Search for "how to learn Arabic" and you'll get a thousand answers. Every app says it's the only one you need, and every list recommends something different. It's very easy to spend more time choosing a resource than actually using one.
So this is my honest list. These are the ten resources I'd point a friend to in 2026, depending on what they want from Arabic. Some are free and some cost money. One of them is the app I make, and I'll tell you clearly when we get there.
One thing before we start: no single resource will teach you Arabic. A textbook won't get you talking. An app won't explain the grammar properly. A tutor can't learn your vocabulary for you. The people who make real progress usually pick two or three things that do different jobs, and then stick with them for months.
The short version
Pick one main course: Al-Kitaab if you want a proper textbook, or Bayyinah TV if your goal is the Quran. Add a small daily vocabulary habit with Anki or Fasih. Once you can read the letters, book a tutor on italki once a week. That covers most of what you need for your first year.
First, decide which Arabic you want
Arabic isn't one language in the way most people expect. When people say "Arabic", they usually mean one of three things:
- Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). The Arabic of books, newspapers, TV news, speeches and most signs. It's the same across the whole Arab world.
- Classical Arabic. The language of the Quran and older literature. The grammar is almost the same as Modern Standard Arabic, but some of the words and the style are older.
- Spoken dialects. Egyptian, Levantine, Gulf, Moroccan and many more. This is what people speak at home, with friends and in the street, and they can be quite different from each other.
Arabs call the formal language al-fusha (الفُصْحَى). The name of my app, fasih (فَصِيح), comes from the same root, ف ص ح, which is all about speaking clearly. So you can probably guess which side I'm on. But the right choice really depends on your goal:
- If you want to read the Quran or Islamic texts, start with Modern Standard or Classical Arabic.
- If you want to read books and the news, or use Arabic at work, start with Modern Standard Arabic.
- If you're moving to Cairo or Amman soon and mostly want to chat with people, it makes sense to learn that city's dialect early.
Most courses teach Modern Standard Arabic first and add a dialect later, and this list leans the same way.
How I chose these
There are hundreds of options out there, so I used four simple rules:
- It has to be active and looked after in 2026. No dead websites, and no apps that haven't been touched in years.
- Real learners have to actually use it, not just download it and forget about it.
- Together, the list has to cover reading, listening, vocabulary and speaking.
- There should be something for every budget, including options that are completely free.
That meant leaving out a lot of good things. I've put a few of them in the honourable mentions at the end.
The list at a glance
| # | Resource | Type | Best for | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Al-Kitaab | Textbook | A full, structured course | Paid |
| 2 | Al Jazeera Learning Arabic | Website | Free reading practice by level | Free |
| 3 | Duolingo | App | Learning the letters | Free, with paid plans |
| 4 | Easy Arabic | YouTube | Hearing real spoken Arabic | Free |
| 5 | ArabicPod101 | Audio and video lessons | Listening on the go | Free lessons, paid plans |
| 6 | Bayyinah TV | Online course | Quranic Arabic | Subscription |
| 7 | Hans Wehr | Dictionary | Looking up words by their root | Paid |
| 8 | Anki | Flashcard app | Remembering what you study | Free on most devices |
| 9 | Fasih | Vocabulary app | A daily vocabulary habit | Free to start |
| 10 | italki | Online tutors | Speaking practice | Pay per lesson |
Textbook
1. Al-Kitaab fi Ta'allum al-'Arabiyya
- Best for
- A complete, structured course
- Cost
- Paid (books and a website)
- Level
- Beginner to advanced
If you've taken Arabic at an American university, there's a good chance you used this book. Al-Kitaab is a full course from Georgetown University Press, written by Kristen Brustad, Mahmoud Al-Batal and Abbas Al-Tonsi. It begins with Alif Baa, a separate book just for the letters and sounds, and then runs through Part One, Part Two and Part Three.
What I like about it is that it treats you like a serious student. You read real texts early on, you listen to a lot of Arabic, and the grammar is explained clearly in English. The newer editions also teach spoken Arabic (Egyptian and Levantine) next to the formal language, so you see how the two connect.
The downside is that it's hard going on your own. It was written for a classroom, and self-learners can get stuck on exercises with nobody to check them. The audio and video live on a companion website, so if you buy a second-hand copy, check whether it still comes with access.
