The fastest way to learn Arabic is to spend most of your study time on Arabic you can mostly understand. That kind of Arabic is called comprehensible input. What you read and listen to should change as you improve, so the plan below shows what to do at each level and how to split an hour of study.
What to Do at Each Level
Find the level that sounds like you. Its bar shows how to spend an hour of study.
- First Week
I can't read Arabic letters yet.
Learn the Arabic alphabet 40 min. Listen 20 min.
Arabic has 28 letters, written from right to left, and most of them change shape depending on where they sit in a word. Learn them first, and listen to easy Arabic while you do, so the sounds start to feel familiar.
- Level 1
I can read Arabic letters, but need help with words.
Read and listen 35 min. Review 15 min. Speak 10 min.
Read short dialogues with audio and a translation, and listen to each one twice. Watch videos made for complete beginners, and say a few lines out loud the way the speakers do.
- Level 2
I can read simple sentences.
Read and listen 40 min. Review 10 min. Speak 10 min.
Hide the translation and look up only the words that stop you. Listen to short picture books read aloud, and retell one in a few sentences to a tutor or a friend.
- Level 3
I can read short stories and messages.
Read and listen 40 min. Review 5 min. Speak 15 min.
Read graded news in Modern Standard Arabic, and listen to each lesson once more without reading along. Talk about what you read for longer.
- Level 4
I can read longer texts about everyday life.
Read and listen 45 min. Review 5 min. Speak 10 min.
Read Al Jazeera's articles for learners with the vowel marks off, and turn them on only when a word stops you.
- Level 5
I can follow complex topics, but miss some details.
Read and listen 50 min. Speak 10 min.
Listen to the Lesan Podcast's stories and interviews, all in Arabic, and read the news. Look up only the words that block the story.
- Level 6
I can follow detailed arguments and different writing styles.
Read and listen 50 min. Speak 10 min.
Read and listen to Arabic novels, such as those by Naguib Mahfouz, and talk about them, for their own sake.
Move up a level when your lessons start to feel easy, and move back down if you lose the thread by the third line.
How Long Does It Take to Learn Arabic?
Arabic takes about 2,200 class hours to reach professional fluency, according to the U.S. Foreign Service Institute. That puts Arabic in its hardest group for English speakers, with Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese and Korean.
| Language | FSI group | Full-time weeks |
|---|---|---|
| Spanish | Category I | 30 |
| German | Category II | 36 |
| Hebrew | Category III | 44 |
| Arabic, Japanese | Category IV | 88 |
Saudi Arabia's King Salman Global Academy for Arabic Language teaches Arabic at its Abjad Center in four levels, A1 to B2, with 160 hours of teaching in each level at 20 hours a week. Its first two levels take 320 hours, and all four take 640. Here is how long those take at different amounts of study a week:
| Study per week | Abjad A1–A2 (320 hours) | Abjad A1–B2 (640 hours) | FSI professional fluency (2,200 hours) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3½ hours | About 21 months | About 3½ years | About 12 years |
| 7 hours | About 10½ months | About 21 months | About 6 years |
| 14 hours | About 5 months | About 10½ months | About 3 years |
| 28 hours | About 2½ months | About 5 months | About 1½ years |
These are class hours, so treat them as a rough guide. Time you spend understanding Arabic on your own counts too.
What Slows Learners Down
- Guessing the VowelsEveryday Arabic text leaves out the marks for short vowels. Learn each new word with its sound, so you can still read it when the marks are gone.
- Mixing Kinds of Arabic“What” is ماذا in Modern Standard Arabic and ايه in Egyptian Arabic. Choose the kind of Arabic that fits your goal, and spend most of your time on it.
- Content Far Too HardA news broadcast where you know one word in five teaches you very little.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Arabic app should a beginner choose?
If you are serious about learning Arabic, start with Bubblegum. Poppy writes lessons at your level about things you like. Our Arabic app comparison covers courses, tutors and speaking apps too.
Can I learn Arabic in three months?
You can learn the Arabic alphabet and enough Arabic to order food and introduce yourself. At 14 hours a week, three months is about 180 hours, which is a little more than the 160 hours of the Abjad Center's first level, A1.
How much should I study Arabic each week?
Aim for three to five hours a week of Arabic you understand, in sessions of at least 15 to 30 minutes. A longer session lets you get lost in a story, which teaches more than five minutes a day, and steady time each week matters more than a daily streak. Our post on deep sessions over daily streaks explains why.
Is Arabic hard for English speakers?
Yes, by the Foreign Service Institute's measure: it is in the hardest group, with Japanese, Korean and Mandarin. Its 88 weeks are almost three times the 30 weeks for Spanish. The alphabet is the quick part, and most of the time goes into the words and grammar, which you pick up fastest from Arabic you understand.
Is Bubblegum free?
Yes. The lesson library is free for everyone, because we believe everyone should be able to learn. It holds lessons that other learners asked Poppy for. A new custom lesson costs us real money to make, so your first one is free, and Bubblegum Pro gives you unlimited custom lessons.
The Arabic Alphabet course and the Arabic lessons on this site are also free and need no account.
Sources
- Wikipedia, Arabic alphabet (28 letters written from right to left; up to four forms for each letter by position; short vowels typically not written)
- U.S. Department of State, Foreign Language Training (FSI language categories)
- King Salman Global Academy for Arabic Language, Abjad Center for Arabic Language Education (four CEFR levels, A1 to B2, 160 educational hours each at 20 hours a week)
- Wiktionary, ماذا (Arabic: what)
- Wiktionary, ايه (Egyptian Arabic: what?)
