Rather, efforts in one will help you appreciate / improve faster in the other camps. I will note though, imo, Fusha is the best bang for your buck/time.

Anyway. There are PLENTY of resource compilations. I like these ones for overall learning and MSA and classical and there was a very recent one for beginners on the Learn_Arabic subreddit but you can find many others. But.

Stop looking for the best resource. Just start. (Or restart, or keep going). Pick a place in the pathway below, and just do it.

Steps

This is organized around a 4-step program.

• Step 1: READ

• Step 2: Build on your basics

• Step 3: Dive into Arabic content, media, and life

• Step 4: Take it to the next level

Here's a visual summary of this process.

Step 1: Iqra! Read! (And get the basics of pronounciation down pat)

Please learn how to read. Learning to read and write IS the shortcut you are looking for. This applies unless you are a child with loving Arabic-speaking friends and family, in which case sure, go ahead and learn to speak first. Also unless if you have enough time to do full-blown immersion. Then sure, just do that and stop reading this article now.

Muslims (Quran-readers)	Total Beginners	Heritage Speakers
Say Alhamdulillah	Learn to read, write, and pronounce the alphabet. Resources: Classes (universities, community centres). Tutors (Italki, Preply, etc.). Youtube (see link immediately below table). Textbooks (Alif Baa from Al-Kitab) Duolingo (if you are very desperate).
Improve your pronunciation. Special attention to |ح|خ|ع|غ|ض. Resources: Above. Tiktok/Insta accounts. Plus, anyone who can give your pronunciation realtime feedback (friends, family, language exchange buddies, tutors etc.).

Comparative review of 5 youtube channels.

Step 2: Build on your basics

What is your approach to learning?

Do you do best in a guided environment with peer participation? Then take classes. Do you have the self-discipline to manage your time and a haphazard set of resources? Then go it on your own. In either case, this is a spectrum. You can have your main approach be classes but still do stuff on the side like watch cartoons, or hire tutors on occasion. There is no one class/tool/website/app to learn Arabic (and if you are expecting your university courses to get you to fluency - I have bad news for you). So get used to mixing and matching.

Courses / Guided Studies	Self-guided approach
Courses. These can be at universities, colleges, community centres, mosques. These can be in person (find one in your area) or live online (Bayyinah, Arabic Pod, etc.). Remember, do your homework. You can also do fly-in courses at various universities across the Muslim (not just Arab) world. Practice with your classmates.	Tutors. You will need tutors. Do not go on this alone. Textbooks (Bayna Yadayk, Madinah Arabic, Gateway to Arabic, Asaan Arabi Grammar (Urdu), Lisaan ul Quran (Urdu)). Pick up some grammar. Memorize some conjugations. Self-learning courses like various follow-along courses for famous textbooks like Madinah Arabic (English, Urdu).

In either case. Please do pay attention to grammar. Grammar gets a bad rap for being boring but it can be a HUGE effort multiplier for you. Try to pick up the basics of word order, masculine and feminine words, basic grammar patterns, conjugation (kinda morphology but simpler), changes to harakaat after harfs like fi, min etc. It will make every aspect of learning Arabic easier. And it'll make for easier communication with native speakers as well.

Step 3: Dive into Arabic content, media, and life

Immersion works. It does! But it's not a silver bullet. And it exacts some serious costs. But if you can do it, there's nothing like it. If you have the time to totally immerse yourself in your target language, and the willpower/lack of options to not use your native/advanced languages, then YES. Go immerse yourself.

Children learn languages better because they have more time to learn. Adults don't. If you apply techniques suited to children (immersion), you will not learn as quickly as when you are smarter about your time and you leverage your big adult brain and your ability to understand patterns not just have it beaten into you by constant repitition.

And so, I feel comprehensible input works better for adults. It's less flashy, but it adds up very quickly as you constantly refresh what you know and learn a little every day, enough to absorb it all at your own pace. Further reading.

Of course, you can use both approaches. Mix and match, remember!

Immersion	Comprehensible input
Options. Long (and short) visits to Arabic speaking countries. Language exchanges from day 1. Movies and tv shows (with or without captions or subtitles). Youtube content. Tiktok and insta (Arabic social media is insanely funny, and there is lots of content!). Specific day(s) focusing on Arabic input and/or output.	Options. Graded readers like Sahlawayhi, Easy Arabic Reader (with audio) or the MSA/Levantine readers from Lingualism. Bilingual Arabic / English books e.g. International Languages Home. Podcasts with transcripts. Read out loud, mimic the audio/live person reading. Cartoons (original Arabic or dubbed in Arabic). Try to find content you already know. E.g., about the Prophets life. Or if you've watched Avatar more times than you can count (there's an Arabic dub on Netflix!) Reread, rewatch, rehear.