Good
- A complete course, from the alphabet to advanced
- Real texts and lots of listening
- So widely used that other learners are easy to find
Not so good
- Hard to use without a teacher
- Learning MSA and dialect together confuses some people
- Not cheap once you add the website
Website
2. Al Jazeera Learning Arabic
- Best for
- Free reading practice at your level
- Cost
- Free
- Level
- Beginner to advanced
Plenty of learners have never heard of this one, which is a shame. Al Jazeera runs a free website for Arabic learners, with material sorted into seven levels, from complete beginner to proficient. There are news stories written for each level, everyday texts, media Arabic with video clips, and a level test to tell you where to start.
It's especially good for a problem every learner runs into. Most real Arabic is written without tashkeel, the small vowel marks above and below the letters. The site has a tool that adds them to any Arabic text you paste in, which is handy when a news article or a message from a friend has you stuck.
It isn't a full course, and it won't get you speaking. But as free, structured reading practice in Modern Standard Arabic, it's hard to beat.
Good
- Completely free
- Seven levels, so it grows with you
- Real news language, rewritten for learners
Not so good
- Not a complete course
- Mostly reading, so you'll need something else for speaking
App
3. Duolingo
- Best for
- The letters and your first words
- Cost
- Free, with paid plans
- Level
- Beginner
Duolingo is where a lot of people take their first step, and for the alphabet it does a decent job. It introduces the letters a few at a time, gets you matching sounds to shapes, and the streaks and reminders make you open it every day. In the first month, that habit is worth a lot.
Where it falls short is depth. You'll learn to recognise words and simple sentences, but you won't learn much grammar, and very little about how Arabic words are built from roots. I'd treat it as a warm-up rather than a course. Once you can read the letters comfortably, move most of your study time to something like Al-Kitaab or Bayyinah TV, and keep Duolingo for the days when you only have five minutes.
Good
- Free, and actually fun
- A gentle way into the alphabet
- Great at building a daily habit
Not so good
- Light on grammar
- Very little about roots and word families
- You'll outgrow it quickly
YouTube
4. Easy Arabic
- Best for
- Hearing how people really speak
- Cost
- Free (paid extras)
- Level
- Intermediate, plus slower videos
Easy Arabic is part of the Easy Languages network. The team goes out into the street, asks people simple questions and films whatever they say. Every video has Arabic and English subtitles, so you can follow along and pause as often as you need.
It's the best free way I know to hear unscripted Arabic. Textbook audio is clean and slow. Real people talk fast, laugh, interrupt each other and swallow half their words. Even a few of these videos a week will train your ear for that.
Two things to know. Most of the interviews are in dialects, from places like Egypt, Palestine and Tunisia, so treat them as listening practice rather than lessons in Modern Standard Arabic. And if the street interviews feel too fast, start with their Super Easy videos, where the hosts speak more slowly.
Good
- Real, unscripted Arabic
- Arabic and English subtitles on every video
- Free on YouTube
Not so good
- Mostly dialect, not Modern Standard Arabic
- Fast for beginners
Audio and video lessons
5. ArabicPod101
- Best for
- Listening practice on the go
- Cost
- Some free lessons, paid plans
- Level
- Beginner to intermediate
ArabicPod101 is a big library of short audio and video lessons. Most are built around a short dialogue, and then the hosts explain the words and grammar in English. You also get word lists, flashcards and a slowed-down version of the audio.
I like it most for time that would otherwise be wasted. A short lesson fits into a commute or a walk, and it keeps Arabic in your ears on the days when you can't sit down with a book.
The catch is the sales side. The site pushes upgrades and discount offers quite hard, and the most useful features sit behind the higher plans. My advice is to start with the free account and only pay once you notice you're using it every week. Also check which kind of Arabic a series teaches before you start it.
Good
- A huge library of short lessons
- Easy to use while you do something else
- Slowed-down audio helps a lot at first
Not so good
- Pushy about upgrades
- The best features cost extra
Online course
6. Bayyinah TV
- Best for
- Understanding the Quran
- Cost
- Monthly or yearly subscription
- Level
- Beginner to advanced
If your main reason for learning Arabic is to understand the Quran, Bayyinah TV is worth a serious look. It's the online platform of the Bayyinah Institute, founded by Nouman Ali Khan, and it includes a step-by-step Quranic Arabic course alongside a large library of Quran study.
What makes it different is the goal. Everything points towards understanding the Quran directly, so the grammar and vocabulary you learn are the ones you'll actually meet in the text. For a lot of people that's far more motivating than practising how to order coffee.
