Assalam alaikum everyone,
is Arabic too hard for us to learn? Does it take years and years? I say no!
Just follow the process below.
1.Set goals
There’s a saying aim for nothing and you’ll hit it every time. A lot of students want to learn Arabic but they don’t set a goal. They rely too much on the teacher. Before I started learning Arabic I set a goal to read write speak Arabic fluently. You can’t hit a target that you can’t see.
Listening Goals:First Understand children’s cartoons, religious lectures, to eventually understanding the news such as BBC Arabic.
Speaking Goals:speak everyday Arabic the same level that cartoon characters can speak such as Pokemon in Arabic captain Majed etc.
Reading Goals:First understand children’s Disney comics, short stories, basic religious books, novels, newspapers and then poetry.
Writing Goals:Write basic sentences, short SMS messages in Arabic, full conversation in SMS, short stories, essays, poetry using balagha.
2.Make a plan
Once I set the goal on a plain piece of paper I wrote down how I’m gonna achieve it. This was a plan of steps I need to take in order to achieve my goal. Whilst abroad a lot of students don’t have these two
vital components to their Arabic education. A goal and a plan. This is one of the main reasons why the jump around from one institute to another, from one course or teacher to another. If you follow and implement this plan and the process I outline in my book Get Fluent In Arabic you’ll achieve fluency. A goal without a plan of how you’re gonna achieve the goal will always be a fantasy. A bank robber sets a goal to rob a million dollars and then plans how he’s gonna do it. When you go on holiday you set the destination and have a plan of how you’re gonna get there what you’ll need as well as a plan called a itinerary. Guys please set your goal and then your plan. A goal without a plan of how you’re gonna achieve the goal will always be a fantasy. A bank robber sets a goal to rob a million dollars and then plans how he’s gonna do it. When you go on holiday you set the destination and have a plan of how you’re gonna get there what you’ll need as well as a plan called a itinerary. Guys please set your goal and then your plan.
3.Set a deadline
BUT! There’s one more step. You must set a
deadline You won’t believe how many people I came across who have spent the best part of 10 YEARS still learning Arabic at a basic level. This is in an Arabic speaking country like Egypt where they are surrounded by the language. I gave myself from May 2009 to June 2010. Looking back I realize I could have completed my studies faster had I given myself less time. This is based upon Parkinson’s law the more time we give ourselves to do something the more time it will take to complete the task. The less time we give ourselves to do something the faster we’ll get it done by. You need to have a date you plan to complete your studies. No deadline you won’t get it done. I missed my deadline by a few months finishing my studies in August instead of June. But it’s better to miss the mark by a few months than miss it by years. Below is my initial plan I had against my wall to read and implement on a daily basis. Feel free to use it as a template to help you with your Arabic.
4.Make Arabic a part of your everyday life
Because I was abroad it was easier to do this. But whenever I listened watched something online to entertain myself I’d make sure I’d watch it in Arabic. Each time I’d speak I’d make sure it was Arabic, and
any reading material had to be Arabic. Below is my initial plan I had against my wall to read and implement on a daily basis. Feel free to use it as a template to help you with your Arabic.
Goal: attain fluency by completing al Fajr center’s 14 level Arabic language diploma program.
Deadline become fluent and finish the diploma program by June 2010
Plan Listen watch Arabic cartoons 30 – 45 everyday. Anything I watch online or on tv MUST be Arabic. Listen to Arabic lectures whilst cooking, cleaning house, showering bathing.
Speak Arabic daily with flatmates who were not native speakers. Put up sign and discipline self speaking English is not allowed. Speak Arabic on italki conversation exchange with others. If you like to talk to yourself start doing it in Arabic.
Read Arabic daily Arabic Disney comics, read children’s books as pictures will give you an idea of what is happening. with time I’ll pick up the meaning of the words.
Write Arabic join a what’s app Arabic group and message people in Arabic. Also use audio option on what’s app to practice speaking with members. Write shopping lists in Arabic.
New vocabulary put into sentences as this makes it easier to remember Aim to complete 200 hours of listening to Arabic. 200 hours of speaking Arabic, 200 hours of reading Arabic and 200 hours of writing Arabic. Read lesson text before lessons. Use Google translator to check out meaning of words so teacher does not have to spend time explaining. Believe it or not I saved a total of five hours per level doing this one simple step.
Grammar – Test my understanding of grammar by using it in sentences. Repetition is the key to developing your language skills.
Repeatedly listening to Arabic, speaking, reading and writing Arabic is the way to become fluent. Remember, language fluency is based upon how easily you are able to use the four language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. Which is a direct result of how many hours you have repeatedly listened to spoken read and written Arabic. Please share this if you liked this post thank you.
Thank you for reading my post :) inshallah I hope you have benefitted from reading it please feel free to check out my blog here
Wasalam alaikum Shajahan Author of Get Fluent In Arabic Out On paperback on Amazon