Learning Arabic: Resources at the Boston Public Library

A photo of a young boy taken from above him. He is practicing the letter forms of the Arabic letter kāf. He is writing on white paper with a red marker. The table he works on is bright yellow. — A young child practices their letter forms of the Arabic letter kāf.

"What can I do to help my child learn Arabic?"

I've gotten this question several times since I started working at the Boston Public Library about a year ago. This shouldn't surprise me. Arabic is the fifth most spoken language in the world! About 422 million people worldwide speak Arabic, including over 1.2 million people in the United States (and growing!). And as the language of Islam, Arabic is an essential part of the lives of about two billion Muslims.

There are several resources at the library to help people of all ages learn the language. In honor of Muslim American Heritage Month this January, let's take a look at a few:

Resources for Young Children:

LOTE4Kids, opens a new window

Available with your library card on a computer and as an Apple or Android app

LOTE4Kids is an online database of children's eBooks and audiobooks. Users can sort the books by reading level, from basic vocab cards to full storybooks. Kids can read the 70 available Arabic books in Arabic, English, or both. They have the option to view these as a flipbook or a video. If viewed as a video, they can also change the playback speed. This helps new learners who are struggling with pronunciation or verbal comprehension. You can even take book-specific quizzes to test your reading comprehension!

Little Pim, opens a new window

Available with your library card on a computer and as an Apple or Android app

Little Pim provides short, 5-minute episodes for kids ages 0-6. Kids will get exposure to native speakers. The videos break down sentences into easy to understand parts. There are three 7-episode Arabic series: Eating and Drinking, Wake Up Smiling, and Playtime.

Arabic Language Learning Books for Kids, opens a new window

Available to check out with a library card

This list shows a few books available at the library to help children learn Arabic. You can search for more books using the Advanced Search, opens a new window feature on our website. This allows you to narrow down results by language and age level.

Arabic Learning Games:, opens a new window

Available without a library card

While this resource isn't through the BPL, these games keep language learning fun and engaging. Alongside games, it also has flashcards and picture dictionaries. Games use Modern Standard Arabic. Number games also have Levantine Arabic and transliteration. Note: This site contains ads.

Language Learning for Older Kids and Adults:

Mango Languages, opens a new window

Available with your library card on a computer, as an Apple or Android app, and as a Chrome extension, opens a new window

Mango is an interactive language-learning resource for beginners. It helps users learn grammar, conversation, and pronunciation for common exchanges. Mango uses real-life situations and realistic conversations. It offers four different types of Arabic:

Egyptian Arabic (one unit)
Iraqi Arabic (four units)
Levantine Arabic (five units)
Modern Standard Arabic (five units)

Watch our tutorial, opens a new window for more help getting started!

Transparent Language, opens a new window

Available with your library card on a computer and as an Apple or Android app. The Transparent Languages online app requires activation before use.

Like Mango, Transparent Language is an interactive language learning platform for beginners. They offer a ton of different practice activities for speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Because you can rearrange the order you complete lessons, it is easy to use Transparent to supplement lessons on Mango.

Transparent Language offers lessons for several different types of Arabic:

Modern Standard Arabic
Modern Standard Arabic (Transliterated)
Egyptian Arabic
Iraqi Arabic
Iraqi Arabic (Transliterated)
Levantine Arabic
Levantine Arabic (Transliterated)

You can also access Arabic-specific learning tips and grammar cheat sheets. Transparent even lets users set learning goals to help you stay on track.

World Language Collections, opens a new window

We have books, magazines, and movies available in Arabic that you can check out with your library card.

PressReader, opens a new window

Available with your library card on a computer and as an Apple or Android app

For advanced language learners, PressReader offers thousands of newspapers and magazines from across the world. You can filter your search by language and by country, too! For more information, check out our tutorial, opens a new window.

Aswaat Arabiyya, opens a new window

Available without a library card

Aswaat Arabiyya, or “Arabic Voices,” provides materials and activities for Arabic listening comprehension. They select listening materials from TV stations throughout the Arabic-speaking world. Though there is a focus on news, the videos cover a wide variety of topics and listening genres. They offer activities for different learning levels from Novice to Superior. Two women in hijabs and blazers face a whiteboard. The woman further from the camera is in a white hijab with a light blue floral print. She is writing on the board and is instructing the other woman, who is in a green and gray hijab.

Madinah Arabic, opens a new window

Available without a library card

Madinah Arabic has a wealth of free Arabic learning materials. These include including interactive lessons, videos, and quizzes. Unlike many of the other resources on this list, Midinah offers a course to learn Arabic script.

LangMedia: Arabic, opens a new window

Available without a library card

LangMedia is an open-access, award-winning repository of language-learning resources. It includes resources for core language skills like dialects and dictation. This is especially useful to learn the differences in how people say common phrases. In the Culture and Everyday Life section, you can watch videos about customs in different Arab countries.The website also has a great list of tips and tools, opens a new window for learning a new language.

Arabic Language Sustainment Resources from the University of Wisconsin Madison, opens a new window

Available without a library card

This Arabic Language Sustainment Resources webpage is a useful resource for new learners and people who want to maintain their Arabic knowledge. They link to many different kinds of resources, including dictionaries, podcasts, radio, magazines, entertainment, history, and literature. Because they are so useful, I wanted to highlight the dictionaries they list:

The AraMaster, opens a new window: A good dictionary for beginner and intermediate learners.
Aratools:, opens a new window A useful tool for learning words and their root (masdar)
Arabterm.org:, opens a new window A good database for translating technical and political terms.
Reverso:, opens a new window Contains thousands of entries and their Arabic translation.

Ask a Librarian

There are so many Arabic resources out there that they couldn't possibly fit in one list. If you want help finding more, have questions about the resources, or have any questions, you can contact us at ask@bpl.org. We are happy to help. Good luck on your Arabic learning journey!