Abstract: Over the recent decade the process of teaching pronunciation and development of writing ability among the Russian students studying Arab language in the People’s University of Friendship of Russia, met certain difficulties. The initial stages of studying were marked by major mistakes in pronunciation, intoning and spelling of Arab words. The authors see it as a result of influence of the system of native (or actively used in everyday life) Russian language upon the system of the studied Arab language on the background of weak capacity of the students to phonetic analysis. Using the method of observation, the authors collected the typical pronouncing and spelling mistakes of the students-Arabists at this stage of learning. Further classification, generalization and analysis of these mistakes allowed determining the source of the problems. The conclusion is made that the consideration of allomorphic characteristics of phonetic systems of the Russian and Arab languages, which lead to linguistic interference, would help the pedagogues to forecast and reduce the amount of spelling mistakes among the students-Arabists at the beginning stage of learning. The problem addressed in the article is of great practical interest and would be helpful for the faculty members of higher education.