I think it makes a difference if you want to learn a language like Russian, in which there is a great wealth of written material, or Arabic, where there is not.

I think it makes a difference if you want to learn a language like Russian, in which there is a great wealth of written material, or Arabic, where there is not. For Russian, you have to bite the bullet and learn the alphabet. However, for Arabic (and Persian) another alternative has grown up in the past year: Arabizi. Arabizi is the use of the Roman alphabet plus four numbers to transcribe Arabic. It grew out of the need to send SMS messages on mobile phones. It is read left to right, not right to left. Moreover, everyone can read it. This means that if you need to write a street address, you can write it in Arabizi and a cab driver can read it. You can memorize vocabulary as you work on your spoken fluency in the language. A friend of mine told me that Greek kids are using the Roman alphabet to send SMS's as well. Eventually, you can work on the traditional alphabet, but for the beginner seeking to learn Arabic, Arabizi is the way to go.