Learning Arabic On Your Own
July 11, 2007
Quite some time ago, a discussion took place on the now defunct Siraat.net messageboard regarding people’s experiences in learning Arabic with members sharing their experiences, giving tips and things of the sort. On another forum I was a member of, a sister had asked me how I learned Arabic (I’m still learning, by the way), so I took what I had written on Siraat.net and adapted it for that other forum. I thought those tips may be of some benefit to those who visit my blog, so I’m reposting it here.
Tips for Those Who Want to Learn Arabic, and a Brief Mention of My Experiences With It.
(Adapted from a post I made on Siraat.net’s students of knowledge forum on the topic, written some time before Jan. ‘05)
Firstly, check your intention. This is key. It won’t necessarily make things easier, but it will gain you some rewards for what you’re doing, rather than increasing a possible punishment for doing it for the wrong reasons.
Second, it would be good to decide on what your goals in learning are going to be—i.e., do you just want to learn how to read and listen to lectures for yourself, or do you want to be able to communicate fluently in Arabic with others. Both entail different things here and there, and knowing what’s more important to you right now will help you in deciding what things you actually have to do in order to learn/understand the language.
For me, the first was/is more important than the latter. Being able to read and listen to lectures doesn’t involve as much effort as being able to communicate fluently. I’ll explain why. Being able to read and listen for yourself only requires basic knowledge of Arabic grammar (along with vocabulary, of course), whereas being able to communicate fluently will require more knowledge and a better understanding of forms and how to conjugate verbs and what not. It will also require more knowledge about the words themselves as you’ll need to know how to pronounce words properly. With reading, this isn’t as important because a lot of the time you’ll recognise the meaning of a word by the context it’s found in. For being able to read and listen for yourself, you’ll only really need to go as far as Book 2 of the Madînah books by Dr. V. Abdur Rahim. Finishing book 2 should give you the basic grammar needed to help you understand things. The hard part after completing that will be amassing vocabulary.
The best way I know of to build your vocabulary is to translate books and articles for yourself. You have to get used to thumbing through your new best friend, Hans Wehr, and not get impatient with searching for words and meanings. Hans Wehr is probably the best Arabic-to-English dictionary you can use due to the fact that it arranges everything according to the root words. This forces you to learn how to pick them out and learn which letters from the alphabet can’t be added to roots in order to make new words, and I can’t stress enough how much this helps. Because Hans Wehr doesn’t have a lot of words in it though, it would be good to compliment it with another dictionary like al-Mawrid. It’s got a ton of words in it, but it’s all arranged in alphabetical order of actual words, not according to roots.
As for books and scholars to start out with, Shaikh Ibn ‘Uthaimîn, may Allah have mercy on him, is an excellent place to start. Shaikh ‘Abdur-Rahman bin Nâsir as-Sa’dî is a good choice to start translating from as well—especially in the case of his exegesis, Taisîr al-Karîm ar-Rahman fî Tafsîr al-Kalâm al-Manân, which was written intentionally in easy to understand Arabic for the general masses to get a good understanding on the meanings of Allah’s book. It’s also straight and to the point, not mentioning a lot of the different jurisprudential rulings derived from verses and differing opinions regarding what the verse refers to. He just tells you what the verse means in short, plain and simple words. Tafsîr al-Jalâlain is pretty good in that respect to (i.e., just giving you what the verse means, without a lot of added discussion), although you will have to watch out for the mistakes it contains.
One tip I can give with regards to reading and translating, even if you think you know the meaning of the word pretty well, look it up to make sure. This will help in strengthening your vocabulary and reinforcing you understanding of the language. Another tip, again, is to try not to lose patience. Even if you have to look up every word in the sentence, keep plugging away. Eventually things will get easier and your understanding of the language will grow and the number of words you’ll have to look up will decrease. If you find that it’s taking you too long to figure something out, either find someone you can ask to help you with that part, or leave it and start on something else. When I’d get stuck, I’d try to ask someone what the part I was stuck on meant, and also ask them why it means what it does. If I couldn’t find someone to help, I’d leave what I was stuck on and start working on something else. After sometime, I’d come back to the thing I was stuck on and try again. Try not to get stuck on one thing for too long, cause it’ll just discourage you and waste time you could be using to work on other things and keep your learning in motion. It won’t really matter too much if you don’t finish what you’re working on because you’re only doing it to learn. As long as you’re translating/reading something, your learning will continue and your knowledge and understanding of the language will grow.
