I've been slowly working my way through the Alifbee Arabic course on my phone. They have material from A0 (reading and writing) all the way up to C1. Pros: The course is comprehensive, probably thousands of vocabulary words Native speakers, high quality audio Teaches the alphabet and transliteration Cheap (some portion of the course is free and then more is unlocked with a subscription) Cons: The pronounce barely works so I just have to skip those lessons even when I know I'm matching the audio perfectly The alphabet is taught in 39 lessons with each lesson having 3 skills in them. This is serious overkill. The lessons are repetitive and even though I know tbe alphabet I found myself unable to hear the difference between two letters (because they are either subtle or non-existent depending on the dialect) and therefore had trouble moving forward. I actually cancelled my subscription ($10 a month) out of annoyance after a month and then decided to skip forward to A1 which renewed my interest. Attached are some screenshots.
Think I made the right choice canceling my Alifbee subscription. The lessons in the rest of the course are identical in style to the alphabet lessons which means being exposed to a sentence or phrase like أنا أيضا التحدث باللغة الإنجليزية and then a couple minutes later being asked to write each letter from memory. Even when I can remember the phrase there are so many letters that make similar sounds its virtually impossible to recall the exact way to write it. It's just too much, too fast, for what is supposed to be lesson 1. What I would really like to do is spend 2 years in Jordan or somewhere like that intensively learning. Ah well.
I don't know about intensively learning, but apparently institutions in GCC countries often hire Westerners. Especially considering you're getting a STEM PhD, getting well paid to live in an Arabic-speaking country will probably be within reach for you.
Have you tried Duolingo? That's where I'm learning Swahili. Today, I will collect my application to start the Swahili course at the museum near my Airbnb. The next start date is September 25th. I will use Duolingo to supplement my learning.
I love Duolingo! I completed the French tree years ago. Unfortunately Duo's Arabic course does a bad job of teaching the alphabet, includes a confuising mix of MSA and Egyptian dialects (according to native speakers) and doesn't include very much content. More recently I've been considering LanguageOasis.com. Only $100 for the year which isn't too bad. They have Arabic, Hungarian and Danish - what an odd mix.
Duolingo used to be pretty good. Now... eh. The path format kind of sucks compared to the old tree format. For Arabic, I would suggest LingoDeer, Clozemaster, Drops, Tobo? (heard good things about Tobo), and Bluebird languages (it has multiple Arabic dialects).
Another Arabic platform I've learned about recently is Kaleela. It's an Arabic-specific platform, very similar to Duolingo. It offers MSA and several dialects. Major downside is that it offers no option to skip writing or speaking exercises, and some of the exercises are confusing. For example, there's a matching exercise where it's possible to match three sets of Arabic words with their English translation, but get the question wrong because the app requires you to match all 6 and doesn't make it obvious or warn you that you missed a pair.
Glad to see you're still at it, Dustin! Language learning is always great fun, but it's sometimes an adventure to find the right combination of resources. Depending on where you live, you could try to hire a tutor to help you as well. This video provides a framework of how to 'acquire' Arabic in a natural manner with the help of a native speaker as your tutor: Maybe worth a try in addition to whatever apps and websites you're using?
Definitely a good approach! Most of the Arabic learners I know use tutors, and they've had plenty of success. It might be the key.
Another resource I've been using lately is AMAU Academy. They offer a complete Islamic Sciences program (non-degree) and Arabic language program for $30 a month, less if you subscribe for a year. I'm 17 lessons in, out of 483 in the Arabic language part of the program. Each video lesson is at least 15 minutes, with many exceeding 25 or 30 minutes. 15 x 483 = 120+ hours It starts with recognizing the letters and moves into simple sentences and then more complex grammar. The Arabic taught is MSA, but the focus on reading includes the specific diacritics and symbols needed to read the Qur'an. The instructor is a fluent speaker but learned Arabic as an adult, which I really appreciate because he has an understanding of what can be difficult for new learners and proves that you can be an adult learner of Arabic and succeed with it. I'm very impressed.