It's a subscription, so the cost adds up if you only dip in now and then, and it won't do much for your spoken Arabic. A free tool that pairs really well with it is the Quranic Arabic Corpus, which breaks down every word of the Quran with its root and grammar.
Good
- Built around the Quran from the first lesson
- Clear teaching in English
- Lots of material beyond the language course
Not so good
- An ongoing subscription
- Little help with speaking
Dictionary
7. The Hans Wehr Dictionary
- Best for
- Looking up words properly, by root
- Cost
- Paid (print)
- Level
- Intermediate and up
Sooner or later, most serious Arabic students end up with a copy of Hans Wehr. Its full name is A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, and it has been the standard Arabic to English dictionary for decades.
The interesting thing about it is how it's organised. Words aren't listed from A to Z the way you'd expect. They're grouped under their root. So to find مَكْتَبَة (library), you don't look under م. You look under the root ك ت ب, and there you'll find كَتَبَ (to write), كِتَاب (book), مَكْتَب (office) and مَكْتَبَة (library), all together on the same page.
That feels annoying for the first couple of weeks. Then it starts to change how you see the language. You stop seeing a pile of separate words and start seeing families of words. It's the single most useful idea in Arabic vocabulary, and Hans Wehr makes you learn it whether you like it or not.
You do need to be able to work out a word's root before you can find it, and that takes practice. If you're a complete beginner, leave this one for later.
Good
- The standard Arabic to English dictionary
- Teaches you to think in roots
- Covers modern written Arabic in depth
Not so good
- You need to know how to find the root
- Big, and not friendly for beginners
Flashcard app
8. Anki
- Best for
- Remembering what you study
- Cost
- Free, except on iPhone
- Level
- Any
Anki is a free flashcard app that uses spaced repetition. In plain words, it shows you each card just before you're likely to forget it. Cards you know well come back after weeks. Cards you keep getting wrong come back tomorrow.
It isn't pretty, and setting it up takes a bit of effort. But it works, and it works for almost anything: vocabulary, verb forms, Quran verses, whole sentences from your textbook. A common approach is to make one deck for each chapter of your course. You can download shared Arabic decks made by other learners too, though I'd suggest making your own. Typing the cards yourself is part of how you learn them.
Anki is free on computers, on the web and on Android (as AnkiDroid). The official iPhone app, AnkiMobile, is paid, and that money helps fund the project.
Good
- Free, and it really works
- Flexible enough for any kind of card
- A big community with shared decks
Not so good
- Looks dated and takes time to set up
- Add cards too fast and the reviews pile up
Vocabulary appMy app
9. Fasih
- Best for
- A daily vocabulary habit
- Cost
- Free to start, optional Pro
- Level
- Anyone who can read the letters
I'll keep this short, because you know I'm biased. I built Fasih because vocabulary is the part of Arabic that quietly falls behind. Grammar has a textbook and speaking has a tutor, but words need to be met again and again, a few at a time, every single day. That's hard to make room for.
Fasih shows you a new Arabic word every time you swipe, with its meaning and full vowel marks, so you read it right from the start. The words are Modern Standard Arabic, and they start with the most common ones. More than 1 in 4 of them also appear in the Quran.
With Fasih Pro, you can tap any word to see its root, its plural, its pattern and other words from the same family. That's the Hans Wehr idea from above, in your pocket and in small doses. Pro also adds five practice games, spaced review for the words you save and a home screen widget. The daily reminders are free for everyone, so two new words come to you each day even if you never pay. If you already use Anki, Pro can export your saved words straight into it.
What it doesn't do: it won't teach you the alphabet or grammar, and it isn't a full course. Think of it as the daily habit that sits next to your main course. You can see what's free and what's in Pro on the pricing page.
Good
- Takes a few minutes a day
- Every word has full tashkeel
- Free daily word reminders
- Roots and word families (with Pro)
Not so good
- Not a full course
- You need to read the letters first
Download on Play Store now
Free to start · No card needed
Online tutors
10. italki
- Best for
- Speaking practice
- Cost
- Pay per lesson
- Level
- Any
At some point you have to talk to a real person. italki is a marketplace where you book one-to-one video lessons with Arabic teachers from all over the world. Each tutor sets their own price, and you can choose between qualified teachers and more relaxed conversation partners, which italki calls community tutors.
