Learning Korean when your first language is Arabic

Some of it will feel familiar, some of it is new. Here is which is which, and how we teach it — with explanations in Arabic.

What Arabic already gives you

Endings that show a word's job

Arabic case endings tell you which word is the subject and which is the object. Korean does the same job with small particles after the word — 는 for the topic, 을/를 for the object.

Arabic: أقرأُ الكتابَ · Korean: 나는 책을 읽어요 (나 (I) + 는 · 책 (book) + 을 · 읽어요 (read))

Speaking politely changes the verb

Arabic speakers already switch register — حضرتك or إنت, فصحى or عامية. Korean builds politeness into the verb ending, so the idea is familiar even though the form is new.

Arabic: إزيّك؟ / إزيّ حضرتك؟ · Korean: 안녕? / 안녕하세요? (casual / polite)

What will be new

• The verb comes last. Korean sentences end with the verb: 나는 책을 읽어요 is literally "I the-book read".
• Adjectives come before the noun: 빨간 책 (red book), where Arabic says كتاب أحمر.
• Hangul is read left to right, in syllable blocks. It has 24 basic letters and is quick to learn — we teach it in four classes.
• Some sounds need practice: Arabic has no P, so ㅂ and ㅍ are easy to mix up, and Korean has three kinds of each stop (ㄱ ㅋ ㄲ).

The path at Klovers

• Hangul Foundation — 4 classes · read and write from zero
• Levels 1 to 6 — 24 classes per level, about 6 months each
• One class a week — 60 minutes, live, in a small group or privately

Your teacher is Reham Elshrkawy, an Al-Alsun Korean language and literature graduate who has taught Korean for 13 years. She explains in Arabic or English and compares Korean with Arabic wherever that makes a point clearer. In Egypt: Vodafone Cash or InstaPay with a receipt upload (activated after a manual check), or card payment through Stripe (activated automatically). Outside Egypt: card payment through Stripe, activated automatically.

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