Resources to learn Gulf Arabic

Gulf Arabic Learning Books

Complete Spoken Arabic of the Gulf (Book & CDs)
Complete Spoken Arabic with Two Audio CDs: A Teach Yourself Guide provides you with a clear and comprehensive approach to Spoken Arabic, so you can progress quickly from the basics to understanding, speaking, and writing spoken Arabic with confidence. Within each of the 24 thematic chapters, important language structures are introduced through life-like dialogues. You'll learn grammar in a gradual manner so you won't be overwhelmed by this tricky subject. Exercises accompany the texts and reinforce learning in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. This program also features current cultural information boxes that reflect recent changes in society. The accompanying audio CDs include audio exercises--performed by native speakers--that reinforce communicative skills.

Conversational Arabic Quick and Easy: Gulf Dialect Series (Emirati, Kuwaiti, Qatari, Bahraini, Omani, and Saudi Gulf Dialects)
If your desire is to learn complicated grammatical rules of the Gulf Arabic dialects, this book is NOT for you. But if you need to actually hold a conversation with your Gulf Arab friends or while on a trip to any of the Gulf states then this book IS for you. This book is designed to get you to speak Gulf Arabic quickly by learning and memorizing 350 core words that are most commonly used in the language without having to learn the complicated grammar. This book is NOT a phrasebook though; it will teach you how to use and combine these core words to form your own sentences for the purpose of becoming conversational in the shortest time possible. All words in this book are taught in English transliteration. More formalized training in Arabic alphabet and grammar rules can come later.

Colloquial Arabic of the Gulf - 2nd Edition
This new edition of Colloquial Arabic of the Gulf has been revised and updated to make learning this variety of Arabic easier and more enjoyable than ever before. Specially written by an expert for self-study and classroom use, the course offers you a step-by-step approach to spoken Arabic of the Gulf, together with an introduction to reading signs, business cards, advertisements and other realia. No prior knowledge of the language is required. Each unit presents numerous grammatical points that are reinforced with a wide range of exercises for regular practice. A full answer key can be found at the back as well as useful vocabulary summaries throughout. Audio material to accompany the course is available to download free in MP3 format from the publisher's website. Recorded by native speakers, the audio material features the dialogues and texts from the book and will help develop your listening and pronunciation skills.

Talk to me in Emirati Arabic: Ramissnee bil Emirati
Meeting new people? Attending meetings with Emiratis? Working at the hospital? Once you have studied with this book, you will have good understanding of the most phrases used at workplace and hospitals. Talk to Me in Emirati Arabic Book, or in Arabic “Ramisnee bil emirati”, is a very useful book for people who are upper beginner and lower intermediate. It has topics about workplace, job interview, attending meetings, starting projects, meeting new people, working at the hospital and other daily related issues. The conversations have been written in short phrases length for an Emirati Arabic learner, and each phrase or word has an English translation on the same page. You can listen to every vocabulary word and sentences from the book using the accompanying audio tracks.

Spoken Emirati Conversation Book
This book will help you learn the most basic commonly used intermediate-level sentences and improve your Emirati Arabic vocabulary. This book contains day-to-day Emirati Arabic conversations on different topics. These are situations that you most likely come across when staying in the Gulf. The conversations have been written in just the right length for any intermediate learner, and each line has an English translation and Arabizy (Emirati text written in English for a better pronunciation) on the same page.

Emirati Idiomatic Expression
Have you ever experienced hearing or seeing an Emirati Arabic expression and being totally confused as to what it means, even when you know all the words? This book is designed to help you make sense of some of the idiomatic expressions often used by Emirati Arabic and give you the know-how to be able to use the expressions yourself in your conversations in Emirati Arabic. This book has two chapters: 1. Special greetings for special occasions and 2. Idioms with body parts. Both chapters are introduced in this book with a literal and actual usage translation and brief explanation for each expression. Enriching your Emirati Arabic to sound more fluent has never been easier. The illustrations will also help the expressions stick in your memory.

Emirati Arabic for Business Communication in UAE
An excellent book that will help you if you are in the business field. The Business Emirati Arabic book aims to improve the use of Emirati Arabic in professional settings. It focuses on vocabulary and phrases used frequently in the local and Gulf business environment, as well as on improving your communication skills based on corporate settings.

Emirati Arabic: A Comprehensive Grammar
offers readers a reference tool for discovering and studying in detail the specific dialect of Arabic spoken in the United Arab Emirates. It covers all major areas of Emirati Arabic grammar, describing in detail its phonological, morphological, syntactic, and semantic systems. Each grammatical point is illustrated with numerous examples drawn from native Emirati Arabic speakers and is thoroughly discussed providing both accessible and linguistically informed grammatical description. This book is a useful reference for students of Gulf Arabic and/or Modern Standard Arabic or other Arabic dialects with an interest in the dialect spoken in the UAE, researchers interested in Arabic language and linguistics as well as graduate students and scholars interested in Arabic studies.

Omani Arabic Phrasebook: The Quick and Easy Guide to Learning Omani Arabic
Omani Arabic Phrasebook is your guide to the most relevant spoken Omani Arabic phrases and vocabulary for all your daily needs. Start your journey into Omani Arabic and learn how to communicate with the locals in almost all situations. This pocket-sized comprehensive language guide, provides on-the-go language assistance. Great for language students and residents of Oman looking to interact with locals and immerse themselves in local culture. While this phrasebook uses the colloquial Arabic used in Oman, it is very close to other colloquial Arabic dialects used in other regions of the gulf. We have also taken into consideration the different dialects used in all regions of Oman.