One important item. Talk to people. Make Arabic speaking friends online and in real-life. Arabs are very sweet, they love talking and sharing their language and culture. If you can't find friends, find language-exchange partners on Hello Talk, Conversation Exchange, Tandem, whatever. Lots of them want to learn English or French or Urdu or Chinese etc. Have fun. You should do this, no matter which route you take, once you can introduce yourself. You are not wasting anyone's time.

Step 4: Take it to the next level

The above won't be enough. No one resource is. So you'll have to find what works for you.

Learn to use search

Please learn how to search effectively. There are a LOT of resources for Arabic. Some people have already put amazing resources together. But google is pretty pathetic now (SEO enshittification). Find forums (e.g., reddit/r/learn_arabic) and search there. And do that BEFORE you post 'how to learn Arabic in 3 months'.

Do what you like

I think reading is the best way to learn. But if you hate it, don't do it. Do what you like, just do it consistently. It may take you longer than another person who is happy reading, but it would take you shorter than YOU trying to read and hating your life.

Language exchanges and speaking practice

Hello Talk is great. Find a voiceroom and just talk to people. Fine 1-3 partners and just speak to them. I would suggest getting the VIP membership, it's worth it for the audio transcription feature alone. Also, italki teachers are quite affordable and very good.

Read AND listen

Arabic lacks (to my knowledge) many good paired audio-text resources at the beinner/elementary/intermediate level. Get someone to read for you. If you have Arab-speaking friends or family, get them to read. If you have money, pay someone to read a book you find interesting (I read Prisoner of Zenda this way, mix of language partners, friends, and tutors).

Use religious resources

Quranic tajweed lessons are the BEST thing ever to get pronunciation down pat. They explain tongue placement and everything.

There is an insane amount of muslim content that is simple, clear, engaging, repetitive, and literally designed to be accessible to everyone. Use it. More content that you can ever deal with. I'm sure you can also find Christian and other religious content as well.

Lastly, proselytizers are wonderful language exchange partners. They will happily help you practice if you just talk to them. Chinese evangelicals on HelloTalk were some of my favourite partners.

Grammar

Learning grammar is an adults superpower. It's an amazing shorcut, if you can remain awake while learning it. Just learn a bit, apply it, and keep learning. Don't get stuck in pure grammar either. Learn enough to become as independent of a learner as you can be.

Conjugation

Arabic conjugation is pretty annoying. Memorization is another shortcut. You can wait it out to just absorb all the various tenses and harakaat changes and verb initials and finals. OR you just power through memorizing the basics (the ten common verb patterns in past and present).

Get fluent quick

I have bad news. You can't. Of course, IF you can actually devote 16h a day to learning Arabic for several months, sure. You will learn very quickly relative to the normie student taking a semester-long class or the mosque-class-goer who takes 2 classes a week after Maghreb. But you WILL need to spend time. Just start. Stop looking for the perfect resources, stop thinking ohhh what can I do to become fully fluent in 3 months. Just get on with it, and you'll be fluent before you know it. Inshallah.

Spaced repetition system (SRS)

Lots of people swear by it, including (I hate to say it) most language learning gurus. If you do, too, then find some Anki decks and get cracking. I personally am not a fan, but hey, it works for millions. It'll probably work for you.

Also, I actually really like Glossika. Their lexical-chunk-based approach (in an SRS) gives you a lot of useful phrases and improves your pronunciation (by forcing / asking you nicely to mimic). This is a paid service.

If you really can't learn how to read in Arabic

Start with the Arabius app. And spend lots of time on media consumption and live conversation. Make your own list of key words you need to know and add to it. You'll be ok (much to my annoyance because you could be great if you read!).

Use other languages to learn

If you speak any language with extensive exposure to Arabic (e.g., Urdu, Farsi, Bangla, French) then look up ways to learn Arabic through that language. This is especially helpful for languages that share vocabulary/scripts/aspects of grammar. You save SO much time by starting with someone

Last words

If you have any resources you found suuuuper useful please do share with me! Also if a specific approach worked really well for you and why. I would love to hear more.