Alhamdulillah I was granted an opportunity to try out the courses over at
LearnArabic.com, and thought that some of you may find benefit in finding out a little more inshaAllah!
Due to ill health over the past couple of months I haven't used the site as much as I had wanted to; however, from what I have used; I feel that I would be prepared to spend money on using it in the future!
So lets start at the beginning and ask, what exactly is
LearnArabic.com?
As if you couldn't already tell from the name, its a specialist site designed to help learners acquire the basics in Arabic language as well as offering a superb separate online Tajweed course!
I know from my own experience as an adult learner of Arabic and the difficulties I faced, if I had access to this sort of resource, things would have likely been a lot easier for me in the beginning!
It has been designed so that both children and adults alike can learn inshaAllah - and if you are completely new to Arabic, there is no need to fret, because you will learn the alphabet and move on up from there inshaAllah!
Even those who already know the alphabet and can read, you will find benefit in these first lessons because they go over in detail the correct makhaarij (places of letter origin in pronunciation).
So how does it all work?
The site uses a variety of resources to help you learn - from extremely well presented video lessons, to quizzes and games to help you learn and develop your memory bi'ithnillah.
The video lessons I personally feel, are the best thing about this site, and most unique to it! They are beautifully designed with such simplicity, that they are easy to follow and comprehend Alhamdulillah.
The teacher uses the screen as his board (pictured screen shot below) when teaching, so it feels as though you are attending a live class with a real teacher in front of you.
I've tried a few different lessons to learning Arabic in the past, and by far, this is the most superior to what I have tried from both online and physical classes. I am a very visual person, so for me, if I had learnt in this way, I feel I would have found learning much easier wa Allahu Alam.
Its also great that you can stop and pause the class to write your notes or go back and replay sections you didn't quite understand first time round.
The current lessons available, will take you from learning the alphabet, through to forming simple sentences, plurals and verb conjugation - which is a great start if you haven't learnt Arabic before.
However, if you have already reached that stage, and are looking to further progress your language understanding, you may find that you already know what the site currently is offering.
I believe new lessons are continuing to be added, and if they are able to go ahead and complete a full set of videos teaching all the language rulings to give full language comprehension, this would be a totally amazing and unique self-study course unlike any other!
So, if you are new to the language, I highly recommend the course, because it will give you a solid base from which you can continue to progress your Arabic studies inshaAllah. - its something which would be great to do as a family together with the kids!
(I strongly believe that if we truly want to learn the Arabic language, we must strive to learn it with our families and implement what we learn together inshaAllah)
Separate to the Arabic language classes, is a
Tajweed course based upon the work of Shaykh, Doctor, Ali bin 'Abdir-Rahmaan al-Hudhayfee (Imaam of al-Masjid al-Nabawi, al-Madinah al
-Nabawiyyah).
Naturally, self-study does not take the place of learning in the presence an actual teacher, however, it is not always possible to find one. I know from my own past experience, when I begun practicing Islam maybe about 13 years ago, in a town where there were no Muslims other than us, that finding a teacher can be impossible!
I know there are many new Muslims, who for years do not learn how to read the Qur'an, mainly because of this difficulty in not being able to find a teacher - so something like this is extremely beneficial Alhamdulillah.
Also, for those who may have been reading the Qur'an since childhood Alhamdulillah, there is a great deal of benefit to these classes, which take you from firstly, being taught the virtues of the Qur'an and understanding the importance of Tajweed and its meaning through to perfecting your makhaarij and all the individual rulings.
Again, like the Arabic language course, this is simple and clear and I highly recommend it, whether you are a complete beginner or have been reading for years. It will help you to improve your understanding inshaAllah which in turn, will help you to perfect your recitation bi'ithnillah.
I have to say I have benefited greatly from these tajweed classes Alhamdulillah - I like the ability to pause to write my notes, and replay!
I haven't completed them all yet, so I will most likely be subscribing inshaAllah, and believe it is money well spent bi'ithnillah - I think it works out at around just £4 a month for a 6-month sign up, so it is affordable for most alhamdulillah.
It has to be said, as with any class or course you take, effort is required from you. You will only get out of a class what you are prepared to put in.
The benefit of online classes, is you can do them in your own time, and at your own pace; moving on when you are ready. You can pause the recording as often as you like to write your notes or go back and repeat what you didn't quite understand.
So, if you are interested and would like to find out more, please do check out
LearnArabic.com!
