We started Arabius after living in Saudi for years and trying many ways to learn local dialect Arabic that didn’t work. We struggled through apps, books, online courses, YouTube channels, language centers, conversation partners, podcasts, and private tutors. Each attempt ended with a disappointing lack of results, but the desire to learn Arabic kept increasing the longer we stayed in KSA. We loved living in the Kingdom — sitting with friends at an istaraha, having a keshta in the desert, exploring the country — but without the ability to interact in Saudi Arabic, we felt like we were missing out on the full Saudi experience.

To solve this problem for ourselves and the many expatriates in KSA who feel the same, we launched Arabius in 2020 with a mission to help people learn Arabic, engage culture, and enjoy Saudi. With Joel’s background in finance and startups, Tim’s experience with tech development and project management, and Matthew’s career in linguistics education, we developed our proprietary ICE Methodology to leverage the natural learning process and help anyone learn Arabic from native speakers in an immersive, experiential setting.