For being able to communicate fluently, you’re going to have to learn a bit of ‘âmmî. Well… you don’t really have to, but it will help a lot in terms of being able to understand others easily as well as communicate easily with them. Find someone you know who knows the language pretty well. Have them talk to you in Arabic only in order to force you to start using it more. Having that someone to enforce the “no english when speaking to me” rule in full effect will greatly help you in terms of progressing at a quick pace.
Anyhow, that’s pretty much all I can say right now, as I’ve already spent enough time on writing this post. Allah willing, this helps somewhat and adds to what’s already been mentioned (i.e., what had already been posted by others on siraat.net regarding this topic).
Your brother for Allah’s sake,
Rasheed, Aboo Ishaaq.
July 12, 2007 at 5:44 pm
Jazak’Allaahu khair, a very uplifting article!
July 16, 2007 at 6:48 am
Asalaam u alaykm brother,
A very good article mash’allah. Couple of questions for you - I was out in Egypt for approx 9/10 months studying fussha and want to know how you went about making the transition or are making the transition from going to reading with to reading without tashkeels/harakats on letters (i.e. no dhammah, fatha, kasrah). At the moment I feel this is the one major thing (plus some of my own laziness) which is preventing me from reading Arabic books. At this stage I find listening to lectures and khutbas (on Friday prayers) very frustrating as I try to keep up but then find that by the time I have made sense of something the speaker as moved on considerably. I started learning Arabic from a position of not having studied academically for 10 years and then knowing no Arabic before going out to Misr. I studied Kittaab ul Assassee which you may have heard of. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.
Shukran.
Irfan
July 16, 2007 at 6:01 pm
Aboo Uthmaan - Wa iyyâk akhil-karîm.
Irfan - Wa ‘alaikum as-salâm wa rahmatullah.
For me, I think between the time I finished my schooling (I’m a college dropout) and when I accepted Islam was about the same amount of time as yours (10 years, give or take a couple), so I know how difficult it can be to get back into learning academically again. I personally don’t like school settings very much, and thus tend to learn things informally either through self-studies or in private sittings.
About reading without the harakât (vowels), to be honest, I really can’t say that I noticed any sort of transition at all. Granted, I don’t always get the vowels correct when reading aloud, I usually can get a grasp of what’s being said and the meaning of particular words through the context of what I’m reading. The context of what’s written will usually help you understand the word and distinguish it from other words that are spelled the same (e.g., hikam and hukm). For me, understanding what’s written, is more important than pronouncing the words correctly (at the moment, anyhow). You shouldn’t let getting the pronuncation of words wrong hinder you from reading Arabic books, especially if you’re only reading for your own benefit. But if you don’t feel comfortable reading without knowing the right vowels, then Shaikh ‘Alî Hasan al-Halabî’s more recent books can help a great deal. Many of his recent books are printed with the vowels written in; you’ll find many of the articles and posts on his website (www.alhalaby.com) with them as well.
When I first started reading Arabic books, I didn’t try to understand everything right away. I just read and tried to pick up as much as I could without stopping to figure out the stuff I couldn’t understand. This is aside from the little quotes and posts I was trying to translate.
As for listening to lectures and sermons, my listening isn’t all that great–especially when the speaker isn’t speaking pure fus·hah (classical Arabic). If the speaker’s including ‘âmmî (colloquial Arabic) in his talks, I’ll have more difficulty understanding what he’s saying. Also, the speed at which the speaker speaks as well as the clarity of his voice play big parts in how easy it is for me to understand. Shaikh Usâmah al-Qūsî for example speaks in a very clear manner. When he visits us here in Toronto, he usually gives his talks and sermons almost purely in classical Arabic with very little colloquial (Egyptian) Arabic mixed in. I’m told this isn’t really the case back when he’s home in Cairo where he uses a bit more colloquial Arabic in his talks. He also speaks pretty quickly, which sometimes makes things difficult to pick up. If you find that you’re missing things because you’re trying to understand every word the speaker is saying, my advice would be to stop and instead focus on getting the jist of what he’s saying. At this point in my learning, this is what I try to do when I listen to talks and lectures. If the talk is being translated, I also listen to the translation to see how he translated certain things, as well as to get the portions I missed or didn’t understand. If you’re listening to talks and sermons that aren’t being translated, getting a cassette recorder or a digital mp3 recorder would pretty beneficial. You’d be able to play back the talk you listened to at a later time and have the luxury of going back to the parts you missed or didn’t understand.
