How hard is it for a native English speaker to learn Arabic?
Table of Contents
- 1 How hard is it for a native English speaker to learn Arabic?
- 2 How long does it take a native English speaker to learn Arabic?
- 3 How many hours a day should I study Arabic?
- 4 Is Arabic a difficult language to learn?
- 5 Is it hard to find willing conversation partners with Arabic?
- 6 Should I learn Modern Standard Arabic (MSA)?
How hard is it for a native English speaker to learn Arabic?
Arabic is another language with a non-Latin alphabet. Its 28 script letters are easier for English speakers to comprehend than the thousands of Chinese characters, but it’s still an adjustment to become familiar with a new writing system. There are also characteristics of spoken Arabic that make it hard to learn.
How long does it take a native English speaker to learn Arabic?
It’s estimated that in order to learn Arabic properly, it will take an English speaker at least 2200 hours of Arabic classes over 80 weeks – or rather, one and a half years of consistent language study.
How long does it take to learn Modern Standard Arabic?
Therefore, according to FSI findings, Arabic is in Language Group V and it will take you around 2,200 hours to learn it. Arabic may be one of the most difficult languages for English speakers to learn, but that makes it all the more rewarding!
How many hours a day should I study Arabic?
Let’s take a look at this in several different scenarios:
| If you’re studying Arabic… | Estimated time to reach intermediate proficiency |
|---|---|
| Or: through dedicated independent study of 1 hour per day | approximately 3 years |
| Or: through total, active immersion of 8 hours per day | approximately 3 months |
Is Arabic a difficult language to learn?
For the reasons listed above, among others, Arabic is a challenging language to learn. If you’re an English speaker, you’ll need to spend more hours studying Arabic than you would studying Spanish to get up to a similar level. But a harder language is not an unlearnable language.
Is the Arabic alphabet difficult to master?
The Arabic alphabet is both beautiful and challenging to master. Here are some of the things that make reading and writing Arabic difficult for someone who grew up speaking and reading English: The language is written from right to left.
Is it hard to find willing conversation partners with Arabic?
You’ll never have trouble finding willing conversation partners with Arabic as Arabic-speaking people are – generally speaking – very warm and welcoming. Compare this to many other cultures around the world where shyness and/or reservedness tend to make it harder to approach strangers to practice.
Should I learn Modern Standard Arabic (MSA)?
Just one important note: Don’t learn MSA as a spoken dialect. As we say often here – nobody anywhere speaks it as a native language. Only learn Modern Standard Arabic if literacy is your primary goal. One of the most common concerns for people wanting to learn Arabic is that the script or alphabet looks insanely difficult.