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Learning the Arabic Alphabet
The Arabic Language is one of the most precise languages that exists in terms of the placement of its letters and the corresponding sounds that they make and the rules of its grammar, there are very few times when the exception occurs rather than the rule vs. say English (think of the word "knight" for example!). Follow these steps below and you will take our tour of the Arabic alphabet (and come back often as it is always a work in progress). If you already know Arabic or are studying it this makes a good study/review guide as well. You should start by learning the shapes of the alphabet and what their names are and what sounds they make but if you are a true beginner just stick with the shapes first. The Arabic script is written from right to left and is read that way as well, except for numbers but that will come later. Each letter has a different look to it depending on whether it comes at the beginning of a word, in between other letters in a word, or at the end of the word (don't worry it's more complicated sounding than it is). In addition there are several vowels which change the way a letter sounds, these vowels come on top of or on the bottom of a letter and can make a letter sound different ("ta" becomes "ti" or "taa" or "ta'a" depending on which vowel is on it). Don't worry too much about vowels at this stage but know that they are there. Most of the times the vowels will not be shown in a text (like a newspaper for instance) unless the word could have more than one meaning contexually (in rare cases). To see how vowels look take a look at a Quran, most of them have all of the vowels because textual precision is very important in Islam and in the Quran. This page will (eventually) run you through the alphabet and start working on basic scripts. Remember to write your Arabic from right to left as well, it's good practice for getting in the habit of understanding it. Start with part one unless you know where you want to go and follow your way through them all... Arabic letters: The Whole Alphabet in song and video
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