“Bilingual online dictionary”
English /Arab
Here is an update:
I am still in the beginner stages, still making lots of mistakes decoding the script, still learning basic words, but I am enjoying myself.
One of the objectives of this exercise was to refine my outlook on learning languages by trying a completely unfamiliar one from scratch. I just want to mention one revelation for me.
Until recently, I was very dependent on transliteration of the sounds of Arabic words. I needed to see the vowels written out since they are so often omitted or variable. I would put a transcription in every Hint.
What I have come to realise is that I do not need to do that, despite the inherent vagueness of the script. Instead I prefer to listen to 10 to 20 second dialogs over and over while looking at the words, either in the lesson or as flashcards, and train my ear to hear the word I am focusing on as part of flash-carding. I find this much more satisfying and I think I learn just as quickly.
Now I am going to start Chinese for a while just to test this out. No pinyin for me,… just training my audio memory 
For me, however, I think every Arabic country has far too many vocabularies which quite different from another one. In addition, you keep in mind that every Arabic country has its own accent. On top of that, if you make a comparison between the accents of the countries whose native language are English, you will spot that they are quite different . And likewise, Arab countries, whose languages are Arabic.
Hi @ dooo,
Good idea. I had started that way myself with Chinese some time ago. I might just get back to it!
One thing that didn’t seem to come up in this thread is that to learn “Arabic” in terms of the 4 competencies (reading, writing, speaking, and listening) you really have to learn two somewhat distinct languages. Modern Standard Arabic (based on Quranic Arabic) is used as a sort of lingua franca for formal written communication (newspapers, legal texts, etc.). It is also used in formal spoken contexts such as newscasts, speeches, etc. However, as some have pointed out the pronunciation will vary according to the speakers country of origin.
In contrast, the language spoken on the street is very different than formal Arabic. In some countries, the spoken language is more similar to the formal than others. Morrocan Arabic, for example is practically an entirely different language, while Levantine Arabic is much closer. As someone mentioned above, people rarely converse in MSA. I would say the exception is when you have two Arabic speakers from different countries. For example, I have a Morrocan and Egyptian friend who converse mostly in MSA.
What does this mean for a language learner? Most formal Arabic programs suggest beginning with MSA because it give you a foundation in the language which will then help you learning a spoken dialect. However, you will not learn to speak/understand anyone on the street, though you may understand the news. Likewise if you want to read learning a dialect won’t help you much at all (unless you learn one of the dialects closer to MSA).
So, you really have to make a decision about what your goals are and choose the version of arabic that will give you the quickest results. Just keep in mind that unless you learn both MSA and a dialect, you’ll be limiting yourself to either speaking or reading. Also, if you choose a dialect, you’ll have to pick the region you want to focus on (Maghrebi, Egyptian, Levantine, etc.)
Of course, the above is a simplification, but it should help avoid some of the confusion at the beginning.