I’m about where you are with my learning, numbers, letters, a few phrases. It will probably take a very long time to learn, since like english, there are many different ways to say the same things, and there are many different dialects to choose from.

If you’re willing to learn egyptian dialect only, it would be easier. Most movies are made in egypt, a lot of the music comes from there and most of the books/tapes are made for that dialect. If you want to learn Formal Arabic (like I do)…good luck. Although most Arabic speakers will know it, they will constantly revert to their dialect without meaning to. The person I’m learning Arabic for (for lack of a better way of putting it) is Iraqi, but my instructor is Lebanese. So I get on the phone with "Guess what I learned?!" and I hear "That’s not exactly right…"

If you can go to Berlitz for a month, I think you’d be done in a flash. LiveMocha (.com) is free but doesn’t currenlty have enough people wanting to learn Arabic to offer classes, although it will set you up with native Arabic speakers (maybe if enough people will join they’ll do lessons? Maybe some of you Arab speaker could offer to help design lessons?) Rosetta Stone is supposedly good, but I haven’t tried it.

If you’re Muslim, many mosques will offer instruction. I don’t know if they are open for non-Muslims. I currently attend a secular class, but it is just a beginner, and I will have to find someone to teach me after that.

You can try your local university. You may be able to find an Arabic speaker who will tutor you one-on-one. Students are generally poor, and if they’ve immigrated, they may welcome the chance to make friends with someone local. You could offer some $ and tours around the area as compensation for the lessons.

Good luck to you. Since we’re in similar situations, I’d love to know how things go with you and to share tips. Inshallah we will be both soon learn all we wish to know.

I bet only a couple of Months

so really i think it just depends on how badly you want to learn it. i have heard of a sister (mashaAllah, subhanAllah..) in new york who after only 3 years as a muslim was teaching quran to people who had been muslim their entire lives, she had such a quick love for the language and the deen that she literally learned it almost overnight from the amount of studying and repetition that she did, and she got it very quick, mashaAllah. so anyone can do it.. ive lived in an arab house for uh like.. 5 or almost 5 years now here with my inlaws and im still nowhere near "fluent" and i can also understand a whole lot more than i can speak, but im incredibly lazy at it until here recently. its sad to me that i realize its been 5 years now and i could probably be reading a lot more than i can , faster than i can, and speaking better than i can.. but with 3 little kids under 5 its not really that easy to sit and have study time good luck to u

As far as classes, I don’t have personal experience with Arabic classes (I’ve had spanish, french, and hebrew, but no arabic yet), but i would recommend courses that emphasize conversational skills so you really train your ear and your accent. If you can’t get out to an Arabic-speaking country after you’ve gotten proficient, work the internet! Buy some legit Arabic music, and I’m sure you can find newscasts/tv shows/etc. in Arabic on the internet to help train your ear. And talk to your profs, they’ll probably have the best advice.

Congrats, I’ve wanted to learn Arabic for a while, so I’m a bit jealous! It’s a beautiful language

if you are taking classes, then you will take a little longer, like a few semesters.