Book Description
The beauty and richness of the history and cultures of the Middle East are matters of increasing interest to the English-speaking world. As nations make their way into this new century, there must be dialogue and understanding--and language is the doorway into that new understanding.
This revised and updated second edition of Al-Kitaab contains new video and audio material on three DVDs, along with revised and updated texts and exercises. Following naturally on the introductory text, Alif Baa, for the Al-Kitaab Arabic language program, this initial Part One text further develops skills in standard Arabic while providing additional material in colloquial as well as classical Arabic.
The audio vocabulary portion of the DVDs allow learners to hear a new word followed by a sentence using it in context along with previously acquired vocabulary and grammatical structures, enabling students to build new vocabulary skills while reviewing previously exercised material. The video portion offers the option of seeing and hearing the video of each lesson in both Modern Standard Arabic and Egyptian Colloquial Arabic. The DVDs also contain substantial material exposing the learner to Egyptian Arabic (the most widely used and understood Arabic dialect), a short dialogue in Egyptian Colloquial Arabic appears at the end of each lesson. New video materials also feature subtitled interviews with Egyptians about various aspects of Arab culture, such as gender issues, fasting in the Muslim and Christian traditions, social clubs and their significance, and more.
Customer Reviews:
Better than ever.......2007-08-23
Having been a teacher of Arabic in European universities for over thirty years, I can assure you that Al-kitaab maybe not perfect, but is the best textbook ever. It is a great relief that we can offer the students a serious book now, instead of the rubbish we had to use previously.
I am sure many of the negative reviews here express the tough experience of learning a tough language rather than doing justice to the book. Yes, Spanish is easier, and some textbooks of Spanish are better too, since many people worked on them for a long time. Remember: Al-kitaab is the FIRST acceptable book that ever appeared, so better be grateful.
helped me teach myself.......2007-08-23
I have been trying to learn Arabic for years and this book has truly helped me. This book is great to teach yourself with, the only thing is you have to be motivated (which I think is true, regardless of what book you buy). It does not teach you touristy Arabic, but actual real standard Arabic (and a little of colloquial Egyptian). It gives you a great deal of vocabulary, and the DVD tells you how to pronounce everything... in a way it is like taking a class because the DVD gives a story in Arabic. If you are teaching yourself, I recommend you buy the answer key with this. The only downside is that the answer key does not have answers to all of the problem sets. So, what I did is skipped the problem sets that don't have answers (but if you know someone who can tell you what is right or wrong, then you can do them all). If you finish this book, you can hold an actual intellectual conversation with others in Arabic.
Still awful - even with pretty new actors.......2007-08-13
The only reason these books sell is that for years, there was no other real option. My Arabic teacher made the best he could of this book in our course (and he had to try valiantly), and as a tutorial the book is a failure. What is so wrong?
1. Terribly sophisticated vocab is introduced too early; you learn how to say "United Nations" before "chair." This might be forgiveable if they would only use that vocab once and tell you what it was... but no, you will need to remember these obscure words randomly later on in exercises five chapters later. Good textbooks / teachers / classes / education of any kind use repetition and a gradual increase in difficulty. This book does the opposite. Unforgiveable.
2. Example texts are far too difficult. It is completely brain-numbing and demoralizing to look through an example that has dozens of times the text you need - filled with vocabulary you've never seen. Often, they give you an entire page of text and ask you to find the 4% of it - in a script you are still getting used to - that is relevant to the current lesson. This unforgiveable mistake wastes incredible amounts of time.
3. Examples are given without translation, completely undermining the utility of the examples. Einstein once said "Example is not a good way to teach; it is the only way to teach." A book that makes examples difficult by using new concepts and obscure vocabulary - and incomprehensible by then not translating - is an embarassment. Translations are missing everywhere they should be - in complete sentences, in verb charts, and even in English explanations of grammar.
4. The book has uses an Arabic linguist fetishist approach to introducing grammar, always using the Arabic word for tenses and concepts. I'm sorry, but when English-speaking students are struggling just to get concepts like the jussive, it only makes it harder if we have to learn the Arabic word for "jussive." OK, it isn't so bad to memorize the Arabic words for "masculine," "feminine," and "dual." But "Jussive," "verbal sentence," "nominal sentence," "case endings," "subjuntive," and "verb form?" Come on, we're still stuck on United Nations which you introduced in the first chapter.