I hope, Allah willing, that this is of some benefit to you. The most important thing is to keep plugging away at whatever seems to be working best for you.
July 25, 2007 at 1:04 am
salaamun alaykum
Jazakallaahu khairan. These were good pointers. I agree that after book 2, you are able to follow along lectures. You may not be able to understand word for word at first but you will first know the topic being discussed, then you will be able to understand the points mentioned, then a few sentences word for word, and so on. You can notice the transition as you read the Quran and slowly begin to understand. This is the most rewarding and encouraging of all.
I think the madinah books are very helpful in learning how to read without tashkeel. After the madinah books it may be helpful to go through ibn uthaymeen’s explanation of al-ajromiyyah. Allaahu alam.
Listening to the program noorun ‘ala darb can be helpful. It comes on the saudi Quran stations everyday at 2:20pm est. The ullema who participate tend to speak clear and slow especially shaykh saalih al fawsan who comes on sundays (i think). Last I knew, he also had a 10 minute program where he gave tafsir of the quran on fridays 10:30pm or 11:30pm est.
zahra
August 27, 2007 at 3:00 am
Assalamu ‘Allaykum,
I have definitly benefited from the medinah arabic books masshallah. If a person is living in the west, the books will not be enough for him but rather one has to couple it with other stuff. For example, listening a lot of arabic audio would help as well as reading books and using dictionary to translate words….these medinah books are a good starting point for only those are good at studying from different sources. If one wants to limit their arabic learning experience to only the books, than much benefit will not be attained. So, I would advice anybody who wants to study these books to couple them with books of the ‘ulemaa as well as audio and other visual aids.
wassalam
October 24, 2007 at 5:32 am
asalamu alaikum
may I add
I think a few more tips is
1. Learn the fi’l (verbs). Asm y shaykh tells me nearly 75 percent of the language is verbs.
If you can leanr how to conjugate them, firstly in the past (mawdi) tense, then that is suprb. Then if you can conjugate them in the present (mudharia) then that will enhance your skill because then you will be able to somewhat speak or have a slight conversation.
2. right after your aquisition of verbs, learn the huroof al-jarh (prepositions), fee, min, ala, kana, li,bi, etc, and learn to conjugate
UNDERSTAND that the key to learning well is learning how to conjugate, and in the language it is pretty easy as it is pretty much the same.
3. then after this you should learn the difference in usage demonstrative pronouns and relative, sicne persoanl pronouns go with or side by side with conjugation. Learn these well.
4. Then practice practice , practice, gaining new words here andt here, reading the different dictionaries for words.
The hans weir is superb as it breaks down the verbs into all its forms sicne most verbs, in the language have 15 broken forms and 15 sound forms. But this is higher up studies.
4. From this point I would advise, even for practice purposes only, to readn adn understand the Ajrumiyyah, since it was basically written for beginners and in a language they can understand.
6. the begining books outside of what Rasheed hafidhahullah brought that is easy is pretty much all of the kutubu sittah, the hadeeth books, and those easy essays, like Muhamamd ibn Abdul-Wahhab’s books. Don’t start out with ibn Taymiyyah. His language is tough and for the tough. Read the easy treatises of the aimah in aqeedah, like Iqtisaad fil itiqaad of Haafidh Abdul-Ghanee al-Maqdisee, or the Itiqaad Aimatul-Hadeeth of Abu Bakr Isam’eeli, or Sareeh as-Sunnah of Tabaree.
these are just my rantings as pointers that hopefully could help
asalamu alaikum
October 24, 2007 at 5:52 am
oh
and yes, go through the medina course, or just download the entire two year arabic course that fatwa-online has on their site, as it is much more exhaustive than these three that have been published in book form sicne these three books are merely a fraction of each section of the arabic ciriculum.
likewise
i wish to add about the brother who posted the shakel/tashkeel part.
