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Learn Arabic

Rosetta Stone, Babbel, Duolingo and other Apps

In addition to the most famous apps like Duolingo or Rosetta Stone, we will also look at other Arabic learning apps — some of which are even better.

Dubai in the United Arab Emirates

All Arabic books, newspapers and texts are published in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). However, many dialects exist for everyday conversations:
  • Egyptian Arabic is the most widely used dialect
  • Maghreb Arabic in Morocco, Algeria, Tunis and Malta
  • Gulf Arabic in Kuwait, Qatar and Arab Emirates
  • Levantine Arabic in Syria, Palestine and Lebanon
  • Other: Iraqi Arabic, Sudanese Arabic, etc.

The Egyptian Cairo dialect is understood everywhere in the Arabic world, in large part due to the Egyptian movies and TV productions.

Egypt is also the most populous Arab country with 90 million people.

Egypt and Casablance travel posters

After this short introduction, let's now move on to our review of the apps that can be used to learn Arabic or one of the dialects (e.g. Egyptian).

A compact overview of all the Arabic learning apps can be found below.


Mondly Arabic App

The Best Alternative to Duolingo

The Mondly App lets you learn the Arabic language in a playful way with a series of interactive exercises.

This Arabic learning program contains:

  • Arabic vocabulary trainer with 5000 words
  • 50 topics and categories to choose from
  • 2100 Arabic lessons, including grammar
  • Conversation trainer for common situations (speech recognition)
  • There is even a virtual reality version of this learning app
Mondly has around 45 million users worldwide. This language course has the advantage of having 41 source languages and 41 target languages.

Summary: Mondly is very similar to the Babbel and Duolingo apps and is at least on par with them in terms of quality (Babbel has no Arabic course).

Link: Mondly Arabic App and Online Course


Arabic Basic Course

From 17 Minute Languages

Systems: Online Access (PC, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS)

Suitable for: Beginners and Advanced Learners, Students, Professionals

Content: 1300 words (basic course), 5200 words (complete course), grammar, verb conjugations, exercises

Prices: USD 29,95 (Basic Course), USD 97 (Complete Course)

Overall Value:

The Arabic Basic Course contains a vocabulary trainer for the basic Arabic vocabulary (1300 words) with native-speaker audio, as well as grammar explanations and various exercises.

The vocabulary trainer works with a long-term memory method, in which the new vocabulary is checked at increasing intervals.

You can choose between text input, multiple choice or simply confirming whether you knew a word or not.

The exercises include text comprehension questions, filling in word gaps or just vocabulary lists where one side is covered.

The basic course corresponds to the official language levels A1 and A2 (explanation of CEFR language levels).

The Complete Course contains:

  • Basic course for beginners (basic vocabulary with 1300 words)
  • Intermediate course (1800 more words)
  • Advanced course for experts (2100 words)
  • Additional specialized vocabulary
  • Covers the official CEFR language levels A1 to C2
There are 17 different languages you can use to learn Arabic with this app.

Summary: Much cheaper and even better than the famous Rosetta Stone. There is a free demo version available and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Link: Arabic Basic Course and Complete Course


Rocket Languages: Arabic

Learn Arabic Without Subscriptions

Systems: Android and iOS Apps, PC and Mac

Suitable for: Beginners, intermediate, advanced learners, students, business

Content: Exercises with native speaker audio and speech recognition, writing, grammar, culture

Prices: Free (initial lessons), USD 89 (basic course), USD 249 (full course)

Overall Value:

Rocket Languages offers a complete Arabic language course for download, without monthly subscriptions. It covers the beginner, intermediate and advanced levels (A1-C2).

This Arabic learning software and app features:

  • 6000 Arabic words in the lessons and exercises
  • Complete grammar explanations and exercises
  • Pronunciation and conversation trainer
  • Arabic native speaker audio and speech recognition
  • Explanations of cultural differences via audio and video
You can use the Rocket Languages Arabic course completely offline on the computer and on your smartphone after the download.

Summary: Excellent premium Arabic course on par with Rosetta Stone but without a subscription. You pay only once and own the software. There is also a 60-day money-back guarantee.