5. OK so this isn't a flaw, but just a good practice this book skips. There are lots of things that sound very similar in Arabic, such as the words for "fourth," "Arabic," and "spring." There should be special spelling / listening sections that allow for special practice of these words.
6. One of the most basic concepts when writing a textbook of any kind (math, language, social sciences) is to introduce simple material and examples early, and then build upon them later on. This book does the opposite. In examples and exercises, it uses grammar you don't learn about until 100 pages later. All the worse, they don't translate anything for you so you don't even realize what is going on. When writing or editing a textbook, it is the job of the authors to make sure that advanced concepts are not included until after they have been explained. A good math textbook doesn't include division in examples that are meant to teach addition. This book does far worse, and it is not a difference of "teaching philosophy," it is just plain sloppy and lazy editing.
7. It might seem that the integration of audio, video, and visual image material is a strength of this series. It isn't. These materials seem to have been thrown in there with no regard for the grammar and vocabulary that they contain compared to the grammar and vocabulary the students have been taught. Again lax quality control about what goes in there is to blame.
It's HORRIBLE for students who aren't good at languages........2007-08-05
First of all, if you're planning on teaching yourself, then LEAVE this page right now, because you CANNOT do it with this book. In my experience, when professors/teachers begin teaching, many complain about the way the Al-Kitaab books present the Arabic language (and sympathize when students whine the morning after homework). They have serious organizational issues. The most frustrating flaw of this book is that there is NO grammar glossary. Grammar (extremely tedious in Arabic) is spread throughout each chapter, so it's impossible to review unless you literally flip through every page to find what you're looking for. I often have each finger of one hand holding the page where a related grammar concept is hidden. This makes studying for tests very difficult. I recommend carrying 10 bookmarks. At my university in California, native-speaking professors are not allowed to teach classes in which the Al-Kitaab series is used unless they've received special training to get aquatinted with it. I've heard this is a requirement at some other schools as well. Some of this review is taken from my review of book 2, but that one has some issues all its own. It's essentially an excellent try, but STUDENTS NEED TO BE CONSULTED!!! I'm only rating it one star to off-set the 5 star reviews, it probably deserves a 2.5
Good, but not great.......2007-06-12
As a student entering second year with the al-kitaab series, i can truthfully say that you MUST have alif baa completed before even attempting this book. Yes it does have a lot of flaws, namely expressing complex grammatical concepts in script, but if one has a teacher willing to push hard, i.e. alif baa in two weeks then a chapter a week for the rest of the (university) year (if you have a life and see that a professor's only teaching experience was the Defense Lang. Institute RUN!!). Unlike some of the other books, it enters with an expectation of knowledge of the Alphabet, unlike some other books that try to teach it with vocab and grammar. As far as the colloquial goes AVOID IT. I spent a year in Iraq and what I learned actually put me at a disadvantage because I had to unlearn, then learn some words, letters and especially grammar (i.e. il vs al). Just remember that when you buy a dictionary also buy a grammar book as both will help immensely.
Customer Reviews:
Al-kitaab al-Thaanii.......2007-10-06
While the al-Kitaab series is not without its flaws--among which must be counted an overemphasis, in this reader's opinion, on the Egyptian dialect of Arabic--it remains the best of the several offerings available. And this second volume is notable for correcting what was perhaps the most lamentable weakness of the first volume; namely, a lack of attention to the acquisition of vocabulary, which must necessarily underwrite advanced language learning (particularly in the context of Arabic, whose grammar is not especially difficult). Still and all, an attractive and eminently useful course, made the more so by the inclusion of well-designed DVDs to aid in oral comprehension. Recommended, with only very minimal reservations.
