Learning Arabic? Here Are 5 Books That I Highly Recommend You Own

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note: we have put together a great resource for learning Arabic that you may find useful. click here.

new: are you learning Egyptian Arabic? We have just published an excellent new book called Egyptian Arabic: Easy Stories with English Translations. It is aimed at high beginner to low intermediate level students and is a great way to increase vocabulary and comprehension.

You are reading: Best books to learn arabic

it’s on amazon here.

You will hear me talk about the Arabic language a lot on this site.

Although I consider myself a veteran student of many languages and a polyglot, I can say with the utmost confidence and pride that Arabic is something I am an expert in with over a decade of experience, both linguistic and cultural.

I am specifically referring to the Egyptian dialect and the modern standard (somehow, they can be considered two separate languages given their differences).

I don’t know if it’s because I started learning it as a teenager or just because of the time I put into it, but Arabic is the only language I don’t have to spend time activating if I don’t. don’t use it for a long period of time.

If you were going to spend some time in france, for example, you would probably have to spend a short period of time learning French by going over the material, etc., because it tends to go into hibernation if you don’t use.

Arabic is not the case.

I can go long periods of time without talking to anyone or listening to it, and it’s always there to instantly retrieve it as soon as I need it.

This isn’t to say that I’m perfect at the language by any means – I make mistakes all the time and I’m happy to admit it – but this language has become such a part of me now that it is fundamental to my identity as a person.

I like to think of myself as a bilingual kid who started late.

Anyway, I will share my story of how and why I came to learn Arabic in the near future, but for now I wanted to recommend some great books to people who want to learn Arabic.

if you’re trying to decide on another language but haven’t decided on which one, consider Arabic! It will be one of the most rewarding decisions you’ve ever made.

Arabic books you should have

note FYI: the links here are affiliate links, meaning a small fraction of any purchase will help keep this site up and running.

another note: I have not mentioned any book here that has to do with learning the Arabic alphabet. Frankly, I don’t recommend spending money on ABC books because a simple google search will give you what you need for this.

I’ve had discussions on language learning forums with people who insist they need to spend money on alphabet books like alif baa’.

please take it from a guy who learned to read Arabic in 1 day using free internet sites; You don’t have to waste your money on ABC books. Arabic is not as difficult to read as it seems!

If music is your thing, there’s a downloadable listening program I often recommend to people called rapid arabic (for Modern Standard Arabic).

is a unique concept (based on research) that teaches language over a music track with carefully placed repeats and only costs a few dollars. the first volume is really easy and suitable for absolute beginners and the second volume goes into the meatier and higher level content.

You can listen to a sample here.

Also if you want a recommendation for an online program to learn Arabic instead of just books, I recommend these three:

Rocket Arabic for Egyptian (very complete resource but only audio). I checked its content here.

arabicpod101 for Moroccan, Egyptian and Modern Standard Arabic. I checked it out here.

for video and audio content: talkinarabic.com which covers 8 spoken dialects of Arabic (including our essential Arabic verb packs).

1. the kalimni ‘arabi series

These are, in my opinion, the best books out there to learn Arabic.

I bought the most advanced kalimni ‘arabi fi kull haaga (speak arabic to me in everything) book last year and i swear to god (wallahi), this is the most outstanding and useful book i have ever owned (i have two big bookcases full of hundreds of books and dozens of Arabic and this is my favorite).

I can’t stress enough how good this series is.

They come with cd’s and dvd’s full of interesting interviews and high quality audio in real colloquial language.

You’ll also get a lot of reading practice because luckily there’s no transliteration of the text. even in the beginner book, it will have you reading right away.

books are available for almost all levels:

beginner: kalimni ‘arabi bishweesh (speak to me in Arabic slowly)

intermediate: kalimni ‘arabi (speak Arabic to me)

Upper Intermediate: kalimni ‘arabi aktar (speak more Arabic to me)

early advanced: kalimni ‘arabi mazboot (speak arabic to me correctly)

superior advanced: kalimni ‘arabi fi kull haaga (speak Arabic to me in everything)

if there is an investment you make in your study of Arabic let it be this series.

Update: Since I wrote this review, two more books for Egyptian have been published that are absolutely outstanding and noteworthy (especially for not-so-beginners):

umm al-dunya: advanced colloquial Egyptian Arabic and kalaam gamiil (vol. 1 and vol. 2).

2. arabi liblib

I went into detail about this book in this post, so I won’t go over it again.

is a three part series and the books are glossaries of terms and expressions you will find in colloquial Egyptian Arabic (also relevant to other dialects) aimed at advanced students who want to make the final adjustments in all the little details.

If you plan on mastering colloquial Arabic or really understanding the slang in the Middle East, you should get this series.

3. a new arabic grammar of the written language – haywood | nahmad

I have used many Arabic grammar books for Modern Standard and Classical Arabic over the years.

this is by far the best I’ve ever used. Although the print gives the impression of being a bit out of date, it is actually a very clear, well-structured and easy-to-follow grammar, with many example passages to work with from newspapers, the Koran and novels.

When I started studying MSA years ago, I sat down and worked this book on my own from cover to cover and it had a huge impact on my learning success.

if you plan on learning to read news or classic literature, you should have a copy of this on your desk.

4. Al Mawrid Arabic-Spanish Dictionary English-Arabic – Baalbaki

This is the mother of all Arabic dictionaries.

It may seem like a bit of an expensive dictionary, but believe me, I would be absolutely f****d without this thing.

Whether you’re working as a translator or just want an excellent dictionary to work with, this book is worth its weight in gold (and it’s very heavy!) .

The reason this dictionary surpasses any other Arabic dictionary on the market is that it doesn’t just list single meanings next to the roots of words. will give you a root word, then give you some commonly derived forms and combinations of words as you would find in newspapers etc, with some examples.

For this reason, it serves as a dictionary and as a glossary of terms.

The only drawback is the size and weight of this book. if you want to travel with it, it’s like carrying a brick in your luggage! (definitely worth it though :))

5. Arabic multimedia: a textbook for reading news in Arabic

last recommendation for today.

this is for people who want to learn to read newspapers specifically and is a bit advanced.

Media Arabic helps you learn and apply critical reading skills to Arabic news articles. it is divided into sections on politics, economics, technology, terrorism, etc., with each section beginning by offering the basic vocabulary found in the articles.

teaches you how to scan the main ideas, connectors, and who, what, why, and how words of the article. this book shows you how to make sense of a newspaper even if you don’t know every word.

What I really like about this book is the way it teaches how to pay attention to author bias and opinion by using certain words in the article.

If you are interested in journalism, politics or propaganda in the Middle Eastern media, this book is a real treasure!

those are my 5 recommendations today for learners of Arabic. if you found it useful, share it on facebook or twitter.

For those of you looking for a quality online audio resource for spoken Arabic, I personally recommend the Arabic Rocket Series which I recently tried and found very useful and comprehensive. For a resource that covers more dialects and includes video content, use talkinarabic.com. Also be sure to check out my most recent post on Levantine and Iraqi Arabic resources if you’re learning those dialects. also, see my reviews of ‘arabi liblib and musiqa al-kalimat.

If you want some recommendations on listening resources to learn Arabic, here we share some very good ones.

if you have another book you want to recommend here or if you want to ask me about other books or products about Arabic, you can do so in the comments section below.

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