Tips to get you going in learning Arabic

When living in a multi-cultural country like Qatar where for a day you’d meet a handful of people from different nationalities, one admirable thing is that we get exposed to different languages.

Many of us who have been living in these desert plains for some time now, would know at least a few words from a couple of languages, including Arabic (aren’t “Yalla” and “Khalaas” part of your vocabulary now?)

However, when it comes to the newbies to Doha, here are a few tips that you could follow to make your Arabic learning process easier and smoother.

1-Whenever you drive around the country, try to notice the name boards and street names. The more you do this, the more you’ll figure out that the letters, their sounds and even certain repetitive words like “Shaari’” or “Street”.

2-Tune into an Arabic radio station or spend a few minutes watching an Arabic channel. You never know what you might learn.

3-Get hold of a “Learn Arabic” book. Make sure it has a CD along with it which could help you to handle the pronunciation.

4-Never be afraid to experiment your store of Arabic vocabulary. Although, you might find it extremely out of place to walk up to a Qatari and spill out the little Arabic you know, you could use the usual greetings and thank you’s with your friends, co-workers etc.

5-Make sure you hear Arabic always. For, a language can be mastered quickly if you keep in touch with it often.

6-You could even join a spoken Arabic class. Al-Fanar is an Islamic center that holds Arabic classes of various degrees to the public. More details on their lessons could be found here.

Looking for some simple greetings used often in Arabic? Then, this could help you.

Do you have more tips for those learning Arabic? If so, comment below.

(Cover pic courtesy: Rebekah Disch)