Five best resources for Arabic handwriting
In this day and age, handwriting is often seen as old-fashioned and even unnecessary for language learners.
However, neuroscientists disagree. A study by researchers at Aix-Marseille University showed that people (both adults and children) who learn to write letters by hand are better at recognising them than those that learned to type them on a computer.
Psychologists such as Edouard Gentaz, point to our “body memory” to explain why drawing letters by hand is so effective in improving recognition.
As Arabic teachers, we’ve consistently found that students who handwrite their homework on a weekly basis make the most progress.
This isn’t to say we are anti-technology. In fact, the growing popularity of tablets with pencils is encouraging many to favour handwriting in the digital world. A number of our students like to handwrite their homework on their iPad with an Apple pencil and ping it back to us for critique. This has proved to be very efficient.
Handwriting Arabic can be quite difficult at first. We’ve put together a list of handwriting resources (in no particular order) to help Arabic students — no matter what their level — improve their writing ability.
1. Arabic Handwriting by Safar
Whether you are a complete beginner when it comes to writing in Arabic or a seasoned writer, who wants to improve their handwriting skills, Arabic Handwriting by Safar is your best friend. Though this book is advertised for children, I regularly recommend it to my adult students. What’s so good about it? Through pages and pages of exercises, this book will hone your fine motor skills and teach you how to write all of the Arabic letters correctly and with ease.
2. A Brief Introduction to the Arabic Alphabet
Have you always wondered why the short vowels are not usually written in Arabic? Or how the Arabic letters developed? Then I suggest you have a look at A Brief Introduction to the Arabic Alphabet. This book takes you on a journey through the development of the Arabic script from pre-Islamic times through the different types of Arabic calligraphy all the way to Arabic writing today.
3. Arabic with Nichole’s Etsy Shop
You may already know Nichole from Instagram! She is just as passionate about teaching handwriting alongside reading as we are. Check out her Etsy shop for interactive reading and writing downloadable print-outs. Her Arabic Alphabet Mat is a wonderful idea; print it out, laminate it and trace over it with a whiteboard marker.
4. Mastering Arabic Script: A Guide to Handwriting
As you progress in your Arabic studies, you may well find yourself wanting to improve the speed and efficiency of your handwriting. With all its dots and loops, the standard Arabic script can be quite laborious to handwrite — in fact, most native Arabs don’t use the standard script at all! Instead, they write in a shorthand style called ruq’a. At Ihsan Arabic, we recommend that absolute beginners avoid ruq’a, but if you are getting more advanced and want to handwrite more quickly, this style may be exactly what you’re after. Jane Wightwick and Mahmoud Gaafar’s book on the topic provides a great starting point.
5. Write It! Arabic
We have only recently learnt about this amazing app from one of our Instagram followers. Having given Write It! Arabic a test run ourselves, we had to include it on this list. In essence, the app is very simple. It includes 25 lessons which cover all letters of the Arabic alphabet in their independent, beginning, middle and final forms. Our favourite feature of the app is the ability to trace over Arabic letters with your fingers making it easy to practice on your phone when you have a moment to spare.
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