So how do i learn it?:
There are many courses out there, but the one i completed and i feel is best for English speaking people are the Medina Series. Not only are all the books for this course free and online, you have people who have produced far more summarised and to the point tutorials and lectures which save an incredible amount of time.
The Medina books come in three volumes, and you can download them for free on the official website here:
http://www.lqtoronto.com/madinaarabic.htmlThe best lectures i have ever seen teaching these have got to be the summarised, yet comprehensive ones on this youtube channel;
Medina Book1:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHHCQMGIzlJtaKFzl7dzvuPdlAktclJUledin
Medina Book2:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe-aPVZYx1lH4CSVh_WkZEUrfsUF-japnMedina Book3:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLl7FSzR4VMXnK9lAZNs3KaX_fLhTHuU4DFurthermore, there is a website with even shorter videos that can be used as a revision guide or to help introduce concepts in a clearer way that should be use to supplement the above:
Year 1 summarised Arabic grammar:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBv6B6E0IuHgw7symFQKGdqaWgS5yYP31Year 2 summarised Arabic grammar:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBv6B6E0IuHhF7Z0CZiq222KUj0aUnDMvAll Medina series resources, handouts, grammar books:
http://www.lqtoronto.com/downloads.htmlMedina Arabic conversational drills:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLS4jnMwZk3wopoTkXo689FwbpiDYJ0W4B Building vocabulary
It is essential the language is more to you than abstract words on a page, and that you do not only learn grammar , but you greatly build your vocabulary too. I would use this first, and I also highly recommend to anyone with an Android Phone, or with a Laptop or device, to download the free Anki Software here:
https://apps.ankiweb.net/Once you have done so, download a deck of vocabulary by searching for 'Arabic words MSA' as well as 'Medina book 1 vocabulary' and 'Medina book 2 vocabulary' and 'Medina book 3' vocabulary. Anki uses spaced repetition, which is highly effective in learning vocabulary and you are shown a certain number of new words per day, as well as repeats of words you've been through. If you do this over a long period of time it can help you accumulate more vocabulary.
Just as a warning, before embarking on this book try to get to at least half way through book 3, because you may not understand why a certain word has five forms in the table, if you do not understand how Arabic can use the same three letter root in order to change the meaning of the word. Here are some of the best resources to do that:
The following PDF contains 83% of Quranic words by use. If you learn this small document you know 83% of the words used in the Quran by use:
https://ia600406.us.archive.org/18/items/80Percent/80_percent.pdfFeel the language is real
In order to make the language feel real, rather than just abstract words on a text you have no connection to, i highly recommend watching subtitled, quality Arabic cartoons. The following are some of the very best:
1. Tales of Women in the Quran:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLG7hgjybLl7pVItspz0nvtJTN2xkpUn1E2. Tales of humans in the Quran:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLG7hgjybLl7oGrRjriW4H6R-LaJwmDFnV3 Tales of animals in the Quran:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLG7hgjybLl7rzH2ClknLpzbPHR5yLWC32 4. Muslim scientists:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLG7hgjybLl7rjuFulohTxs0zq7RYl0AJN Dictionaries:
I don't recommend using one until you finish the Medina series, however, once you understand roots of words, different verb forms, and are good with morphology, the following dictionaries are great, and all free online and the most recommended:
1. al-Mawrid:
http://kalamullah.com/Books/alMawrid.pdf2. Hans Wehr searchable dictionary:
https://giftsofknowledge.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/hans-wehr-searchable-pdf.pdfDictionaries like this can be confusing for English speakers, and so this is a great video as to how to use the Hans Wehr:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcQw_yMkm3I Useful resources to supplement the above:
1. Fundamentals of classical Arabic:
http://kalamullah.com/arabic.html2. Learning the Arabic of the Quran:
http://kalamullah.com/arabic-language-of-the-quran.html3. Word-for-word Quran translation (one of the best!):
Volume 1: Volume 2:
Volume 34. Essentials of Arabic verbs:
http://kalamullah.com/Books/Arabic Verbs and Essentials of Grammar 2nd Ed.pdf5. 101 rules of Arabic grammar:
https://www.scribd.com/document/362303444/101-Rules-of-Arabic-Grammar-pdf6. Umar series [Biography of the Prophet and the early conquests , and while we Shias differ on details, a lot of it is neutral and in classical Arabic subtitled into English]:
https://archive.org/details/MBC-Omar-Series7. Modern standard Arabic picture book:
http://www.shiplife.com.br/downloads/arabic.pdf8. Basic Arabic vocabulary picture book:
https://www.scribd.com/document/241062227/Arabic-Vocab-for-Basic Further advanced books:
Once you have completed the Medina Series, the same author of those books has written some excellent further books to strengthen ones Arabic:
1. Selections from the glorious Quran:
http://www.lqtoronto.com/sfgq.html2. Surat al-Hujurat:
http://www.lqtoronto.com/hujurat.html3. Nur al Nur:
http://www.lqtoronto.com/nurunalanur.html4. From Esfahan to Medina: drvaniya.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/From-Esfahan-to-Madinah-With-Lexical-and-Grammatical-Notes.pdf
5. Salawayh story book 1:
https://www.scribd.com/document/61410066/Sahlawayhi16. Salawayh story book 2:
https://www.scribd.com/document/61203309/Sahlawayhi-27. Salawayh story book 3:
https://www.scribd.com/document/61203325/Sahlawayhi3