Arabic Lessons in Christchurch

New Zealand is a multicultural country, which can be demonstrated by the variation between its most-spoken languages: English, Mandarin and Arabic. The latter, Arabic, is the official language of more than 18 countries, including Lebanon, Egypt and Afghanistan, and over 420 million speakers, according to Babbel in 2019. Thus, learning Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) is an important skill for providing migrants, travellers and businesses a means of accessing this enormous population. But learning Arabic is useful if you stay at home, as well. More than 1,000 Arabic speakers live in Christchurch, so learning Modern Standard Arabic will broaden your horizons by enabling communication with this community, exposing you to new and exciting cultural, social and professional experiences in the city. Start your MSA language course with us at Language Trainers and open yourself up to new opportunities at home and abroad.

Why Study Arabic in Christchurch

For Work and Study: New Zealand and the Arab world share a deep economic connection. To take just one country as an example, New Zealand has long been exporting meat and dairy to Egypt, together with technology in the gas sector, including pumps and valves. So, if you are working in any of these fields, start learning Arabic to give your career a boost by taking on opportunities to aid communication between New Zealand businesses and their overseas customers! Also, you should not miss the annual Middle Eastern Trade Fair that comes to Christchurch every year. This event is attended by businesspeople and entrepreneurs of Arab origin, so impressing them with your new Arabic could help to build long-lasting and professionally beneficial relationships. Finally, if you are more interested in studying Arabic at university, you can enrol in a variety of courses at the University of Canterbury. For example, in the Arabic Language and Islamic Culture programme, you will learn about Arab traditions, arts and language, which you can make the most of by studying Arabic with us first at Language Trainers!

For Culture: You can also experience the Arab culture without ever leaving Christchurch. For example, if you are interested in learning more about Islam, you can visit the Al Noor Mosque located in the suburb of Riccarton. Built in 1984, the mosque was a target for the 2019 shootings; today, it has a memorial to ensure that those horrendous acts never occur again. Their tours and exhibitions are delivered in both English and Arabic, so make sure you get the key information from both languages by signing up for an MSA course as soon as possible! And to stay up-to-speed on the city’s Arab-related proceedings, you can follow the Arabs in New Zealand Facebook group. Its members focus mainly on Auckland and Christchurch, featuring news and relevant information to the Arab community. Of course, most of the articles they share are written in Arabic, so take advantage of this opportunity to improve your reading skills while keeping updated about the city’s events!

For Social & Tourism: Learning Arabic with a native-speaking instructor will help you to improve your skills in a very short time. However, you will also need to practise outside the classroom if you want to become fluent and speak with confidence. We recommend joining the Christchurch Polyglots and Language Learners Meetup, a group of people who get together every week to practise different languages. Many of them come from the Middle East or are learning the language, so don’t miss out on this chance to put your new skills into play in a friendly environment. And if you are learning Arabic to travel to amazing places like Saudi Arabia, Jordan or Lebanon, you’ll be happy to know there are many connecting flights that can take you from New Zealand to the MENA region when the world returns to normal.

Where to Learn Arabic in Christchurch

Our native-speaking tutors will guide you to fluency as quickly as possible, no matter how challenging Arabic can be to some. We focus on your convenience when designing your course, so our lessons are completely tailored to your needs and requirements. Just contact us and we will send one of our excellent teachers to your home, office, or public space around the city. Some options of where to study are the Portershed Specialty Cafe on Lincoln Road, C1 Espresso on High Street or the South Christchurch Library on Colombo Street. Just let us know and we will be there.

Are you interested in booking some Arabic lessons with us but live on the outskirts of the city? Don’t worry, our instructors can also deliver classes in areas like Rapaki, Lincoln, Lyttelton, Prebbleton and Merivale.

What are you waiting for? Let’s go, لنذهب (linadhhab)! In case you want to your current Arabic proficiency, take our free Arabic level test, so we can tailor our language course to suit your abilities and preferences.