That comes by knowing different grammer qpoints, qawaa’id. like for example
الصريح السنة للطبري
no shakel. However to know, you must know different qawaa’id like shamsi letters or qamari letters. for example the onewho doesn’t know arabic would read the first word as “al-Sareeh” or “al-Siyareh” or”al-Sayireh” or whatever.
It is read “as-Sareeh” because seen is harf shamsi, or a sun letter, and that means when sun letters are preceded by al lam, then the lam is silenced. So for soemone to understand this matetr they would have to know the rule of shamsi and qamari, along with knowing what letters are shamsi and which one are qamari.
secondly, in most cases, NOT AL< but a lot, when letter has a kasrah, then followed by ya, then the ya is silent and serves as an elongation, hence sar-e-e-h. The same for fatha and alifs, and the same for dhamas and waws.
as for the sunna, it can be read sunnati as well. But as most of the grammerians state, when it is the last word being uttered, then the tamarbutah does not need to be uttered, so if it ended as as-sareeh as-sunnah, no one needsto add “ti” as sareehasunnati.
as for the last, if lam is added to a name or to other objects where position can take place, then it is usually ,in most cases, means or is said “li”
so literally it would be “lil-tabaree”, but since ta is a shams letter, it is “li-tabaree”
li meaning to or for or can be understood as of, depending on context,
so translating it is “the clear sunnah of Tabaree” instead of “to tabaree”.
there aremuch more principles than these, and it takes practice and dedictation, these re merely the beginners principles.
asalamu alaikum
October 24, 2007 at 3:44 pm
as-Salâm ‘alaikum wa rahmatullah brother Ali,
May Allah reward you for your tips and suggestions.
There’s just a couple of things I wanted to mention regarding some of the things you mentioned.
The correct terms are “mâdî” (مَاضٍي) and “mudâri’” (مُضَارِع).
The correct term is hurūf al-jarr (حُرُوف الجَرّ).
Actually, Hans Wehr only really focuses on the first ten forms, and even with those, it doesn’t list every single form for every root. A more comprehensive dictionary for that would be Lane’s Arabic Lexicon, which you can find online here.
al-Ajrūmiyyah should be done with a teacher, or when you’ve gained enough understanding of the Arabic language to go over it yourself, which will usually happen after you get past book two of the Madînah course books. It may have been written with beginners in mind, but mind you, if you can’t read and comprehend Arabic to begin with, you’re wasting your time, unless, like I mention, you have a teacher.
I would advise against this, only because you’re going to come across words that you definitely won’t find in most Arabic-English dictionaries and lexicons. If you’re going to supplement your Arabic studies with reading books of Hadîth, I’d suggest finding the small Hadîth book prepared by V. Abdur-Raheem for the Madînah curriculum, or something similar, like Imam an-Nawawî’s Forty.
The grammer rules and principles only really help with regards to the last vowel of the word. Otherwise, figuring out what vowel goes on what letter entails knowledge of the actual language and an understanding of the context of the stuff you’re reading.
One book I forgot to mention that will help a great deal with learning verbs during your self-studies is A Practical Guide to the Mastery of Arabic: Arabic Verbs & Essentials of Grammar by Jane Wightwick and Mahmoud Gaafar.
October 24, 2007 at 6:20 pm
asalamu alaikum
barakallahu feek for refining it. Slightly though you mention
“The correct terms are “mâdî” (مَاضٍي) and “mudâri’” (مُضَارِع).”
that is of course if there was such thing as an established language between arabic enligh called transliteration. That is analogous to arguing with someone over “no its spelled ali” and the other is saying “no alee”. The same with your huroof al-jarh or hurūf al-jarr.
you said
“Actually, Hans Wehr only really focuses on the first ten forms, and even with those, it doesn’t list every single form for every root. A more comprehensive dictionary for that would be Lane’s Arabic Lexicon, which you can find online here.”
1. Yeah it does only for the first ten. i was really commenting on the fact that 15 are used commonly, even though there is really 30 forms in broken and the same for sound, but that next fifteen is upper balagha style stuff.