An excellent presentation of an intoxicating language.......2007-09-29
This this an excellent learning tool. I finished the book one with a tutor. I am trying to study the part two on my own. I have to say this is not a self study book. You are required to make presentations, write essays etc. You need somebody to correct them. But still there are a lot of stuff you can learn from part two without a tutor. The grammar is excellent. Almost intoxicating. It draws you in, keeps you captive, makes you wonder " what a magical language". I speak 6 languages, haven't seen something like this. I stay up sometime until two AM doing these exercises. Unfortunately there are not many institutions teaching arabic and this book. At least not in my area.
In this book, the story of the beautiful Maha and her gorgeous cousin Khaled is moved to 3amiyyah. I study hard for each chapter and my bonus at the end is seeing this soap opera.
Each chapter has Listening exercises. They are offered with different degree of difficulty. First one or two is easily understandable for my level. But usually there is one exercise in each chapter that is from real life Arabic television or order programming. You are not expected to understand all of it. I wish there were scrips of these parts available somewhere as well.
I have written to the authors of the book asking them for these scripts. So far I have not received any response yet.
Arabic is probably the most beautiful and magical language and this book truly displays these features. If you are not ready to surrender to it, don't bother.
*Notoriously* terrible, but admirable........2007-08-05
At my university in California, native-speaking professors are not allowed to teach classes in which the Al-Kitaab series is used unless they've received special training to get aquatinted with it. I've heard this is a requirement at some other schools as well. When they begin teaching, many complain about the way these books present the Arabic language (and sympathize when students whine the morning after homework). The most frustrating flaw of this book is that there is NO grammar glossary. Grammar (extremely tedious in Arabic) is spread throughout each chapter, so it's impossible to review unless you literally flip through every page to find what you're looking for. I often have each finger of one hand holding the page where a related grammar concept is hidden. This makes studying for tests very difficult. I recommend carrying 10 bookmarks.
Be warned that the vocabulary lists in each chapter Al-Kitaab pt. 2 (this book) are about 4-5 times larger than in book one. Some chapters have 60 words to memorize. This volume also changes the order that it presents conjugation charts. Why does this matter? Well, when you've been memorizing a year's-worth of verb forms in a specific form order (in Al-Kitaab pt. 1), to suddenly shuffle that chart order around while introducing more and more forms...doesn't help at ALL!
Lastly, dialogs are key to learning any language, and this book ignores them completely. Instead, you've given mundane texts to translate, which doesn't effectively teach anything because it just makes you go back to the chapter glossary to look words up. The reason people learn languages better in foreign countries is because of the language is in context. This book does not present anything in context. One positive is that the vocabulary lists are at least usable (with the exception of the word "aesthetic" in chapter 4). These books have potential and try to be helpful ( I've met two of the authors, who are both very nice), but lack very fundamental student aids. I recommend searching Amazon for a more user-friendly book, and if you're not buying this for a class, it would be smart to switch to colloquial Arabic now that you know some basic Modern Standard Arabic (MSA/Foosha). Peace.
ps: The only Maha and Khalid you see in this book are in the colloquial section of the DVDs, which the text doesn't go into, so most students won't even know they're there. You can also say goodbye to the English-Arabic dictionary in the back.
Wonderful and challenging.......2006-08-10
Just as with the first volume, comprehensive completion of the exercises and time (quality time!) spent with the DVD will slather layers of Arabic on your brain like so much hummus.
Concerning the first book, many leveled complaints of incompleteness, obscurity and the like. I think many of these people were not prepared to actually acquire a language, which is the goal of this work (unlike, say, most secondary and post-secondary American curricula). It is not about interpersonal, daily communication. This is not for the busy or casual, this is an information bomb in every chapter.
Though there may be a lack of simple conversation, this can be explained in that standard Arabic is rarely used for conversation of that kind and is best left to dialect courses or phrasebooks. Not to mention that every chapter contains a gentle, progressive introduction to Egyptian colloquial Arabic at the end. In any case, I find criticisms of a grammar of literary Arabic complaining that it is too "literary" to be utterly bizarre.
It *is* deceptively simple, because the detail is spread out through vocab, grammar, reading and listening. Therefore, there aren't countless grammar points, which can make it seem less dense than it is. But the sheer volume of text and exercise is commendable and formidible. A few minor snafus here and there will be worked out over the editions and are absolutely understandable...
