Egyptian Arabic is spoken by 100 million people as natives now or more, and this dialect may represent the key to communicating in Arabic almost everywhere.
In this article, you will be shown some ways that will help you to master this dialect in a short time.
1. Surround Yourself With the Language
A perfect way to learn a certain language is by being surrounded by it all the time in different ways.
So, to start you can start watching TV shows and movies in the Egyptian dialect, listening to music and if possible speaking with native speakers, which will help you to progress really fast.
2. Study the Alphabet
Since the alphabet is totally different from any Latin alphabet you will need to study it first to get into reading and writing Arabic.
Additionally, as the dialect uses the same alphabet you should learn it at the beginning.
3. Learn Basic Phrases
A good way to learn it is to learn a whole phrase. Things that you know to be important, like how to introduce yourself or how to order a meal, and how to make a question.
Most likely after a while, you will find yourself applying the same rules to different phrases and you will no longer need to memorize phrases.
But it’s an important step, to begin with not just with Egyptian, but with any other Arabic dialect.
You can do this either by listening to Arabic speakers talking in the media for example or by signing into some language exchange applications in which you will find so many Arabic speakers willing to help.
4. Start Speaking Early
In a language like Arabic, you have to be prepared for having a totally different set of pronunciations than the one you have in your own language. Your language skills won’t be able to offer much help if you ignore practicing the pronunciation of your target language.
So, even though you probably know that you will not speak more than a few words at the beginning, it is very important to practice your pronunciation of the Arabic language.
As a language learner, you should be given the opportunity to speak as much as you can, yet, to have someone to correct the mistakes you will make.
This is why the Arabic language school at IH Cairo will be the right choice for you if you want to learn right from the beginning and don’t want to lose time trying several methods that might not work well for you. IH Cairo has Egyptian dialect native teachers who will help you to practice speaking from the day one.
5. Egyptian Songs and Series Are Key
To expand your vocabulary list you should expose yourself to all sorts of media of that language, you should watch tv series and listen to music. Speaking of music, as a beginner, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with the most recent Egyptian songs.
However, keep in mind that you will find the classical ones much easier to learn and keep up with the pace of the song. As your language level improves try to listen to new songs and see how much can you understand on your own.
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6. Make Egyptian Dialect Learning a Daily Habit
Learning foreign languages can be challenging at the beginning, but whatever is your favorite learning style, you shouldn’t stop learning at any cost.
Practice makes perfect, and without enough amount of practicing you will slow down your progress. It does not have to be a big amount per day, but it has to be every day.
Your constant exposure to the language will give you a big amount of Arabic vocabulary and it will help you get to the intermediate level faster.
You can set an alarm to a time you know you won’t be busy and you have to have a set amount of vocabulary and grammatical rules to practice every day, that is why this amount has to be reasonable and applicable to your schedule.
7. Learn Effectively and Confidently
It is important to know what is kind of words to start learning and how to learn them fast. Arabic is no different than your native language, so some words are more common than others, these are the ones you should start with.
Your learning process would become much more effective if you start to learn the words’ synonyms as well, as sometimes you will use them interchangeably.
The right way part is about the immersion environment, meaning, instead of repeating the words over and over again, you should create a context even if just in your head, where you practice these words and put them in sentences, even if you don’t know the rest of the sentences or if you’re not sure about the grammar. Just speak them out loud.
This is why IH Cairo Arabic courses focus on putting your knowledge into practice. you’d be to practice all the things that you’ve learned as well as make sure that you use them in the right context from the very basic vocabulary that you learn at first to advanced levels.
8. Work on Your Speaking Skills
It is important to practice everyday conversation more than just knowing how to do it. You should be put in immersion situations where you have to speak Arabic. Things like attending social events such as weddings will help you a lot to break that circle of fear of speaking unsupervised.
One of the most effective ways is to have a language partner. Your language partner should be native and you can exchange languages, but it is important to have someone to practice with constantly.
9. Practice Thinking in Egyptian Arabic
Though you might find this difficult at the start, it is a smart tactic to try to think in the language you’re learning. So in any given situation, you should think, will I be able to say that in Arabic? All right, let’s check what pasta means in Arabic, and so on.
Why is this a smart tactic? Because as do this, you expand your vocabulary list and practice speaking even if just in your head. In addition, you will find yourself at the end of each day practicing more than you intended to do.
To Wrap Up
Many different approaches can be applied to enhance your language learning experience and even get you to a conversational level in a short time. But the most important one of them is to practice as much and as long as you can.
Egyptian Arabic courses are a great start where you can learn more about the language and the culture at the same time. You can check out IH Cairo Arabic school courses here.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Egyptian Arabic is an Arabic variety used by more than 100 million Egyptian citizens. The whole middle east understands the Egyptian dialect and finds it easy to speak.
Egypt is a largely media-producing country, so the resources in something like movies, series, and music is probably way more than any other Arab country.
There is a difference between modern standard Arabic and the Egyptian dialect in pronunciation and the used words, the grammar isn’t very different, but it’s simpler in the dialect.
MSA is used more often in an official setting as a formal language, whereas Egyptian Arabic is what people choose to use in their daily communication. You can learn more about the difference here.
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