The Alphabet: Reading and Writing

Omniglot Encyclopedia: Describes the history, and provides explanations and samples of Classical and Modern Standard Arabic script. Links to further online resources at the bottom of the page.

Grammar and Vocabulary

Arabic Learning Resources: This resource for Modern Standard Arabic and Egyptian dialect provides topical vocabulary lists, grammar lessons including verb conjugation and more, and general language information.

All the Arabic You Never Learned the First Time Around: This website mentions a textbook for purchase, however the menu on the right side of the page provides free access to a long list of lessons featuring case endings, articles, verbs and verb charts, “how to study” section, how to use the Hans Wehr dictionary, and more.

The Yojik Website: Here students will find public domain course materials from U.S. government training manuals, including the State Department’s Foreign Service Institute (FSI), Department of Defense’s Defense Language Institute (DLI), and the Peace Corps.
DLI is the only of the three that requires files to be downloaded to access them. FSI’s materials are available to view online or to download, and manuals include Written Arabic (1969), Levantine Arabic (1971), and Saudi Arabic (1975), as well as Comparative Arabic Courses. Materials include the text book and accompanying audio files. DLI materials include “General,” Egyptian, Iraqi, Saudi, and Syrian Arabic.
The Peace Corps materials include Arabic from Chad, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia, and Yemen. Audio files are provided when available.

Listening Exercises and Videos

Arabic Blooms: Speak Standard Arabic in Real Life: Students are taught Modern Standard Arabic with videos explaining verbs, including descriptions of their roots and conjugations. Also provides a series of videos featuring the use of short stories to teach vocabulary, parts of speech, and grammar.

FC LangMedia: This YouTube channel provides a long list of grammar lessons in colloquial dialects such as Egyptian and Levantine Arabic, as well as Modern Standard Arabic.

Learn Arabic with Maha: A YouTube channel for learning Palestinian Arabic, it provides explanations of vocabulary, grammar, and culture. Appropriate for beginners.

Learn Levantine Arabic: This channel provides phrases and vocabulary grouped in situational or themed videos such as grocery store shopping, travel, animal names, and medical terms for doctors’ visits.

Madinah Arabic: Produced in the United Arab Emirates, these videos provide cultural, religious, and other insights into social interactions. Geared toward beginner and intermediate learners, the  “Wisdom of the Day,” Hadith, and situational videos break down typical proverbs, phrases, and dialogues. Phrases are stated first at normal conversational pace with Arabic text and English subtitles, then repeated at a slower pace, and then again with no text. 

Madinah Arabic also provides a reading course that starts with a lesson on the alphabet, with video, followed by lessons on short vowels.

Sowt: Free Arabic-language podcasts on a variety of topics for advanced learners of the language.

Dictionaries

Arabterm Technisches Worterbuch: Multilingual (Arabic, English, French, German) technical dictionaries. This website is a product of Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) partnership with ALECSO

Aratools Arabic-English Dictionary: Recognizes words from various Arabic dialects. 

al-Bāḥith al-‘Arabī الباحث العربي: Provides one search interface for the most well-known dictionaries of the classical period.

Edward William Lane’s Arabic-English Lexicon: All eight volumes are available in PDF, text, or zip file, here. The website offers one searchable file for each volume. Arranged by root, the dictionary provides word meanings as well as derivatives, comments on grammar, examples of usage in the Koran and other sources.
Lane’s 1863 lexicon is also digitized and available on this website. No download necessary.

Living Arabic: This dictionary allows users to search for terms in Modern Standard, Egyptian, Levantine, or Maghreb dialect dictionaries. Search Arabic to English by the root or word, or English to Arabic by selecting “English-Arabic (meaning) from the drop-down.

Universal Arabic Dictionary List: A multilingual Arabic dictionary, includes English to Arabic dictionary.

Oman Library Resources

Some Dictionaries Available at the Oman Library

Arabic-English Bilingual Visual Dictionary, ed. Simon Tuite
New York : DK Pub., 2009
PJ6640 .A68 2009 OMAN 

English-Arabic Dictionary of Accounting and Finance with Arabic-English Glossary, by Adnan Abdeen
Beirut : Chichester [Eng.] ; New York : Librairie du Liban ; J. Wiley, 1981
Call number: HF 5621 .A14 1981 REF  

A Dictionary of Literary Terms (English-French-Arabic), with French and Arabic indexes, by Magdi Wahba
Beirut : Librairie du Liban, [1974]
Call number: PN 44.5 .W3 REF

Arabic Military Dictionary: English-Arabic, Arabic-English, by Multi-Lingual International Publishers Ltd.; general editor, Ernest Kay
London ; Boston : Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1986
Call number: U 25 .A73 REF 

A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, by Hans Wehr
Ithaca, N.Y. : Spoken Language Services, 1994*
Call number: PJ6640 .W43 1994 REF
*other editions also available

A Dictionary of Syrian Arabic: English-Arabic, by Karl Stowasser, Moukhtar Ani
Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2004
Call number: PJ 6816 .D53 2004 REF

The Usborne First Thousand Words in Arabic: With easy pronunciation guide, by Heather Amery, Stephen Cartwright, Lisa Watts
Tulsa, Okla, USA: EDC Pub., 2004
Call number: PJ6166.A44 2004

Some Language Acquisition Books Available at the Oman Library

Alif Baa: Introduction to Arabic letters and sounds, by Kristen Brustad, ʻAbbās Tūnisī, Mahmoud Al-Batal
Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 1995
Call number: PJ 6123 .B78 1995

Easy Arabic Script: A Step-by-Step Guide to Handwriting, by Jane Wightwick and Mahmoud Gaafar
New York : McGraw-Hill, 2005
Call number: PJ 6123.W54 2005

A Course in Modern Standard Arabic, by Daud Atiyeh Abdo
Beirut: Khayats, 1962
Call number: PJ6111.A236 

A Comprehensive Study of Egyptian Arabic, by Ernest T. Abdel Massih et al.
Ann Arbor, Mich.: Center for Near Eastern and North African Studies, University of Michigan, 1978-      
Call number: PJ 6779 .A23

A Basic Course in Iraqi Arabic with Audio MP3 files, by Wallace M. Erwin
Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2004
Call number: PJ 6823 .E685 2004 

Levantine Arabic for Non-natives: A proficiency-oriented approach, by Lufti Hussein
New Haven : Yale University Press, 1993
Call number: PJ 6818 .H872 

Course in Tunisian Arabic, by Rached ben Abdelkader, Aziza Naouar
Washington, D.C.: Peace Corps (U.S.), 1979
Call number: PJ 6768 .A3

Bilingual Books at the Oman Library

Arabic Poetry: A Primer for Students, by A.J. Arberry
New York : Cambridge University Press, [2010] ©1965
Call number: PJ 7692 .E3 A7

Bedouin Poetry: from Sinai and the Negev, by Clinton Bailey, with a foreword by Wilfred Thesiger
London : Saqi, 2002
Call number: PJ 8210 .B35 2002

Classical Poems by Arab Women, by Abdullah al-Udhari
London : Saqi Books, 1999
Call number: PJ 7694.E3 C55 1999 

...and more! Visit the library online or in person to find out more: https://catalog.mei.edu/ 

This research guide is maintained by the Oman Library at the Middle East Institute.