Arabic vs. Arabic: A Dialect Sampler
While this book does not focus on learning Gulf Arabic, it lets you explore the vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar of 15 varieties of Arabic (that is, Modern Standard Arabic and 14 dialects including Gulf Arabic) through tables with notes and free, downloadable accompanying audio. You can go through the tables in order or skip around the book to see what catches your attention. The book really is meant to be a sampler platter to give you a taste of each Arabic dialect and a better understanding of just how varied the various varieties of Arabic are. The layout encourages the self-discovery method of learning. While the notes under many tables identify points of interest, you are encouraged to find patterns, exceptions, innovative features of dialects, and universals by studying the tables and listening to the audio tracks.

Gulf Arabic Language Courses

1-on-1 Arabic tutoring at italki
One-on-one language tutoring at italki is hands down the most efficient way to reach language fluency. That's why it is the most popular platform today for learning a language online. You can practice conversational skills under different real-world scenarios with a native speaker tutor of your choice who provides you with undivided attention and customized lessons that cater to your learning needs and interests. Whether you’re at home, at the airport, or at your local park, you have complete access to learning Gulf Arabic or any other language you want with a native speaker from any country of your choice. SPECIAL OFFER: Get $10 italki credits by joining via this link.

Preply
Preply is a global online language learning platform designed to promote faster learning with one-on-one online tutors. It connects language tutors with millions of learners from all over the world. You can choose from dozens of Arabic teachers from any country of your choice available in the platform. Book a lesson with a private Arabic teacher today and start learning. Not entirely happy with your tutor? No worries, Preply offers free tutor replacement till you're 100% satisfied.

Gulf Arabic Program
The Gulf Arabic Program is designed to provide the best possible Gulf Arabic learning experience. Their teachers have years of experience teaching foreigners to read, write, and speak Arabic.

Gulf Arabic Learning Podcasts

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Gulf Arabic Learning Blogs and Articles

28 Gulf Arabic Phrases Every Expat Should Know
A compilation of Gulf Arabic phrases that can be handy when you're visiting the Gulf countries. Courtesy of Gulf Daily News Online.

11 Words You'll Only Hear in the United Arab Emirates
The Emirati dialect is a fusion of Arabic and a range of other languages such as Farsi, English and Urdu. From banka to chub, here are some of the country’s most distinctive words. Courtesy of Culture Trip.

Gulf Arabic Learning Portals

GulfArabic.com
Provides a comprehensive Gulf Arabic e-learning course. You get loads of everyday and business-related vocabulary and all the grammar you need to start expressing your thoughts by forming your own sentences. There's audio for every Arabic word or sentence, as well as quizzes to test your knowledge.

Gulf Arabic Video and Audio Recordings at NFLC E-Learning Portal
Managed by the National Foreign Language Center at the University of Maryland, this e-learning portal contains a decent collection of video and audio recordings of Gulf Arabic (and other Arabic dialects as well) for students at different levels. You need to register (it's FREE) to be able to access the learning materials.

Gulf Arabic Learning Videos

Learn Kuwaiti Arabic - Full Playlist

Spoken Emirati lessons with Hanan AlFardan - Full Playlist

Qatari Arabic lessons with Sara Al - Full Playlist

Omani Arabic dialect tools - Full Playlist

Bahraini Arabic Dialect lesson 1

Bahraini Arabic Dialect lesson 2

Gulf Arabic Learning Apps

Emirati Arabic Basic Phrases
This app was originally developed as an entry to the 2010 "Apps for the Army" competition, and it is based on the modules publicly available online from the US Defense Language Institute. While this app's subject matter relates mainly to military topics, the app is broadly useful with content relating to a range of topics including Greetings and Introductions, Numbers, Days of the Week/Time, Directions, Locations, Descriptions (Colors, Shapes, Sizes, Tastes, Qualities, Quantities), Emergency Terms, Food and Sanitation, Fuel and Maintenance, Lodging, Medical Terms, Military Ranks, Occupations, Parts of the Body, Relatives and Weather.

Gulf Arabic Learner's Dictionary and Quiz
Learn the Arabic spoken in Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, the UAE, Oman, and eastern coastal Saudi Arabia. Use the search feature to look up words in English or Arabic. The dictionary contains about 4000 entries. You can "favorite" words you come across in the dictionary and quiz yourself on them, or just quiz yourself on random words. You can also add your own custom entries to your favorites list.

1-on-1 Gulf Arabic Lessons at italki

italki is the most flexible and affordable language learning platform that connects students with the most dedicated teachers around the world for 1-on-1 online language tutoring through video chat. At italki, you can choose an experienced Gulf Arabic teacher for your personal tutor based on your goals and interests.

Here is a step-by-step instruction to find a native Gulf Arabic teacher at italki:

Click on the following banner, an italki page will open in a new window.
Click the "From" button on the top-left corner of the page.
Search for "United Arab Emirates" by clicking "Show More" and typing "Emirates" in the search box.
Tick on "United Arab Emirates".
Click "Apply".
Repeat steps 2 to 5 for all the other Gulf states, i.e. "Qatar", "Bahrain", "Kuwait" and "Oman".
Choose your Gulf Arabic teacher and schedule a lesson with him/her right away.

Good luck and enjoy your lesson!