Ahlan أهــْــلاً and Happy 2015 Arabic lovers! It is a new year and new resolutions. New year is often the best time to have a stop with yourself and a think about the previous year. Where were you at the very beginning of that past year? Where are you now? Where will you be at the end of this new year? Concerning your struggle with learning and picking up Arabic, it is the time to refresh your passion. It is the time to evaluate your learning and effort. It is the time to have a flashback of what helped you most. It is the time to set new goals and to reach higher levels of the Arabic proficiency. Before you start making new resolutions and setting new goals, you should ask yourself: what helped you more in learning Arabic? What did you enjoy most? What worked for you best? And what did not?

  In this post, I do present what I believe to be the top ten Arabic posts of 2014. The top ten posts cover almost all aspects of a foreign language.

1. Index of Arabic Grammar: Regardless of what research says about teaching grammar to L2 learners especially in the very early stages, still no one denies the importance of learning grammar, be it to beginner or advanced levels. In this post, I have collected labeled links to all the grammar posts that I have wrote since 2011. It is part of an ongoing effort to build a comprehensive grammar book for non-Arabic speakers.
2. Fisal’s Arabic-English Dictionary: Learning new vocabulary is crucial in mastering a foreign language. No foreign language learner can approach a new language without a dictionary. In this post, I have provided links to dictionary entries that I have published posts about. It is my humble and ongoing attempt to build a bilingual Arabic-English dictionary.
3. The Love of the Arabic Language: Listening comprehension is a basic skill in learning a foreign language. Research and researchers have always drawn analogies between L1 and L2 and the linguistic skills order. Whatever the conclusions and the skills order, they all stressed the listening skill. In this post, as in many other similar posts, I present a native Arabic speaker talking about any topic in Arabic and I present some comprehension questions that cover some areas.
4. Oil Prices: Reading comprehension is no less important than listening. To some, reading is the most important skill in learning a foreign language. In this post, as in some many similar others, I present a text in modern standard Arabic and the learners should answer some comprehension questions based on the text.
5. To My Love in New Year’s Eve: Poetry and literature are major aspects of learning a language. This post presents a beautiful poem that celebrates both love and New Year’s Eve. It is poem by the great Arab poet Nizar Qabbani. The post not only presents that poem but also provides links to other beautiful poems of Nizar Qabbani.
6. If only we had not parted: Who on earth does not like music!? It plays a very important role in learning a foreign language. It is part of the culture and lifestyle of the native people. It is also much fun. This post presents a beautiful love song by Kazim Al-Sahir. The song is in MSA (Modern Standard Arabic) like most of Kazim’s songs. Check also other songs in different Arabic dialects (e.g. The Role of Songs in Learning Arabic – Amr Diab – Sabah – Fayrouz – Om Kulthoum)
7. Where do the Arabic names of weekdays come from: Having an idea about the some aspects of the linguistic phenomena and tracing it back to its origin in history can sometimes help in consolidating and appreciating the language you are learning. How language dates back and how it evolved is an interesting topic to some learners.
8. Kabsah; Gulf Cuisine Recipe: Traditional Food dishes are part of the culture and lifestyle of the people you are learning their language. This post is for those adventurous people who have the nerve to try new dishes. The Kabsah recipe was chosen among another 17 recipes in a free e-book called; Around the World in 17 Recipes.
9. Mustafa Amin: Writing biographies about influential figures of the foreign language can be useful in getting to know the foreign society and how it thinks. In this post I present a biography about a great writer and journalist.
10. Egyptian Proverbs (8): Proverbs are a unique linguistic phenomenon that can be studied alone. Proverbs are informative. They inform us about some cultural values and traditions of the native speakers of the target language. This post has also links to other Arabic and Egyptian proverb posts that were previously posted.

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Peace  ســـَــلام /Salam/