Arabic language classes in Seattle, Washington

Learn Arabic at Seattle Language Academy, Seattle:
We at Seattle Language Academy (SLA) are a non-profit language school in the Fremont area of Seattle, in the Canal Centre.

Email: Contact us here    ( or request a callback )

Competent and kind mother tongue instructors with relevant academic and cultural training provide a relaxed yet rigorous learning environment suited to the needs of the adult learner. As of the first day you are immersed in the sounds and structures of the language. Through drills, games, songs, written and oral exercises, and role-playing, instructors guide students through the grammar and syntax and help them on their way towards linguistic proficiency. Constant review and homework ensure that students stay abreast of the material.

Standard Arabic Classes; Small Group Arabic Lessons; Intensive Arabic Programs.

Arabic is spoken by almost 200 million people in more than twenty countries, from Morocco to Iraq and as far south as Somalia and the Sudan. A Semitic language like Hebrew and Amharic, Arabic originated in what is now Saudi Arabia; with the rise and spread of Islam in the seventh century, it advanced rapidly across the Middle East. Among Muslims, Arabic has special religious significance as the language through which the Qur'an is believed to have been revealed. Between the ninth and twelfth centuries, when Arabs were the leaders of the Muslim world with an empire stretching to North Africa, Spain and Sicily and as far east as India, Arabic achieved wide currency and served as the vehicle of a vast body of literature. Writers in Arabic included Persians, Iranians, Spanish Muslims, Sicilians and Indians.

Today, Arabic serves as the official language of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Sudan, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco; it is the liturgical language of Muslims in Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Indonesia, and parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

Arabic has a distinctive alphabet and, like other Semitic languages, is written from right to left. Two distinctions within Arabic are of special importance: the difference between Formal-Standard Arabic and the spoken dialects, and the differences among the various dialects themselves. Classical Arabic has changed little over the centuries; the Arabic used in official documents and for some kinds of formal speech (it is this that is now known as Formal-Standard Arabic) is essentially the same as the language of the Qur'an and Classical Arabic literature. Spoken or colloquial Arabic, on the other hand, varies significantly in vocabulary and pronunciation from one region to the next. This dichotomy represents one of the biggest challenges to the Arabic student. To read a newspaper or any official communication in the Arabic world, one must learn Formal-Standard Arabic. To engage in ordinary conversation with native Arabic speakers, one must be familiar with the relevant dialect.

I am truly impressed with everyone at Seattle Language Academy and I have nothing but positive things to say about it. Your organization is wonderful for Seattle residents and displaced ex-pats alike." — Melissa Brown, student of Arabic.