Find the right download. Several sites provide classes and important language information for a fee. Arabic 2000 provides a two-week class for English speakers new to Arabic for $29.95. The Madinah Arabic website includes books for about $7 to $10 and book sets for between $24 to $42. The site also sells CDs, cassettes and flashcards to aid learning.
Check out YouTube as there are free Madinah lessons. (See Resources.) There are other courses such as those given by instructors at mosques or in classrooms that are provided as well. Choose wisely. Some are more appropriate for beginners, while others may be better for intermediate or advanced students.
Make certain that you are learning the right form of Arabic. Unlike English, which has only one form, there are three forms of Arabic: Quranic (Koranic), Modern Standard (or Formal) and Modern Colloquial (or Spoken) Arabic. The Madinah YouTube courses focus on Quranic Arabic, the form used in the Muslim holy book the Quran and in mosques. The Arabic Online course from the word2word website focuses on Modern Standard Arabic and Formal Arabic. Spoken Arabic is region-specific and generally unwritten, except for in literature like plays and poetry, as mentioned by Arabic Online author, Hani Deek. (See Resources.)
Search for free websites teaching Arabic. A good example is Arabic Online, through the word2word.com free language course website. Word2word contains a list of other useful sites including Marahaba and Learn to Read Arabic. However, the most comprehensive ones are the Arabic Online and Madinah Arabic websites. (See Resources.)
Start with the basics when learning Arabic. Remember learning the English language as a child? You did not start off reading Shakespeare and writing complex sentences. You started with the alphabet. Do the same with Arabic. Learn the alphabet by first reading through all the letters along with hearing the pronunciation. Then go through the alphabet reciting the name and English equivalent for each letter. Note that in Arabic you read from right to left. Learning the alphabet may seem daunting at first, but it's easier than it appears. Arabic has only 28 letters, similar to the English 26 letters. Although written in script, some letters have repeated shapes. For instance, Daad and Saad, which correspond in English to "d" and "s," respectively , have the same large U-shape with an oval attached at the right in the middle. The only difference is that Daad has a dot over the oval and Saad does not.
Write down each letter. As you do this, say its name and its sound. This helps with retention and is particularly important for Arabic which uses script rather than the Roman letters used in English. Note that Arabic uses "throaty" sounds unfamiliar in English but more common in other languages like German. Pay attention to video instructors and practice how to pronounce letters and words correctly. Additionally, try to relate a letter to something familiar. For example, the letter pronounced "noon" looks like a "u" with a dot right above it. It looks like high noon when the sun is right over the earth. By relating unfamiliar symbols to things that are familiar, learning Arabic becomes easier.
Learn the symbols and pronunciation of the various vowel sounds. In Arabic, vowels are used to link letters to make words, as in English. However, unlike English, symbols are used to add a vowel sound to a consonant. For instance, a small slash to the upper left of a letter, called the "fatha," changes the Arabic letter "j" to a "ju," where the vowel has a short "u" sound as in the word "jug."
Practice writing the words. According to the Madinah Arabic website, there is a difference between writing words and writing individual letters in Arabic. Understanding this makes it easier to learn the language as you will be less confused when presented with a form of a letter in a word. Note that the Madinah website graphically illustrates the difference between the individual and word forms of a letter.
Practice learning other important words such as the numbers, days of the weeks and months of the year. Learn important phrases such as the time of day and tourists questions such as "where is the airport?" or "where is the hotel?" which will be helpful when visiting Arabic-speaking countries.
Learn the grammar. In Arabic, for example, there is no "is." In addition to this, there are genders, declensions (word endings) and conjugations important to writing and speaking Arabic properly, which either are non-existent or made differently than in English. Have patience with yourself in learning a new language, especially one very dissimilar to your native tongue.
There are various means of understanding spoken Arabic. In some of the YouTube instructional videos, you will find an introductory section in which the instructor speaks mainly or exclusively in Arabic. After learning a good amount of the language, carefully listen to this section of the video during which the speaker may be giving instructional information or praising and thanking God.
Listen to Arabic broadcasts on the Internet, such as those on the BBC website, Al-Arabiya, Al-Jezeera or other news outlets. The United Nations website contains radio broadcasts in various languages including Arabic. Use these resources to improve your listening skills. When the time comes to interact with native speakers, either at community or family events or while visiting an Arabic-speaking nation, you will have much more comfort with the language.
If you have an Arabic-speaking friend, spend time speaking with them. If they are a native speaker, you will have the added benefit of learning the nuances of the language that you may have missed in an instructional video or are difficult to put in writing, if getting instruction solely from written material.