It is my feeling that this represents a monumental contribution to Arabic studies and that it will be a universal standard text in no time, if it isn't already. Don't let reviews of the earlier editions throw you off. If you are serious and have the time, this is the best bang for your buck.
Customer Reviews:
Not for self study.......2007-06-19
Perhaps if you are studying with a teacher this book would merit another star. However, it does not help much with learning vocabulary. I also agree with a previous reviewer that the Michigan text, although dated, offers clearer explanations of the grammar and with its accompanying tapes is much more helpful for self-study.
"Constructivist" methodology wastes students' time.......2007-03-30
Much research has recently shown why "constructivist" methodology is inefficient, and this book provides ample empirical evidence. Students are expected to guess the meaning of words, and to help them out, much vocabulary has neither definitions in the text nor in the glossary. The learner can spend endless hours looking up the words rather than learning Arabic. It is certainly not reassuring to just guess the words, the learner ought to have clear definitions. Since so much vocabulary is left up in the air, the book requires a teacher working extra hard, since students cannot do work alone. By the way, amazon is selling a key for exercises, but this is unacceptable. One spends a lot of money on this book and must then buy another book to learn from it. Also, the book assumes the student can figure out fast enough unvoweled Arabic and gives copious texts. Students require hours and hours of tedious reading that ultimately has little to do with live language. Great way to drop out of Arabic!
The revised version has DVDs with visuals aside from readings. But this is no help at all. Watching people recite Arabic in middle-age clothing does not help decipher the missing vocabulary.
Anyone teaching themselves should pick one of the many books available. And Arabic teachers should look at other series. For 20 years, the standard textbook was Michigan Modern Standard Arabic, 3 volumes with tapes. The texts are dated, but the book works very well.
Not as much help as I had hoped..........2005-08-10
I was under the impression that this would be an answer key for more drills than just the listening drills. All that it does is fill in the blanks of the single listening drill per chapter of the second Al-Kitaab fi' Ta'allum al-'Arabiya book. This is only minimally helpful.
Ideally I would have wanted an answer key to the rest of the drills, so that I could make sure that the hours I spend doing drills isn't in vain. (I currently spend hours doing the drills incorrectly).
Great readings but not for self-study.......2002-04-28
The second part of the Al Kitaab series puts an emphasis on the development of reading skills and concentrates on more complex grammatical structures and vocabulary, the type that students are likely to encounter in authentic texts (mainly for academic purposes).
As a whole, this book is a lot more "academic" than the first part and this is probably why there seems to be such a wide gap between the two books. Al Kitaab One is about "learning Arabic and having fun doing it" and Al Kitaab Two seems to leave out the "having fun" part.
Those hoping that Al Kitaab Two will address topics in everyday life communication which were not found in Part One will be disappointed. Part Two teaches you the vocabulary you need to read about the first newspapers in the Arab world but it won't teach you how to say "Could you pass me the bread please".
I believe that one reason for this is the setting for which the Al Kitaab series was initially developed: the Middlebury Summer Immersion Arabic program. Now, in an immersion program this would be the perfect book. It gives you the necessary materials for work in class and skipps over some aspects of everyday communication assuming that you will be exposed to them anyway outside the classroom.
Unfortunately, if you are a student in normal academic setting or someone struggling to learn Arabic on their own, this book needs a lot of supplementary materials and, most of all, a very good teacher/consultant to make up for the defficiencies.
You should also be aware that the audio and video tapes that go with the book make it twice as useful. Good luck finding them :)
Big jump.......2001-10-13
While this book is helpful and one of the most commonly used textbooks for learning Arabic, there is a big gap between it and the first book. The texts are very dense and the grammatical explanations are not that detailed. Also the vocabulary is very strange and leaves a lot to be desired in the everyday sense. I do think that the contextual way of learning vocabulary is very good and the texts are interesting. Probably not a good book for someone who is trying to learn Arabic on their own, but good for someone who has a good base of knowledge and wants to work on their reading skills.