Link: Rocket Languages Arabic Learning Software


Rosetta Stone: Arabic

Most Famous Language Learning App

Systems: PC, Mac, Android, iOS Apps

Suitable for: Beginners, intermediate, experts, professionals, business

Content: Arabic lessons with native speaker audio and speech recognition

Prices:
USD   36 (3 months)
USD 145 (12 months)
USD 299 (Lifetime access)
USD 349 (Lifetime access for 24 languages)

Overall Value:

How does Arabic learning with Rosetta Stone work?

Rosetta Stone has a different approach to language learning than many other online courses or language apps such as Duolingo, Memrise and others.

The idea behind Rosetta Stone is to learn a language like you did as a child - by using pictures in combination with listening, speaking, and reading.

Each Rosetta Stone lesson includes the following exercises:

  • Pronounce the words or phrases correctly (speech recognition)
  • When reading or hearing a word, click on the correct picture
  • When looking at a picture, click on the correct word
  • Type in a spoken word correctly, etc.
A possible disadvantage of Rosetta Stone is that there are no grammar explanations or translations of the Arabic vocabulary.

Instead, you are supposed to learn the grammar and the meaning of words from the context or recognize the meaning from the pictures.

Rosetta Stone Apps and Online Version:

The Rosetta Stone Arabic learning software can be used online with a subscription for 3 or 12 months or with a Lifetime Access.

In addition to the online version, there are now also Rosetta Stone apps for iPhones and Android smartphones.

Summary: Time-tested method, but the lack of grammar explanations and translations may make Rosetta Stone not suitable for everyone.

Link: Rosetta Stone App and Online Course


Duolingo Arabic App

Well-Known Language Learning App

Systems: Android App, iOS App, PC and Mac

Content: Exercises with native-speaker audio

Prices: Free (with ads), USD 12.99 (1 month), USD 60 (12 months)

Overall Value:

The Duolingo App offers beginner language courses for 36 languages, including Arabic. Duolingo covers mostly the basics as well as some intermediate level Arabic vocabulary.

The major drawback of Duolingo (just like Rosetta Stone) is that there are no grammar explanations.

The vocabulary learning with Duolingo is "gamified", which means it is structured like a game with levels, experience points, achievements, etc.

The interface is relatively similar to the apps from Mondly and Babbel (Babbel has no Arabic course).

Summary: The vocabulary trainer and the exercises of the program are okay. However, it is not possible to learn Arabic grammar with this app.


Busuu Arabic App

Not really recommended

Systems: Android App, iPhone App, Online-Version (PC and Mac)

Suitable for: Beginners, intermediate, high school students, college students, travelers

Content: Lessons and vocabulary trainer with native speaker audio, grammar

Prices: USD 9,99 (1 month), USD 69 (12 months)

Overall Value:

The Busuu App is a language learning app for 12 languages, including Arabic. The interface is similar to apps like Duolingo, Babbel or Mondly.

  • With this app you can learn Arabic up to beginner or intermediate levels (A1-B2). The expert levels C1-C2 are not included.

  • The Busuu app has Arabic lessons with native speaker audio and pictures (no speech recognition), as well as a vocabulary trainer.

  • The app can be used in offline mode.

  • A unique feature of the Busuu app is a kind of internal social network where users can give feedback and correct each other.
Unfortunately, the grammar explanations here are not that good and the lessons are also structured strangely (difficult words before easier ones).

Summary: Definitely the weakest of the tested Arabic learning apps in terms of quality.


Drops Arabic App

Alternative to Babbel and Duolingo

Systems: Android App, iPhone App, Online-Version (PC and Mac)

Content: Arabic lessons and exercises with native-speaker audio

Prices: USD 13.30 (1 month), USD 72 (12 months), USD 164 (unlimited)

Overall Value:

The Language Drops App is most notable for having 47 target languages and 40 source languages, similar to Mondly.

You can learn about 3000 Arabic words and phrases with this app. However, there are hardly any exercises, except for introducing a new word and matching the word to a picture.

You can choose from which topics you want to learn new words and at what skill level you want to learn (whether you know the language somewhat).

If you want to try the app for free for two weeks you have to provide your payment information and then cancel it.

