LingQ for Arabic vs Fasaha: Which Reading App Fits?

Is LingQ good for Arabic, and how does it compare with Fasaha?

LingQ works for Arabic if you want one reading system for several languages or want to import your own material. Its Arabic page does not say which variety of Arabic it teaches and describes no root or pattern analysis. Fasaha is Arabic only: graded fusha texts from A0 to C2, and a tap that shows each word’s dictionary form, root and pattern.

What do LingQ and Fasaha have in common?

Both apps are built on input. You learn by reading and listening to large amounts of the language, marking what you do not know, and meeting it again. Both pair texts with audio, both let you save words, and both schedule review with spaced repetition.

If that method suits you, either can work. The difference is in how much of Arabic’s own difficulty each one takes off your hands, and in where the texts come from.

What does LingQ offer for Arabic?

LingQ is one account and one method for many languages. Its App Store listing, read on 10 October 2026, offers over 50 languages, with Arabic among them, and an interface in 17. Its Arabic page describes thousands of hours of Arabic audio lessons with matching transcripts, in categories from news to books and podcasts.

Its strongest tool is import. The listing says you can turn Netflix, YouTube, podcasts, books and articles into lessons, and the reader then highlights every word you know and every word you are learning. You tap a word for a definition, review with spaced repetition, and can study offline.

What its Arabic page does not say matters for this language. It does not state which Arabic the lessons are in, Modern Standard or a dialect. It does not mention roots, patterns or vowel marks. And it does not describe how Arabic lessons are graded.

What does Arabic ask of a reading app?

Three things that French or Spanish do not. Most printed Arabic leaves out the short vowels, so a word you know can look unfamiliar. Words are built on roots, and dictionaries are ordered by root, so finding a word means finding its root first. And particles and pronouns are written as part of the word: وَسَيَكْتُبُونَهَا is one written word for “and they will write it”.

A reading system built for many languages usually treats the written word as the unit and matches it to a definition. That works well where words stand alone. In Arabic, the same word turns up with a dozen different attachments, and an app that does not separate them treats each as new.

There is also the question of variety. Arabic is spoken in dialects and written in fusha. A learner who wants to read news, books or the Qurʼan needs fusha, and needs to know that the text in front of them is fusha.

Where LingQ is the better fit

Choose LingQ if you are learning Arabic alongside other languages and want one system for all of them, or if most of what you want to read is your own: a book you bought, a channel you follow, a podcast you already love. No Arabic-only app matches that freedom.

It also suits a learner who wants a dialect and has found material in it, since an importer does not mind which Arabic you bring. You will do the root work yourself, and you will need to judge the level of each text.

Where Fasaha is the better fit

Choose Fasaha if Arabic is your language and you want its structure handled for you. A tap on any word returns its dictionary form with the attachments separated, its root and pattern, related forms, audio and examples. In our own measurement on 214,689 words of real Arabic, a tap opened a dictionary entry for 96.03% of words, on 3 September 2026.

Its texts are graded from A0 to C2: 170 texts and 219 stories, all with word-aligned narration, and each can be shown with full, minimal or no vowel marks. Everything is fusha. The interface is available in 15 languages, with word meanings in 14.

It does not teach spoken dialects, and it does not import arbitrary material the way LingQ does. Outside its own library it reads Arabic Wikipedia and Arabic-captioned YouTube videos you add by link.

A ten-minute test to run in any reading app

Open the same kind of Arabic text in each app you are considering and try these six things. The answers tell you more than a feature list.

1. Tap a word with attachments: وَسَيَكْتُبُونَهَا — and they will write it
2. Ask for the root: — Tap any noun and look for its root and pattern.
3. Check the vowels: — Can you show and hide the short vowel marks on the same text?
4. Find out which Arabic it is: — Is the text Modern Standard Arabic or a dialect, and does the app tell you?
5. Play the audio: — Does the audio follow the text line by line or word by word?
6. Save a word and find it again: — Does the saved word keep the sentence it came from?

Is LingQ good for learning Arabic?

It can be, especially if you import your own material or study several languages. Bear in mind that its Arabic page does not say which variety of Arabic its lessons use and does not describe root or pattern analysis, so the structure of Arabic is left to you.

Does LingQ teach Modern Standard Arabic or a dialect?

Its Arabic page, read on 10 October 2026, does not say. What you read there depends on the lessons in its library and on what you import. Check the variety of each lesson before you start a course.

Is Fasaha a LingQ alternative for Arabic?

Yes, for learners focused on Arabic and on fusha in particular. It follows the same read, look up and review method, with graded texts and with roots and patterns built into every lookup.

Can I import my own texts into Fasaha?

No. Fasaha works with its own graded library, Arabic Wikipedia and Arabic-captioned YouTube videos you add by link, and it can translate a sentence you paste or scan. For importing books and articles as lessons, LingQ is the better tool.

Does either teach Egyptian or Levantine Arabic?

Fasaha teaches fusha only. LingQ’s coverage of a dialect depends on the lessons in its library and on what you import.

Are they free?

Both can be started free and both sell a paid plan. See each app’s store listing for current terms.

Sources

• LingQ, Learn Arabic online (lesson library, import, spaced repetition), read 10 October 2026
• LingQ on the App Store (over 50 languages; imports; tap for definitions; offline), read 10 October 2026
• Fasaha, “Should you look up every Arabic word?” (lookup coverage measured on 214,689 words, 3 September 2026)

About Fasaha

Fasaha is a reading-first Arabic app. Every word in a story, a podcast, a video or an article opens into its meaning, root, pattern and family, and can be saved for spaced review.

• Available on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Android.
• Interface languages: English, Arabic, Turkish, Russian, Uzbek, Spanish, French, German, Indonesian, Malay, Urdu, Italian, Portuguese, Bengali and Kazakh.
• Free to start; Premium opens the complete library and the stores handle billing.
• Library counted on 10 October 2026: 170 graded texts from A0 to C2 and 219 stories, with a dictionary of more than 27,000 entries.
• Teaches fusha, Modern Standard and Qurʼanic Arabic; it does not teach spoken dialects.

All posts

• Arabic graded readers for adults: what exists at each level, and how to pick yours: Adult learners of Arabic have few graded readers and no shared scale. What a levelled text controls, what exists in print and online, and one opening line from each of seven levels to find where you stand.
• Should you look up every Arabic word? What the research says: The usual advice is to guess from context and keep reading. In one study, guesses were fully right a quarter of the time. What the numbers mean for Arabic, and a two-pass routine that decides which words to look up.