Where's the best place (website or book, etc) or best way to learn Arabic? Any suggestions from those who've already tackled this?

What kind of Arabic do you want to learn? Modern standard? Koranic? Moroccan?

Maybe I'm just lazy, but I haven't learned any languages to help me in my habibi's home country. At home they speak Berber, on the streets they speak Moroccan Arabic, and lots of his friends/family speak French (but not all). Too many options, and none of the languages would work in all settings. For me, I think it would be easiest to learn French, as I already know quite a bit of Spanish (and there is little opportunity to learn Berber or Moroccan Arabic in Minnesota).

Bon chance!

The best advice i received was to start with alpabet first. You can find a chart online that has the alphabet with all its forms (standing alone, begining, middle and final forms). Once you get comfortable with the letters and the sounds...learning to speak will come easier if you are using a language program.

I have rosetta stone and its goes much easier now that I am getting the letters to match the sounds i am hearing. If you are only interested in covnersational arabic, then this may not be necessary.

I suppose Moroccan Arabic would probably be the better choice, since my usage would be primarily speaking rather than writing. My reasoning is primarily to have better communication with my in-laws (especially his mother). I thought it might also be helpful while my husband is trying to improve his English. Ive noticed my husband often has trouble communicating with some of the other Arabs in our area because they speak different dialects of Arabic and they both wind up switching to English to get their point across. Ive learned bits and pieces of the Moroccan dialect just from listening to my husband talk, but Id like to expand my vocabulary to more than 20 words so I can communicate better.

Im terrible at French, and Ive been trying for 2 years. In fact, I spent so much time and brain capacity on French that my once-wonderful Spanish skills are practically nillo. So I figured I might as well abandon that ship and try something new. I figured it would also be helpful when we start teaching the kiddo too.

One thing about learning standard arabic is that it will make learnign Darija easier. Many Moroccans can speak Darija, but they are familar with standard arabic. The news on moroccan televison in in standard as are many newspapers. So if you speak standard, you will learn darija more quickly and many people in Morocco will understand you.

okay well in this case, why dont you try the Lonely planet Moroccan arabic phrase book. it comes alone or with a CD. Will give you plenty of conversational phrases to use.

I'm hoping that if we ever have a child (insh'allah) I can learn Moroccan Arabic along with our little one...though I'm sure I'll be passed up quickly by him/her!

BTW, my husband can communicate in several different versions of Arabic--is this common? He says that he has watched so many Egyptian movies and had Koranic Arabic literally beat into him from the age of 4 that it's no problem! He'll just listen to someone's Arabic vocabulary and respond in their dialect/language. I guess it's easier for a Moroccan to understand other versions of Arabic since they've been so frequently exposed to it, but hard for other Arabic speakers to understand Moroccans.

There are a couple of Moroccan Arabic lesson books/tapes/MP3's available on Amazon, though I cannot speak for the quality.

The best way to learn Arabic (if you just want to converse) is to learn the words and then try to put them into sentences. I would suggest trying to converse with your SO. As for the alphabets, they are not hard at all, its actually trying to put them together to form words that can be a little of a challenge.

I worked in the ME for about 7 years and had a good oppertunity to pick up the language since I worked with and had to interact with a lot of people who knew little to no English, but I suppose it will be a little more of a challenge for you since you only have one person who you could converse with.

As a person who is not of ME decent I can tell you that it is a wonderful learning experience

Good luck

I have tried using a CD...didn't work to good. When I really learn, is when I go over and stay with his family. That is where I've really been able to pick up most of my words.

Unfortunately, my husband has a slight speech impediment, so I have developed one when speaking Arabic as well!

My husband does speak different "dialects" of Arabic as well. When he has been trying to teach me, he'll say, this is how it is pronounced in Gaza...this is how it's pronounced in Morocco...this is how it's pronounced in classic Arabic. I'm just like jeez, just teach me one word...okay????

My neighbor is from Morocco and I can hardly understand a word she says! I can understand/speak several dialects but they are all from the Levant so they are similar to each other.

The Egyptian dialect is a bit harder for me to understand especially when they speak so darn fast!!!

Yassmine, I have some files and study sheets on the Arabic alphabet that I could give you. I also have a book on how to teach yourself Arabic and it goes through everything very thoroughly (I think). Unfortunately I don't have any audio files as I get help with pronunciation from my husband and his family. ( The Egyptian accent is different from what is described in the book. )

Anyway, I will post it for you when I get back from vacation. I don't have those files on this computer. All of the files are in PDF format and do not take up very much memory. I will try and post them as soon as I get back and have a steady internet connection.

Thanks, that would be great! Study sheets would work well for me. Im constantly stuck on a call queue on the phone at work and its so much time wasted.

Here is the link for the Arabic book and lessons for practice.(the book doesn't go with the lessons , there are different lessons inside the book)

Anybody can download it who wants it. I hope you guys can use it, and if you have any problems or questions, let me know.

http://www.speedyshare.com/538607810.html

Just curious if anybody has been successful in downloading the files and if there are any questions or other things I can help with.

I hope somebody finds it useful. It really has helped me even though I am lazy about practicing. Maybe somebody could go through the book with me.

Anybody need a study buddy?

I would be willing to help and practice with someone.

I sent the link to myself at my home addy so I can download it there. They get kinda quirky when we download stuff at work

If I can ever get my nose in the book, Id gladly be your little minion