I'd wait until you can read the letters and know a few hundred words. After that, even one 30-minute lesson a week changes things. You get to use what you've learned, you hear your mistakes out loud, and you have a reason to study before each lesson.
One tip: book trial lessons with two or three tutors before you commit to one. How someone teaches matters far more than what they charge.
Good
- Real conversation with real people
- Lots of choice in price and accent
- Lessons fit around your week
Not so good
- The cost adds up over time
- Quality varies, so try a few tutors
Honourable mentions
These didn't make the ten, but they're all worth knowing about:
- Pimsleur Arabic. An audio course that's very good for pronunciation and confidence. There are versions for Modern Standard Arabic, Egyptian and Eastern Arabic.
- The Madinah books. The Arabic course by Dr. V. Abdur Rahim, from the Islamic University of Madinah. It's grammar first, it's cheap, and many mosques and Islamic schools teach from it. A favourite with Quran learners.
- Mastering Arabic. A friendly self-study book by Jane Wightwick and Mahmoud Gaafar, with audio. A gentler start than Al-Kitaab if you're studying on your own.
- Lingualism. Books and audio for specific dialects. Very useful once you know which dialect you want.
How to put them together
Here's a simple week that uses a few of these together. It's built for someone with a job, studies or a family, and it comes to about three or four hours a week.
| When | What | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Every day, 5 to 10 minutes | New words and a quick review | Fasih for new words, Anki for words from your course |
| 3 times a week, 30 to 45 minutes | Your main course | Al-Kitaab, Bayyinah TV or the Madinah books |
| 2 times a week, 15 minutes | Listening | Easy Arabic, ArabicPod101 or a news story on Al Jazeera Learning Arabic |
| Once a week, 30 minutes | Speaking | A lesson with a tutor on italki |
It doesn't look like much. But if you keep it up for a year, that's more Arabic than most people ever manage. The daily part matters most. Five minutes every day beats an hour on Sunday, because you meet the same words again before your brain has a chance to let go of them.
A few mistakes to avoid
- Switching resources every few weeks. Every course feels slow in the middle. That's normal. Starting a new book feels like progress because you're back on chapter one, but it isn't progress.
- Dropping the vowel marks too early. Read with tashkeel until you can guess the vowels correctly most of the time. Guessing wrong a thousand times builds habits that are hard to undo.
- Learning words without their roots. When you learn كِتَاب, notice the root ك ت ب. The next time you see مَكْتَب, you'll already half know it.
- Waiting until you feel ready to speak. You won't ever feel ready. Book the first lesson when you know a few hundred words, and let the tutor do the work of making it easy.
Questions people ask
What is the best app to learn Arabic?
There isn't one app that does everything. Duolingo is good for learning the letters, Anki is the best free tool for remembering what you study, and Fasih is built for growing your vocabulary a few words a day. Use an app next to a course, not instead of one.
Can I learn Arabic for free?
You can get a long way for free. Al Jazeera Learning Arabic, Easy Arabic, Duolingo, Anki and the Quranic Arabic Corpus cost nothing. Paying starts to matter when you want a structured course or regular speaking practice with a teacher.
How long does it take to learn Arabic?
It depends on what "learn" means to you. The US Foreign Service Institute puts Arabic in its hardest group for English speakers, at around 2,200 class hours to reach professional working ability. But you can read the letters within a few weeks, and with steady practice, simple texts start to make sense within months.
Should I learn Modern Standard Arabic or a dialect first?
If you want to read the Quran, books or the news, start with Modern Standard Arabic. If you mainly want to talk to people in one country, start with that country's dialect. Many learners do Modern Standard Arabic first and pick up a dialect later, because the written language helps with every dialect.
What is the best way to learn Arabic vocabulary?
A little every day, with review. Learn each word with its vowel marks and its root, so new words connect to ones you already know, and review them just before you would forget them. Anki works well for words from your course, and Fasih gives you new words every day with full vowel marks, plus roots and word families with Pro.
Where to start this week
If you've read this far, you probably want to actually begin. Here's what I'd do in your place:
- Decide which Arabic you want, using the section at the top.
- Pick one main course from this list and do the first lesson today. Not tomorrow.
- Add one small daily habit for vocabulary that takes five minutes or less.
That's it. The resource matters much less than showing up for it most days.
If there's something you think belongs on this list, email me at thecreativejnd@gmail.com. I'd like to hear about it, and I'll keep this guide updated as things change.
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