Arabic Genie » arabic alphabet

New: Arabic Alphabet Videos

ArabicGenie — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 13:58:12 +0000

To help Arabic learners with the pronunciation of the letters and sounds of the Arabic alphabet I have developed the Arabic Letters App. To add to this resource, I have compiled a number of useful videos from YouTube that show how to pronounce each letter. Please take a look for yourself and tell me if you find this helpful.

New: Arabic Letters Application

ArabicGenie — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 19:14:31 +0000

I’ve been receiving a lot of requests from readers of this blog and my book The Magic Key To The Arabic Alphabet to create an application that helps them with the pronunciation of the Arabic letters.

Well, after some trial and error I am proud to announce that the Arabic letters application is now online. Please head over to the website and try it out as soon as you can. I am sure that this will help all Arabic learners to get a good grasp of the Arabic letters and their sounds.

Arabic-English Transliteration

ArabicGenie — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 21:41:04 +0000

Today I received an interesting email from a reader of this blog, asking me about software that is capable of converting Arabic text into transliterated Arabic:

Dear Max,

I know there are online tools where I can enter the word رسول‎ and it
will tell me the translation ‘messenger’ but can you please tell me
somewhere that I can enter رسول‎ and it will tell me the
transliteration ‘rasul’?

thank you

Once I finished writing my reply, I thought that it might be of interest to other Arabic learners. So here it goes:

Hi there,

unfortunately I’ve never seen such a tool. It would certainly be very interesting to see it developed.

One of the problems is of course, that the Arabic script does not usually have the short vowels written out. So رسول could be “raswal”, “risool”, “ruswil”, “rusool” etc.

The program would have to be intelligent enough to know if these words really exist in Arabic. Also, it would have to know some Arabic grammar to distinguish e.g. اكتب “aktub” (I write) from “uktub” (write!).

Generally, this knowledge assumes the ability of identifying words from context.

Ultimately, I think that it would take too much effort, time and money to develop such a program, when the Arabic script can be learned relatively easily with the right method (e.g. using my book The Magic Key To The Arabic Alphabet).

Arabic Writing

ArabicGenie — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:39:55 +0000

Arabic Writing

Writing in Arabic is something that many beginning Arabic learners are afraid of. Many simply don’t know how to begin learning the Arabic alphabet and writing system. In this article I give you some tips on how best to approach Arabic writing and how to master it.

1. Start by learning the individual letters of the Arabic alphabet. The Arabic script might seem difficult at first, but with the right method it can be learned easily. You can read more about a successful Arabic alphabet learning technique here.

2. Proceeed to reading individual words and writing these words yourself. After a few times try to write these words from memory.

3. Start looking at whole sentences of Arabic writing and copy the text. You should get a native Arabic speaker to pronounce the sentnece for you. Or, alternatively, you can start by copying sentences that have short vowels written out.

4. Finally, take a few short articles written in Arabic and copy them out word for word. Make sure that you know how to pronounce each individual word. So it’s best to have a recording by by a native speaker of the article you are copying.

Remember that Arabic writing takes some getting used to, but with consistency you’ll master it eventually. Also, remember to make learning Arabic writing a fun activity to do. Your brain just doesn’t learn well when it’s bored…

Arabic Alphabet Pronunciation

ArabicGenie — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:41:06 +0000

The Arabic alphabet contains a number of sounds that are difficult to pronounce for non-native speakers. Here I’ll give you some tips that will help you with the pronunciation of the sounds in the Arabic alphabet.

Remember that the best way to improve your pronunciation is through listening. And I mean a lot of listening. Start by listening to recordings of the individual sounds and then proceed to listening to recordings of individual words, before listening to whole sentences.

To listen to the individual letter check out the free Arabic Letters Online Application.

To make learning the Arabic sounds easier I have divided them into three groups, easy, medium and hard:

1. Easy Arabic Sounds

The following Arabic letters are pronounced more or less like in English:

ا ā long sound like in the English word “mad”

ء ’ a glottal stop; depending on where it’s put it can be a short “u”, “a”, or “i” sound

ب b the same as our English “b” in “bread”

ت t the same as our English “t” in “tea”

ث th like the “th”-sound in “three”; but not like the in “there”!

ج dj as in the -sound in the name “John”

د d the same as our English “d” in “door”

ذ dh like the sound in “there”; but not like the in “three”!

