Want to learn a new language, Arabic too difficult?

So whilst I don't intend to move to an Arabic speaking country, I'd like to know a fourth language. Arabic interests me as I like the sound of it and I'd love to immerse myself in Arab culture too.

I already speak English, Punjabi and HIndi/Urdu. But they're all Indo-European languages, so Arabic is not related to them at all. How should I go about learning it? Is it possible to do it online or self teach?

Also I read MSA is not that widely used, so which dialect should I focus on? I mean I know I'd like to visit Egypt, Jordan, Morroco, Tunisia, and if they can ever become stable and safe in the future Syria and Iraq. So obviously a mix of Levant and North African countries. Is there a widely understood dialect?

Would listening to Arab music, and watching some Arab tv shows/movies help with understanding it? I'd be content with just understanding and being able to hold basic conversation tbh. (which brings me back to dialect.... which dialect has the best music and movies? )

Reading is fine as its similar to Urdu , i know a bengali person that is pretty much fluent in arabic now but with a tutor so maybe try that? About the dialects i would say learn Lebanese (Levantine) or Egyptian dialects - these are the most widely understood (lebanese sounds better and softer imo )
And as for arab movies/music, it would be useful but difficult so dont expect to understand everything too soon...

a good movie is Omar it has subtitles as well on youtube

good luck with it !

I personally learn by watching and listening. You can watch many videos on youtube, I recommend the user "learnarabicwithmaha" she's really good. You can also watch movies (e.g disney films) in arabic but have the english subtitles. That will teach you how to speak arabic.

Videos that help with writing are also available on youtube

and finally you can read some short stories online to improve your reading skills, youtube would also be useful for this.

So whilst I don't intend to move to an Arabic speaking country, I'd like to know a fourth language. Arabic interests me as I like the sound of it and I'd love to immerse myself in Arab culture too.

I already speak English, Punjabi and HIndi/Urdu. But they're all Indo-European languages, so Arabic is not related to them at all. How should I go about learning it? Is it possible to do it online or self teach?

Also I read MSA is not that widely used, so which dialect should I focus on? I mean I know I'd like to visit Egypt, Jordan, Morroco, Tunisia, and if they can ever become stable and safe in the future Syria and Iraq. So obviously a mix of Levant and North African countries. Is there a widely understood dialect?

Would listening to Arab music, and watching some Arab tv shows/movies help with understanding it? I'd be content with just understanding and being able to hold basic conversation tbh. (which brings me back to dialect.... which dialect has the best music and movies? )

Arabic is a very simple language and anyone can learn it but you need to love the language and have full commitment in it. Practice makes perfect.
start by learning names of thing in arabic, cause you know urdu alphabets and arabic is similar.
Once you get the flow, you will nail it
I learn my arabic from watching arabic cartoons and talking with my arab freind, try to find a good arab freind who wants to learn urdu and you can arabic from him in turn, just like learning as a kid how to speak, you don't need to know about grammar first, communicating verbally is more important in learning the language

Okay cool, I'll check her out thanks I'm similar as I like to watch and listen to a language. I feel like writing will be super difficult for me though, my handwriting in English is bad enough

I don't think you can self teach Arabic! Definitely online. I teach Arabic in an Arabic school as a part time job and we always start with the letters, that's for those who don't know Arabic at all. As you're doing the letters, make sure you also listen to how letters are pronounced within a word. After you've mastered the letters, start focusing on words. If you want to master reading and writing as well as speaking, make sure you familiarise yourself with how the letters look in the beginning, middle and end of a word. Arabic is similar to Urdu so if you know Urdu, that can help.

Reading the Quran is also very good practice. You can listen online and try to pronounce the words as you go. Gooooooood luck!

As for the dialect, just learn the actual Arabic, it's not associated with any country and everyone understands it. We call it fusha Arabic (Fus7a). It's also the Arabic used in the Quran.

Ah okay. I was doing some googling and read that standard Arabic isn't actually widely spoken and that dialects were better if you wanted to understand and talk to an average citizen. I guess standard would be easier though, as I can already read the Quran so the reading side would be sorted