Arabic/Reading Arabic

Like many other semitic languages such as Hebrew, Arabic is read from right to left. Aside from that one unusual bit, you will be surprised how quickly you can learn to read it.

Arabic letters that sound
like English:

Letter	Name	Sounds like	as in
أ	'alif	a	cat
ب	bâ	b	banana
ت	tâ	t	table
ج	jîm	j	jam
ن	nûn	n	name
و	wâw	w	wind
ل	lâm	l	lesson

Now let's try these words:

   باب              اب
  (ab) = father   (bab) = door