An Interactive Egyptian Arabic Course

Egyptian Arabic is a spoken language that is highly interactive. The culture is outgoing, fun, and very conversational. This Egyptian Arabic course gives you key expressions and phrases that you can use to immediately begin interacting on a simple level.

You will learn how to engage in simple, friendly conversations that signal respect for the person and the culture, and an eagerness to learn.

Enroll in Course

When you take this course…

You learn beginner’s Arabic

You have what it takes to learn Arabic. This Egyptian Arabic course will enable you to take your first steps to actually interacting in Arabic, by adding simple words and phrases to your conversations.

You engage with Egyptians and their culture

You love learning, exploring, and experiencing people and society from the eyes of someone from that culture. You’re not the kind of person who likes to sit on the sidelines and have no idea what’s going on, or is content to live isolated from the world around you. This course will open doors for you to engage with Egyptians and their culture firsthand.

You thrive and live a healthier, more fulfilling life in Egypt

Communication and understanding are keys to thriving. When you begin to be able to put your needs into simple words, and understand the ways in which people are responding to you, life gets better. You are healthier, happier, and better adapted. And that makes your time in Egypt not just survivable, but enjoyable.

You invest in yourself

Investing in your own education is one of the best things you can do. But who doesn’t appreciate saving money when that’s an option? This course costs significantly less than typical “survival Arabic” courses. That’s because the content has been carefully curated to just give you the initial essentials. Many learners pay for programs and courses that they can’t fully absorb or complete. This course is a safe first investment that will allow you to see if you want to continue further or not.

What are the requirements?

Students need to be able to understand English, the language of instruction
Knowledge of the Arabic alphabet is not needed for this course
No special materials or software are required

What am I going to get from this course?

Interact in Egyptian Arabic on an introductory level, using key expressions and words
Speak and understand greetings, goodbyes, and polite exchanges such as “please”, “thank you”, etc.
Build respect and rapport by choosing formal or informal words to address people, depending on the context
Ask questions such as “who?”, “what?”, “when?”, “where?”, “why?”, and “how?”
Refer to people and things using correct pronouns (him, her, it, you, this, that, etc.)
Count from one to one hundred in Egyptian Arabic
Use helpful borrowed words (“cognates”) from other languages that are part of Egyptian Arabic

What is the target audience?

This course is designed for absolute beginners in Egyptian Arabic. It can also serve as an excellent refresher course for people who learned Egyptian Arabic in the past, but have been out of practice. It is also helpful for students of Modern Standard Arabic who want to explore the most-spoken dialect in the Arab world. This course is probably not for you if you’re looking to learn more advanced and complex Egyptian Arabic.

Sample lesson

Curriculum

Section 1: Introduction

Lesson 1: Introduction to the workshop (02:39)
Lesson 2: Goals, objectives, and format (02:01)

Section 2: Quick Start – Greetings

Lesson 3: Greetings Part 1 (06:49)
Lesson 4: Greetings Part 2 (05:52)

Section 3: Foundations for Learning

Lesson 5: Mindset shift: You really can learn Arabic (01:38)
Lesson 6: Egyptian Arabic – the way it’s actually used (01:04)
Lesson 7: Sounds used in Egyptian Arabic (09:21)
Lesson 8: Egyptian Arabic – writing and transliteration (article)
Quiz 1: Foundations for learning quiz (3 questions)

Section 4: First interactions – Goodbyes (completing our Quick Start section)

Lesson 9: Goodbye Part 1 (05:57)
Lesson 10: Goodbye Part 2 (06:52)
Quiz 2: Greetings and goodbyes quiz (4 questions)

Section 5: Engaging in small conversations

Lesson 11: How are you? (09:40)
Lesson 12: Responses to ‘how are you?’ (08:02)
Lesson 13: Polite expressions that engage people (14:33)
Quiz 3: Engaging in small conversations quiz (4 questions)

Section 6: Expanding your interactions in Egyptian Arabic

Lesson 14: Yes and no, and questions (13:57)
Lesson 15: People and things (pronouns) (07:46)
Lesson 16: Counting from 1 to 10 (05:33)
Lesson 17: Counting from 11 to 100 (12:50)
Lesson 18: Cognates – fast forwarding your vocabulary (08:48)
Quiz 4: Expanding your interactions quiz

Section 7: Next Steps

Lesson 19: Your next steps to mastering Egyptian Arabic (01:56)

Instructor Biography

Andrew Dempsey, Instructor of English and Arabic, software developer, Arabic learner, and teacher of both English and Arabic. Former faculty member at the American University in Cairo, app developer, and educational technology consultant. I have lived in Egypt for 31 years, and use Arabic as a part of my everyday life. I love enabling people to interact in the Arab world. I am originally from Canada. You can read my blog about Arabic learning at thearabiclearner.com.