2. the reason hans weir doesn’t list all of them is because not all verbs have certain forms, it may have first, third, eigth ,or the tenth form. So far I know of only 1 that has all 15.
3. barakallahu feek for posting the lanes. Subhanallah, do you realize how much that costs. about a thousand dollars.
true for the ajroomiyyah, I meant that once you get to a certain level where you can begin udnerstanding words and reading properly, and of course it is always better with an ustaadh, no matter how much you know.
As for the grammer rules part, I think this may be an error on your part. The reason why certain words are read a certain way OUTSIDE OF knowing the context of course is due to qawaa’id, not for any other reason.There are two many qawaa’id which is why the lugha is so complex, since after all merely one mistake in shakel can lead to an entirely different meaning intended, and those shakel are there for a reason, and if they are absent, it is only expected that the reader already has these qawaa’id down packed, this is of course outside of the fact that one should know udner what context are they hearing or reading.
as for hadeeth, your right, I was only speaking in that they should just read only to catch on, as reading inevitably by the qadr of Allah, leads to a state of realization of what your reading. I know persoanlly this by people who’ve doneit and personally.
But yeas, the begining hadeeth book should by the arba’een, and or the husnul-muslim, as primers.
asalamu alaikum
October 24, 2007 at 10:19 pm
An established language called transliteration? I’m sorry … but, huh???
Brother Ali, while I agree there is no absolute correct way to spell Arabic words with the Latin alphabet, there are established and recognised methods of transliterating languages from one alphabet to another. Your analogy is not applicable with the things I mentioned. While ‘i’ and ‘ee’ can make the same sound, ‘â’ and ‘aw’ don’t. Similarly adding an ‘h’ to the end of a word like جرّ (jarr) gives people who know and recognise these established transliteration methods the impression that you think it’s spelled جرح (jarh).
Actually, there are a number of reasons why Hans Wehr doesn’t break down the verbs into all their forms (as you claimed above). I don’t think, however, that the reason you gave here is among them as I’ve come across many words while reading various books that were in forms not listed under their roots as found in Hans. One thing to keep in mind regarding this dictionary, is that it is a dictionary of modern Arabic, not classical; and as is mentioned by many of my Arab friends, there are words in the Arabic language that just aren’t used very much.
No, you misunderstand what’s being spoken about. The brother was asking about vowels in general. Grammar rules and principles only tell you which vowel goes on the last letter of a word, they don’t tell you which vowels go on the other letters before it. The only way you’re going to know those is by knowing the language and knowing the context of what’s being said (e.g., حكم hukm/ruling and حكم hikam/wisdoms).
October 25, 2007 at 9:49 pm
your right about the jarr part, it is deceiving if it is spelled jarh. . I’ll try to be a little more conservative ont he choice of letters used for a transliteration system,that after all is not a language ot begin with
secondly, How do you type those symbols over the english letters.
one thing i don’t like about those symbols is that on certain javascripts or html, they show up with weird smiley icons figures if you put it on other types of jaza or word files. That is mainly the reason why I prefer using normal usgae of letters, and if they wish to know the exact pronunciation of it, then learn it.
asalamu alaikum
October 26, 2007 at 2:19 am
The easy way using MSWord: go to the Insert menu and select Symbol. Just scroll through the various symbols until you find the one you want to insert into the text, select it, then click Insert. You may have to change the font to something specific like Times New Roman.
The other way is to use the short cut keys for the symbols, usually a combination involving holding down the Alt key and a number/letter sequence e.g., â = Alt+0226, Â = Alt+0194, etc. (In MSWord, the short cut key for each character (if it has one) is shown on the Insert Symbol window, just above the Insert and Cancel buttons).
October 26, 2007 at 8:56 pm
dane you call that easy.
I’d rather just spell it out as closely as possible
jazakallahu khairan
October 27, 2007 at 7:55 am
To each their own.
October 28, 2007 at 1:13 am
Assalaamu ‘Allaykum,
Jazakallah Khayr brother Rasheed for pointing out the little trick with MSword…I have been searching for this function for a longtime.