ز z the same as our English “z” in “zoo”

س s the same as our English “s” in “serpent”

ش sh the same as our English “sh” in “shine”

ف f the same as our English “f” in “ferry”

ك k the same as our English “k” in “kilo”

ل l the same as our English “l” in “look”

ن n the same as our English “n” in “nose”

م m the same as our English “m” in “mouse”

ه h the same as our English “h” in “hurricane”

و w the same as our English “w” in “water”

و ū a long “u”-sound as in our English word “boom”

ي y the same as our English “y” in “year”

ي ī a long “i”-sound, like the two “e”s in “three”

2. Medium Arabic Sounds

Arabic sounds that are slightly different from English:

ر r similar to the English “r”- sound at the beginning of a word, e.g. in “road”, but more towards the front of the tongue and trilled like the Spanish “r”

ح H similar to the English letter “h”, but stronger and more from the throat

ص S similar to the English letter “s”, but more emphatic and “darker”

ض D similar to the English letter “d”, but more emphatic and “darker”

ط T similar to the English letter “t”, but more emphatic and “darker”

ظ Z sounds like a “darker” version of the Arabic “dh” sound

3. Hard Arabic Sounds

These Arabic sounds have no direct equivalent in the English language and they are difficult to pronounce at first.

خ kh like the sound in the English word “loch”; if you know German, it’s the sound in the word “Sprache” or the “j” in the Spanish word “jamón”.

ع c this sounds like a high-pitched version of the English sound, but squeezed from the back of the throat

غ gh the same position of the throat as above, but the tongue touches the roof of the mouth; like a French “r”

ق q like the English letter “k”, but produced from much further back the throat and much “darker”

I hope this short blog post helps you get to grips with the sounds in the Arabic alphabet. If you want to learn how to read and write Arabic, then please check out my digital book The Magic Key To The Arabic Alphabet.

Arabic Alphabet

ArabicGenie — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:15:35 +0000

The Arabic alphabet has 28 letters – only two more than the English alphabet. So what makes the Arabic alphabet so difficult to learn for beginning Arabic students?

There are a number of reasons for this. I explain the three most common problems and show you how to overcome them.

Problem 1: Arabic letters are different

The most important reason is probably that the letters of the Arabic alphabet do not look anything like our letters. We have not been exposed to the intricate Arabic shapes before, so there is nothing stored in our brains with which to associate the letters. Many Arabic learners who just start out get increasingly frustrated as they try to memorize the shapes of some new Arabic letter just to discover that they have forgotten the shape of the Arabic letters they had learned before.

Solution: You need to find something familiar that you can relate the new shapes and sounds to. I developed a method that does just that. In my book The Magic Key To The Arabic Alphabet I give you a memory image (mnemonic) for each of the 28 letters of the Arabic alphabet that will help you remember those shapes and associate them with their sounds without need for rote learning.

Problem 2: Short vowels are not written

In the Arabic script the short vowels, such as “a”, “i”, and “u” are not usually written. So a word like “could” would be written as just “cd” and a word such as “think” would be “thnk”. This can cause a lot of problems, especially early on when you stil don’t know that many Arabic words. For example, the letters “ktb” could mean “he wrote” or “book”, depending on the missing short vowels.

Solution: Start with familiar words first. Using the unique method in my book you will be writing English words using the Arabic alphabet letters first until you are completely comfortable with the Arabic script. Only then will I teach you how to write Arabic words. This way you will learn the Arabic alphabet much faster than with traditional methods.

Problem 3: Arabic letters change their shape

The Arabic letters change their shapes according to whether or not they are connected to adjoining letters. Sometimes the changes are so drastic that it seems that there is hardly any relationships between the two shapes. This can be extremely confusing.

Solution: The key is to understand why the Arabic letters change their shapes when they are connected to adjoining letters. And contrary to what many Arabic teachers will have you believe, there really are logical reasons for why the shapes change. For example, the letter “meem” (م) has a very long “tail”. But, it would be difficult to connect “meem” to another letter on the left if the tail was kept. So it’s only logical that the tail would be cut to make it easier to join with the next letter. In my book I show you exactly how the shapes of the letters of the Arabic alphabet change and why.

Learning the Arabic alphabet is easy with the right method

So, in conclusion, while the Arabic alphabet really does have its difficulties, I strongly believe that with the right method anyone can learn to read and write Arabic and master the Arabic alphabet. So, check out my book on the Arabic alphabet.

Magic Key To The Arabic Alphabet FAQ

ArabicGenie — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 20:18:13 +0000

Since releasing the Arabic alphabet course “The Magic Key To The Arabic Alphabet” 10 days ago I have received many questions from the readers of this blog. I thought it might be useful if I shared my replies to the most common questions here for the benefit of everyone.

Q: Do you ship to my country and, if so, how much does it cost?
A: The course is released in digital format and is therefore available for instant download. No charges for packaging or shipping. Just follow the payment instructions on the page and you’ll be able to download the course to your desktop in no time.

