The method

How I learned Arabic

And why I built Qiraa

For years, I learned Arabic the classic way.

I would pick a book suited to my level. I would sit down, pen in hand, dictionary open beside me. Every unknown word, I looked it up. I wrote it down in my notebook — translation, root, an example sentence.

It's slow, it's tedious — but it works.

The problem was that I couldn't do this whenever I wanted.

I needed my book, my dictionary, my notebook. All at the same time, in the same place. And life doesn't always happen at a desk.

Sometimes, in the middle of the day, I wanted to review my vocabulary. To check if I still remembered the words from the day before. But my notebooks were at home. So I let it go.

And little by little, you forget.

I wanted to fix this problem for myself. To have everything in one place — the text, instant word-by-word translation, vocabulary saved automatically, quizzes. From my phone, waiting for the bus. From my computer, in the evening.

It helped me a lot.

So I decided to share it with others.

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