The "deal" you get when you sign up for the free trial is more than 3 times as expensive as when you click "Get Premium" on the website (USD 38 per month instead of USD 13.30 per month).

Summary: No variety, no grammar and only 3000 words. Does not justify the higher price, even though you get access to all languages.


Pimsleur Arabic Course

Most Expensive Software to Learn Arabic

Systems: PC and Mac (incl. Mobile App)

Suitabe for: Beginners, advanced, students, travel vocabulary

Content: Arabic vocabulary, lessons with native-speaker audio and speech recognition

Price: USD 122 (Basics), USD 469 (Complete)

Overall Value:

The Pimsleur App is very similar to Rosetta Stone in that it does not give grammar explanations, verb conjugation tables, etc.

Instead, the Pimsleur method is supposed to let you learn the Arabic language intuitively, just like your native language - by combining pictures, reading and speaking (speech recognition).

The complete course includes a total of five courses (levels 1 to 5). The beginner course is level 1. Each of the five courses offers 30 daily lessons of 30 minutes each and there are various interactive exercises.

This Arabic learning course for PCs and Macs also includes a mobile app for Android and iOS systems.

Summary: The most expensive Arabic course, even though it is unlikely that learning with it is much better than with the cheaper apps.


LingQ Arabic App

Innovative Approach to Learn Arabic

Systems: Android and iOS Apps, Online-Version (PC and Mac)

Suitable for: Beginners, intermediate, advanced learners, students, professionals

Content: Video and text lessons, browser extension to import any Arabic texts, vocabulary trainer

Price: USD 10 (1 month subscription)

Overall Value:

The LingQ Arabic App is basically a translation program that is combined with a personalized vocabulary trainer.

In addition to the lessons and texts that are included in this app, any Arabic text can be imported. LingQ has its own browser extension for Firefox, Safari and Chrome to import texts (including ebooks).

You can click on any word in the texts to see a translation and this adds the word to your personal vocabulary trainer.

LingQ also has many videos and podcasts, the content of which appears as a text next to the video or podcast — so that any word there can be clicked on and saved as well.

Unfortunately, there are no grammar lessons, meaning that this app will not suffice on its own to learn Arabic.

Summary: Very interesting way to learn Arabic vocabulary on any subject. However, you need other apps for Arabic grammar and conjugations.


Overview of the Arabic Learning Apps:

Learning App Subscrip-
tion?
Price Systems Value
Mondly
No
$99
PC, Mac, Android, iOS
Mondly
Yes
(1 month)
$10
PC, Mac, Android, iOS
Mondly
Yes
(12 months)
$48
PC, Mac, Android, iOS
LingQ
Yes
(1 month)
$10
PC, Mac, Android, iOS
Duolingo
Yes
(1 month)
$13
PC, Mac, Android, iOS
Duolingo
Yes
(12 months)
$60
PC, Mac, Android, iOS
Busuu
Yes
(1 month)
$10
PC, Mac, Android, iOS
Busuu
Yes
(12 months)
$69
PC, Mac, Android, iOS
Drops
No
$164
PC, Mac, Android, iOS
Drops
Yes
(1 month)
$13
PC, Mac, Android, iOS
Drops
Yes
(12 months)
$72
PC, Mac, Android, iOS
17 Minutes
(Basics)
No
$29
PC, Mac, Android, iOS
17 Minutes
(Complete)
No
$97
PC, Mac, Android, iOS
Rocket
(Basics)
No
$89
PC, Mac, Android, iOS
Rocket
(Complete)
No
$249
PC, Mac, Android, iOS
Rosetta Stone
No
$299
PC, Mac, Android, iOS
Rosetta Stone
Yes
(3 months)
$36
PC, Mac, Android, iOS
Rosetta Stone
Yes
(12 months)
$145
PC, Mac, Android, iOS
Pimsleur
(Basics)
No
$122
PC, Mac, Android, iOS
Pimsleur
(Complete)
No
$469
PC, Mac, Android, iOS

Best Apps to Learn Arabic:
Mondly, Babbel

Best Arabic Online Course:
17 Minute Languages

Best Learning Software for Download:
Rocket Languages

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