Are you learning Arabic? Smash your Arabic goals in 2022 with our list of ideas to level up your language learning! No matter which Arabic dialect you’re studying, use our list of ideas to set clear and achievable goals, optimise your learning and weave extra Arabic practice into your day!
1. Set S.M.A.R.T goals
First of all, make sure your goals are S.M.A.R.T! This beautifully simple and easy to remember method will ensure success with the targets you set for yourself in 2022, whether in your Arabic language learning or otherwise. Read this article about effective goal-setting to find out how to make your own S.M.A.R.T goals for the year!
2. Set up new Arabic habits
Make one of your goals to build a new Arabic habit into your day – perhaps add in a few pages of Arabic reading on your lunch break or practice using an app during your commute. Alternatively, why not tweak an existing habit to incorporate Arabic – do you usually listen to the radio in the mornings with your morning coffee? Switch to an Arabic radio station! We love TuneIn.com – their option to search by location lets you pick a country where your Arabic dialect is spoken and and listen to any radio station you like for free.
3. Join our Facebook group for some accountability and camaraderie
It can be hard to stay motivated when you’re learning something as complex as a new language, and especially so if you’re learning outside of a formal course without teachers or classmates to provide accountability. No matter how you’re learning Arabic, join our private Facebook group for an extra dose of community spirit! All dialects and levels are welcome, and it’s the perfect place to get to know other learners, pick up tips and find new resources.
4. Try a new way of increasing your Arabic input – audiobooks!
We’re recent converts to the Storytel app, which has a huge library of Arabic-language audiobooks for all ages and tastes. They offer a 14-day free trial, after which you pay for a monthly subscription rather than for each book you want to listen to. Once you’ve chosen your next read, you can even adjust the playback speed to help with comprehension! Other audiobook apps to try include Audible, which has a small selection of titles in Arabic, and اقرأ لي, which is free to download and allows you to listen to the first chapter of each book before you decide to purchase.
5. Try a hobby in Arabic!
One of the best ways to learn a new language is by doing things you’re already familiar with or interested in using your target language. If, like many of us, you began learning Arabic as a teenager or an adult, your studies may have focused on the classroom or thick textbooks full of grammar and vocabulary lists. But the human brain learns best by naturally absorbing new words and language rules – think about how babies acquire language! So why not put your hobbies to even better use and try doing them in Arabic? Whether you’re a keen crafter, a board game addict, a yogi or an incredible baker, try out your hobby in Arabic. Choose a recipe in Arabic, a yoga lesson taught in your dialect, or pick an entirely new hobby to learn Arabic in the most natural way possible!
For more ideas on how to incorporate Arabic into your daily life and some of our favourite places to find new Arabic resources, make sure you don’t miss number 8 which is all about our free Immersion Itineraries.
6. Optimise your learning methods
Take some time to figure out your most effective learning methods to set yourself up for a successful year. It really pays to get to know how you learn most effectively and which methods work best for you. Maybe your brain doesn’t enjoy written explanations of grammar, but absorbs video lessons really effectively, or perhaps you struggle to read news articles but find that reading Arabic movie subtitles really boosts your reading speed.
Arabic vocabulary is one area where some careful planning will really pay off – to get started, optimise your vocabulary strategy with this post! And if you haven’t already, make sure to download our free printable vocabulary diary, which sorts out a vocabulary system for you! You’ll receive the free PDF when you sign up to our Hump Day Newsletter, which also includes the code for access to all of our Arabic resources. Sign up here!
7. Listen to music in Arabic
Find some artists you love who sing in your dialect – music is the perfect way to increase your vocabulary, improve your pronunciation, and boost your comprehension, all without really trying! There’s even songs out there for all you MSA learners, like this one.
You can also find many famous Arabic songs on Playaling, a website that translates and transliterates the words of YouTube videos as you watch and lets you pause and rewind to your heart’s content until you’ve learned all the words!
8. Try one of our free Immersion Itineraries!
If you’re not living in the Middle East, one of the main barriers to learning Arabic can be a lack of exposure to the language. It’s much easier to acquire a target language when you’re immersed in it for a large proportion of your daily life, but for many Arabic learners that can be a real struggle. No matter where you are in the world, increase your Arabic language exposure with one of our Immersion Itineraries! Our itineraries give you a suggested schedule to incorporate Arabic into your day in a natural way, with resources and links to a huge range of activities. Choose from our Modern Standard Arabic Edition, or our Levantine Edition, or why not use them as inspiration to set up your own at-home immersion day.
Our Immersion Itineraries are available in text format on our blog via the links above, or download the free printable PDFs from our Pink Jinn Arabic Learners Facebook page.
9. Weave Arabic practice into as many parts of your life as possible, including your time on social media!
Social media is an incredible place to learn extra Arabic without it feeling tedious. Boost your Arabic learning in 2022 by filling your social media feed with Arabic accounts! Here’s a list of our favourite Arabic Instagram accounts to get you started – there’s even Part 1 and Part 2.
10. Review your goals and make sure to celebrate your progress regularly
If you’re anything like us, you’ve probably set New Year’s Resolutions and then forgotten about them until NYE rolls around again! To avoid forgetting about your goals completely, schedule time to review them regularly, whether that’s once a week or monthly. Check what’s working well, and here’s the key – adapt anything that isn’t working for you. All too often we abandon our goals if we can’t meet them exactly, but small steps are key, and adapting your goals to make them achievable is a far better option than giving up entirely.
If you’d like some structure to remind you to keep up with and review your goals, have a look at our gorgeous 4-Week Arabic Study Planner! Our planner will guide you through setting achievable weekly goals and reviewing them, and remind you to celebrate your progress. It’s downloadable and printable, so you can use it once to get yourself on track for the new year, or start afresh each month.
Have you got any tips or hacks that you’ve learnt along your Arabic journey? Share them with us in the comments!