Also brothers, when I started studying these medina books, I was not able to find a teacher so I did self-study with a recording of the books which I bought from Troid in Canada. The name of the brother who recorded the tapes I think was muhammad ash-shukri goodshire Juma’ah…I could be wrong. Anyways, this brother’s recordings helped me so much..I wish I knew him, I would give hima gift masshallah. For anybody who is studying the medinah books, I would definitly recommend that they got ahold of the recordings done by this brother.
October 28, 2007 at 5:18 am
If I remember correctly, I believe Dr. V. ‘Abdur-Raheem (the author of the Madînah books) has a set of tapes for the course as well. I could be mistaken though.
November 8, 2007 at 5:41 pm
I don’t know if the owner of this site allow me to say that, but I’m a native (arabic), and I will be glad to teach whoever who want to learn arabic insted he practice english with me.
we will not lose anything if we give it a try.
i’m watting your email to ” kuwaiti_male@hotmail.com “.
Ahmed.
January 8, 2008 at 12:20 pm
I want to learn arabic both functional and academic. Can you help me in this regard, Please.
Ateeq
January 8, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Ateeq, if you are wanting to learn Arabic on your own, then I suggest you start by finding some books that will aid in teaching you the language. The Madinah Arabic Course books linked to above in the main post are good starters for English speakers wanting to learn Arabic. There is also A Practical Guide to the Mastery of Arabic: Arabic Verbs & Essentials of Grammar, which was linked to in one of the above comments.
If you’re looking to be taught by someone else, then perhaps contacting brother Kuwaiti_male at the above mentioned email address may be an option for you.
April 29, 2008 at 12:17 am
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
As-Salaamu ‘alaikum wa Rahmatullaahi wa Barakaatuh.
Kayfa Haaluk Yaa Akhee?
Jazaakullaahu khairan for the post. May Allaah make us all sincere.
April 29, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Just another thing to add… do you suggest studying the Medina Arabic books along with reading books and listening to lectures, or to first focus on the Medina Books?
Also I am wondering if you have heard about the book on sarf called Binaa’ al-Af’aal, since it has been recommended in the following article:
[link removed]
Would you happen to know where we can get the text for this book if you have heard about it?
Jazaakullaahu khairan.
April 29, 2008 at 11:20 pm
Wa ‘alaikum as-salam wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh,
Sorry for the delay in replying to your comments, brother Abdus Samad. May Allah reward and bless you for your comments and your supplication.
To answer your questions:
1. It would depend on whether you feel it would be a benefit to you reading books and listening to lectures while working on the Madinah books. Myself, I focused on the lessons before I started reading other materials. It wasn’t until I finished book 2, or at least most of it, that I started reading books.
2. As for the book mentioned in the article, I’ve never heard of it, so I can’t really comment on it or suggest where you can find it. My apologies.
April 30, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Binaa’ al-Af’aal or Al-Binaa’ fi as-Sarf is a brief text on sarf for beginners and the author is not known.
The text is available here.
There is a written explanation available here by Shaykh Saadiq ibn Muhammad al-Baydhaani.
Here are some audio explanations:
Shaykh Muhammad ‘Ali Aadam, the Muhaddith who teaches at Dar al-Hadeeth in Makkah)
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9
Shaykh Ahmad ibn ‘Umar al-Haazimi, who also resides in Makkah
Part 1 | Part 2
Shaykh ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Umar ibn Mar’ee ibn Burayk al-’Adani. who is the head of Dar al-Hadeeth in Shihr, Yemen
17 Parts
The book most likely still requires for you to sit with another student who has already studied sarf to make sure you are grasping everything.
And Allah knows best.
April 30, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Here is a more detailed explanation by Shaykh Ahmad al-Haazimi, or it may be the additional parts not yet available on his website. I have not personally listened to it so I cannot confirm.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10
April 30, 2008 at 4:59 pm
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
As-Salaamu ‘alaikum wa Rahmatullaahi wa Barakaatuh,
Baarakallaau feek akhee Rasheed for your response.
Jazaakullaahu khairan Yusuf for your help in this matter.
May Allaah reward both of you with Firdaws al-A’laa.
