Arabic pronunciation includes a handful of sounds with no equivalent in English — these, not the alphabet itself, are usually the real learning curve, and they respond well to focused listening practice rather than reading alone.
Arabic has pairs of consonants that sound similar to English ears at first but are actually distinct: a plain sound and an "emphatic" (pharyngealized) version pronounced with the back of the tongue pulled toward the throat. ص vs س, ط vs ت, and ض vs د are the classic pairs — mixing them up can change a word's meaning entirely, so they're worth deliberate ear-training early on.
ع (ayin) and ح (ha) are both produced deep in the throat and have no real English equivalent — ح is a voiceless pharyngeal sound distinct from the ordinary ه (which is closer to English "h"), while ع is a voiced pharyngeal sound many learners initially mistake for a glottal stop. Both become natural with repeated listening and imitation rather than description alone.
A small mark called shadda (ّ) placed over a letter means that consonant is pronounced doubled — held longer than a single consonant. This isn't just spelling; it's a real, audible length distinction that can change a word's meaning, similar to how "unfamiliar" vs a made-up "un-nnfamiliar" would sound clearly different if English worked the same way.
Sounds like ع and ح are produced in a part of the throat English simply doesn't use for consonants, so there's no existing muscle memory to build on. This is normal — focused listening and repetition closes the gap faster than trying to reason your way to the right sound.
It's a consonant pronounced with the back of the tongue pulled back toward the throat, giving it a deeper, heavier quality than its plain counterpart (e.g. ص vs س). Several word pairs in Arabic are distinguished only by this feature.
It changes meaning. Shadda marks a genuinely doubled (held longer) consonant sound, and that length is a real phonetic distinction in Arabic, not a cosmetic spelling mark.
Every letter and vocabulary word in Tarc's Arabic course includes audio, so pronunciation is learned by listening and repeating rather than from written description alone.
See also: Arabic Alphabet · Arabic Listening & Speaking · Learn Arabic