In this post, I have put together Book and Video resources for anybody who wants to study Arabic at their own pace as opposed to joining a class. If you prefer to study at the pace of a class, then see this post instead.
The resources below are ordered alphabetically and not in an order of recommendation.
Books
- Arabic Reader (Published by Lund Humphries) – This is a fantastic resource to practice your reading once you know the basic rules of grammar. It provides comprehensive vocabulary and footnotes so you don't have to keep digging into the dictionary. However, note that it is advanced so not a good book to start with.
- Mastering Arabic (Published by Palgrave Macmillan) – There are four books in the series: 'Mastering Arabic Script', 'Mastering Arabic', 'Mastering Arabic 2' and 'Mastering Arabic Grammar'. This is a good series to have in your library but I wouldn't say it is sufficient to learn Arabic. It is a little sparse in detail and in repeating concepts so you'll need other resources to hand in order to solidify the concepts that you learn in these books.
Videos
Arabic Language Academy (YouTube Playlists)
The following three playlists offer a good means of improving your vocabulary of everyday words and sentences:
- Arabic Dialogues (49 videos: each video is around 10 minutes)
- Arabic Stories and Reading Text (14 videos; each video is around 5 minutes)
- Arabic Vocabulary (15 videos; each video is around 8 minutes)
Bayyinah TV
Paying $11 (£8-ish) per month to get access to the full library of content on the Bayyinah TV platform is well worth it if you're going to spend a few hours on there per week. Otherwise, the following YouTube playlists are a good starting point:
- Dream Intensive 1 (13 videos; each video is around 2 hours)
- Dream Intensive 2 (11 videos; each video is around 2-and-a-half hours)
- Dream Intensive 3 (15 videos; each video is around 1-and-a-half hours)
- Dream Intensive 4 (19 videos; each video is around 1-and-a-half hours)
FC LangMedia (YouTube Playlists)
The Arabic grammar videos in the following playlists are as clear and as concise as you will find. I'll be very surprised if anyone can point me to a set of videos which can match these for clarity and conciseness.
- First-Year Arabic Grammar Videos (45 videos; each video is around 7 minutes)
- Second-Year Arabic Grammar Videos (37 videos; each video is around 9 minutes)
- Third-Year Arabic Grammar Videos (32 videos; each video is around 9 minutes)
Hidaya Center (YouTube channel)
The videos on this channel have an animated and repetitive style. I find that this helps to learn and remember new vocabulary. For the full set of playlists available in this channel, see here. The two playlists that I have enjoyed particularly so far are the following:
- Al-Arabiyya Bayna Yadayk – Book 1 (98 videos; each video is around 6 minutes)
- Al-Arabiyya Bayna Yadayk – Book 2 (57 videos; each video is around 6 minutes)