May 6, 2008 at 9:35 pm
As Salaamu ‘Alaykum
I am half way done madinah book 2, and I have been studying arabic for like 3 months. Do you think once I am done book 2, I will be able to start to comprehend, if I memorize the vocab, etc? Or did you have to force yourself to understand by translating books? How long do you think it would take a student to completely know arabic if they stay consistent? Jazaak Allaah, sorry for tons of question, but I am kind of excited in succeeding to understand the book of Allaah and the ahadeeth.
May 6, 2008 at 10:02 pm
Wa ‘alaikum as-salam wa rahmatullah brother Aadil,
By the end of book 2 of the Madinah course books, you should have enough grammar to aid you in comprehending things you read. Of course, you’re going to need the vocabulary. There are various ways you can go about amassing it. One way is by translating books or articles. The other is just to read articles or books and look up words as you go. Personally, I preferred the first method as I felt I could retain the words I learned easier than just looking them up as I read.
As for your question regarding how long it would take for a student to completely know the language, then Allah is more knowledgeable. I can’t answer that question.
May Allah aid you in your efforts and grant you understanding and proficiency in the language He chose to reveal His final revelation in.
June 3, 2008 at 11:12 pm
Jazaak Allahu Khair
I remembered a month later subhaan Allah I asked you a question on this site. I have a few more questions insha’allah.
1. How do you suggest a student to actually listen and understand lectures in Arabic.
2. Do you have any recommendations for small books and articles that you think would be easy for a student to translate.
3. How do you suggest a student to become comfortable in speaking the language. When I try to speak Arabic, I usually realize that I run out of words to make a complete sentence, or sometimes just become blank when figuring out ways to answer questions.
Barak Allaahu feek!
June 4, 2008 at 6:57 am
May Allah reward and bless you as well, brother Aadil.
Starting off with shaikhs whose articlulation (makhraj) is nice and clear and whose diction (balagah) is fairly easy to understand really helps. Two shaikhs I’ve met personally who I find have very clear articulation while giving their lectures are Shaikhs Abu Hatim Usamah al-Qusi and Khalid bin ‘Ali al-’Anbari. I would suggest listening to their lectures which have been translated into English first, as you can listen to both their own words, as well as the translator’s interpretation of them. A number of both shaikhs’ translated lectures can be downloaded from http://www.calltoislam.com.
As for specific recommendations, I can’t really say which books and articles I’d recommend.
I can suggest, however, that translating books and articles that have already been translated is a good way to start off, because you can compare your translation with other translations of what you’re working on. Also translating small books and articles on topics you like and are familiar with also helps, as you’ll be coming across terms you’ve probably heard before when listening to translated lectures and reading some of the English books.
I can’t really give you any suggestions here as I can’t really speak Arabic and when I do try, I usually end up messing up pretty bad, heh. I do know, however, that if you don’t try, you’ll have a very hard time learning. You just have to force yourself to keep at it. Eventually, the words will start coming to you easier and you’ll make fewer mistakes, especially if you have friends who are fluent who you can speak to and who will correct you when you mess up.
While learning how to speak, one of my friends made an arrangement with a mutual friend of ours from Egypt to only speak to him in Arabic. They were neighbours, so this helped a lot. The arrangement was that my friend could only speak to the Egyptian brother in Arabic. If he spoke to him in English, the Egyptian brother would not answer him (or something like that). If he would make mistakes, the Egyptian brother would also correct him and tell him the proper way to say things. From what I recall, my friend was able to speak pretty decently and carry on a conversation in only a few weeks.
I hope this helps somewhat, Allah willing.
June 19, 2008 at 7:52 am
As-salamu ‘alaikum,
“While learning how to speak, one of my friends made an arrangement with a mutual friend of ours from Egypt to only speak to him in Arabic. They were neighbours, so this helped a lot. The arrangement was that my friend could only speak to the Egyptian brother in Arabic. If he spoke to him in English, the Egyptian brother would not answer him (or something like that). If he would make mistakes, the Egyptian brother would also correct him and tell him the proper way to say things. From what I recall, my friend was able to speak pretty decently and carry on a conversation in only a few weeks.”
From my experience this is a very good way to learn. Using a similar method increased my speaking abilities a lot.
June 19, 2008 at 7:54 am
Oops… was logged in with my old “Danish Muslim” account. Should have been this one.