Q: Do I need special software to use the course?
A: You’ll need to have a copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader installed which you can download for free here. Most PCs will already have it installed anyways.

Q: How come you’re giving away the FSI Modern Written Arabic course for free?
A: You’ll receive the entire first volume of the FSI Modern Written Arabic course (PDFs, audio and all) completely free of charge when you buy the Magic Key To The Arabic Alphabet. I know that other places are selling this course for $325. The reason I can make it available as a free bonus is that it comes as a digital download. This way I save on packaging and production costs.

Q: What if I fail to learn the Arabic alphabet with the course?
A: I’m so confident that this course will get results for you that I have a 30-day money back guarantee. If for any reasons you don’t like the course, just send me an email within 30 days after purchase and I will personally issue you a complete refund.

I hope this helps those still undecided whether to get the course or not. Go and see the method for yourself here.

An Easy Way To Remember The Short Vowels

ArabicGenie — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 02:18:32 +0000

Further to my recent blog post about the Arabic short vowels, I want to give you a little trick that you can use to remember the sounds and shapes of all the short vowels. For each of the harakaat there is a mnemonic, or memory aid, that helps you remember the significance of the sign.

Short Vowel	Name	Comment
بَ	fatHa	This is an sound, so it’s convenient that this short vowel always appears above the letter in question
بِ	kasra	This is an sound. Imagine that the little stroke is a drop of ink that is dropping down.
بُ	Damma	This is a sound. Just remember that this short vowel is a small version of the letter waaw (و) that makes a similar sound.
بّ	shadda	The letter underneath this sign is doubly pronounced. Easy to remember, because the sign itself looks like its a “*double* u”
بْ	sokoon	This sign indicates that the letter underneath doesn’t carry any short vowel. Sokoon looks like a zero and there are zero short vowels here.

This should help you remember the harakaat once and for all.

Do You Speak Arabic Chat? ta7ki 3arabi?

ArabicGenie — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:39:28 +0000

When chatting online Arabs often use the Latin letters to write in Arabic instead of the Arabic alphabet. And, because certain sounds in the Arabic alphabet don’t have a counterpart in Western languages, there are a number of symbols used to represent these special sounds.

So don’t be surprised to see numerals such as 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9 being used online – these numbers represent distinct sounds in the Arabic language. For instance تحكي عربي؟, or “do you speak Arabic?” becomes “ta7ki 3arabi?”.

Below is a table that summarizes how the numbers are used to replace certain Arabic sounds. I also suggest some mnemonics for how to remember which number corresponds with which letter.

Arabic Letter	Transcription	Comments
ح	7	the letter Haa’ looks quite similar to a 7
خ	5, 7’	the apostrophe represents the dot on the letter khaa’; alternatively the numeral <5> is used
ص	9	imagine a <9> lying on the side, in which case the numeral looks very similar to the letter Saad
ض	9, 9’	the apostrophe represents the dot on the letter Daad
ط	6	the shape of the numeral <6> is not too different from the shape of the letter Taa’
ظ	6, 6’	the apostrophe represents the dot of the letter Zaa’
ع	3	the letter ‘ayn looks like a mirrored <3>
غ	3’	the apostrophe represents the dot on the letter ghayn
ق	8	imagine that the two dots of the letter qaaf closed the top, which would result in an eight lying on its side

Update: See my new article on the Arabic chat alphabet where I dissect two sample sentences and translate them into normal Arabic script.

Quick And Easy Way To Learn The Arabic Alphabet

ArabicGenie — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:01:41 +0000

Finally!

Today I published Arabic Genie’s Magic Key To The Arabic Alphabet. It contains a unique method for learning the Arabic letters that hasn’t been published anywhere before. Instead of rote memorization, the method works through the use of mnemonics, or memory aids, that anchor the shape and sound of the Arabic letters in your brain – almost effortlessly.

Learning to read and write Arabic is one of the most important stages on your journey to speaking Arabic fluently. Yet, the Arabic alphabet is also the single most feared aspect of the language. Because of the writing system, many people either do not start to learn Arabic at all, or else, they avoid learning the written language and end up languishing at the beginner’s level.

If you’ve thought about learning Arabic before or you are learning it now, you should read my article in which I explain this revolutionary Arabic alphabet learning method.

Master The Arabic Alphabet

Some of the things you’ll learn by reading the article:

How to remember the shapes of all 28 Arabic letters without rote memorization
How a 7-year old boy from Yemen revealed the secret Arabic alphabet learning method to me
How I refined this method and adjusted it so that it can be used by non-Arabs
How you too can learn to read and write Arabic in hours

So, don’t delay! Check out the article on this result-getting method now!