If you've decided on Egyptian Arabic, the first filter is easy and a lot of apps fail it: does the app teach Egyptian at all? Many courses labelled "Arabic" teach Modern Standard Arabic, the formal written language. Egyptians read it. They don't speak it with each other.
A quick test before you commit to anything: open a lesson and listen for three words. Coffee should be , with no q at the front. "I want" should be . "What?" should be . If you hear qahwa, ureedu and maadha, you're in a Modern Standard course, whatever the store page says.
We make Bel Masri, so we're one of the options below. We've tried to describe the others the way their own fans would. We've also stuck to things that don't change month to month, like which Arabic each one teaches and what format it uses, so check prices on each site.
Duolingo
Duolingo's Arabic course is Modern Standard Arabic. It has no Egyptian course. We wrote a whole page on whether Duolingo has Egyptian Arabic if you want the detail.
Good at: getting you to show up every day, and teaching the Arabic alphabet. The letters are the same in Cairo, so that part carries straight over.
Weak spot for you: the spoken words. The Egyptian you hear on the street uses a different "what", "want" and "where", and Duolingo won't teach them.
Pimsleur (Egyptian Arabic)
Pimsleur has a dedicated Egyptian Arabic course. It's audio first: you listen, you're asked how to say something, you answer out loud, and the course checks you by playing the right answer. Words come back at spaced intervals so they stick.
Good at: speaking from day one, and pronunciation. Because everything goes through your ears, you pick up the rhythm of Cairo speech early. It's also easy to do on a commute or a walk.
Weak spot: reading. You'll learn very little of the Arabic script from it. The vocabulary also builds slowly, by design, since each lesson spends a lot of time on a small set of phrases.
Mango Languages
Mango offers Egyptian Arabic as its own course, separate from its Modern Standard one. Lessons are built around short conversations, with the phrases broken down piece by piece and notes on grammar and culture along the way. Many public libraries give their members free access, which is worth checking before you pay for anything.
Good at: structured, bite-sized lessons with clear explanations. It's a comfortable start if you like to know why a sentence is put together the way it is.
Weak spot: speaking practice is lighter than with an audio course or a tutor, and the depth of the Egyptian course is smaller than its big-language courses.
ArabicPod101
ArabicPod101 is a large library of podcast-style audio and video lessons. Most of it is Modern Standard Arabic, and there's dialect material too, including Egyptian.
Good at: volume. If you enjoy learning by listening to hosts talk through a dialogue, there's a lot to work through.
Weak spot: the mix. Egyptian and Modern Standard lessons sit side by side, so you have to filter carefully or you'll end up blending the two. It's better as a supplement once you can tell them apart by ear.
italki and Preply tutors
These are marketplaces where you book one-on-one video lessons with a tutor. Plenty of the Arabic tutors on both are Egyptian, and you can filter for dialect.
Good at: the thing apps can't do. A tutor hears your mistakes, answers your questions and makes you hold a real conversation. Even one session a week speeds things up.
Weak spot: quality and structure vary from tutor to tutor, and you'll get more out of sessions if you arrive with some words already. It's also the option where the cost adds up fastest.
Bel Masri
Bel Masri teaches spoken Cairene Egyptian and nothing else. The A1 course is ten units and 83 lessons, with 454 words and 599 sentences, and every one of them has audio, voiced in Cairene Egyptian and checked by a speaker. Each word appears in a simple Latin spelling and in Arabic script side by side, so you can start speaking right away and pick up reading as you go.
The sentences are things you'd say in a normal week in Cairo. Asking a price: , "How much is the pen? Five pounds." Getting directions: , "Go straight on, then turn right." Turning down a second helping at someone's house: , "A bit more? No, thank you."
Good at: Egyptian from the first word, short daily lessons, and getting the two Cairo sounds right from the start, the glottal ق and the hard ج. The Egyptian q and g explains how we teach them.
Weak spot: it's new. Right now it covers A1, so you'll outgrow it and want a tutor or richer listening. It's on Android today, with iPhone next. It's free to try, and early users get a founding price.
Who should pick what
- You want to read signs and menus first: start Duolingo for the alphabet, then move to an Egyptian course for speaking.
- You learn best by ear, often while doing something else: Pimsleur's Egyptian course.
- You have a library card: see whether your library offers Mango and try its Egyptian course for free.
- You already know some Arabic and want lots of listening: ArabicPod101, picking out the Egyptian lessons.
- You want to talk to a real person every week: a tutor on italki or Preply.
- You want a daily course built around Egyptian, with audio on every sentence and Arabic script beside it: Bel Masri, on Android now.
Most people who stick with it end up combining two of these. An app for the daily habit and a tutor for conversation is a pairing that works for a lot of learners.
Common questions
Which app teaches Egyptian Arabic and not Modern Standard? Pimsleur and Mango Languages both have Egyptian Arabic courses, and Bel Masri teaches only Egyptian. Duolingo's Arabic course is Modern Standard. ArabicPod101 mixes Modern Standard lessons with dialect ones, Egyptian included.
Is Pimsleur good for Egyptian Arabic? It's good for speaking and pronunciation, because it's an audio course that makes you answer out loud. It teaches very little reading, so you'll want something else for the Arabic script.
Can I learn Egyptian Arabic for free? You can start. Bel Masri is free to try on Android, and many public libraries give members access to Mango Languages. A full course or regular tutor sessions will usually cost something.
Do I need a tutor to learn Egyptian Arabic? Not to start, but one helps a lot once you know a few hundred words. A tutor from Egypt on italki or Preply can correct your pronunciation and get you holding real conversations, which no app can fully do.