Customer Reviews:
Not the best.......2006-11-10
The book series is not my best bet for a person to learn arabic.The best book on the planet is MASTERNING ARABIC by jane wightwick it is superb combined with the audio tapes .The masterning arabic is superior in content and allows the person to see how words fall into place.Please try this book .The best way to learn arabic is to realise that it is different and varied in the way the words are formed this book shows that to the person who want to learn arabic so good luck
Don't buy!.......2005-02-17
I am currently taking arabic at my university and we are using this textbook. I find it impossible to use. I am also taking French and the textbook we use is so much better organized. This book orders the information, especially the vocabulary, contextually, which is good in some ways, but overall it leaves me stumped and confused at each exercise. Each problem set takes hours to decifer and the dictionary in the back is not easy to use nor extensive. Pass on this and find another way to learn Arabic.
Hard, but rewarding.......2004-03-03
I can't really add too much to what the more articulate reviewers have already said. I'm really writing this to counter the negative reviews.
I've been using this book for about a month, in a second-semester class (Alif-Baa was used in the first). It's true that it asks you to make leaps of faith, in that you're sometimes given only parts of a verb ('she lives', 'I study'), or apparently inappropriately advanced vocabulary ('My father is a translator for the United Nations' in lesson 1?). On the other hand, it does seem to mimic how we learn our native languages: we learn piecemeal, rather than by memorizing conjugation tables, and we often learn by guessing the meaning, using the word, and re-evaluating based on the listeners' reactions. Also, we learn in several ways, all at once: reading, speaking, listening, watching.
I have studied and achieved various levels of fluency in several languages over the last 30 years, ranging over Indo-European from Irish to Spanish to Russian, with a few others in between. I think you have to accept that, as exotic as any of these languages may seem to an English speaker, you'll have to open your mind to other ways of expressing yourself once you leave that (Indo-European) family.
For a beginner like me, learning Arabic seems like a very long journey. Everyone decides for themselves whether it's worth the time and effort. I think this book goes some way towards making the journey interesting and stimulating.
Student of Arabic.......2004-01-21
I feel sorry for those reviewers who had nothing good to say about this textbook. I think that their frustration comes not so much from this textbook as it does from the fact that Arabic IS HARD!! I have studied over 10 languages and Arabic is by far the hardest. This book is not perfect; I doubt any textbook could be, but it does what most Arabic textbooks do not--it tackles the language from many aspects: written, spoken, audio, reading, etc. AND gives you a lot of vocabulary to learn. While this can be frustrating at times it is absolutely essential to learning Arabic--it is a vocabulary rich language. As far as the Isalmic slant to some of exercises, what do you expect. Arabic and Islam are inseperable. Even everyday phrases reflect this. A lot of the complaints I read about this book seem to stem from the fact that a lot of students didn't buy the series but instead tried to start with part 1 (without Aleph Baa--the book for learning the alphabet) or part 2 without part 1 etc. These books build upon each other as language learning should. You can't expect to understand what is going on in part 2 without learning what was taught in part 1. This seems logical to me. If you want to learn Arabic get ready for a long haul and buy this book. Buy others as well but for sure buy this book. If you are trying to learn Arabic without the benefit of classroom study buy this book and get ready to be frustrated. Arabic is hard, but so worth the effort.
Customer Reviews:
This is the 1st edition.......2007-08-26
There's enough said about this book, I just think people should realize that this is the 1st edition and they may have a hard time tracking down the audio that goes with it
Everyone knows it's awful - but there's no other choice.......2007-08-07
The only reason these books sell is that for years, there was no other real option. My Arabic teacher made the best he could of this book in our course (and he had to try valiantly), and as a tutorial the book is a failure. What is so wrong?
1. Terribly sophisticated vocab is introduced too early; you learn how to say "United Nations" before "chair." This might be forgiveable if they would only use that vocab once and tell you what it was... but no, you will need to remember these obscure words randomly later on in exercises five chapters later. Good textbooks / teachers / classes / education of any kind use repetition and a gradual increase in difficulty. This book does the opposite. Unforgiveable.
2. Example texts are far too difficult. It is completely brain-numbing and demoralizing to look through an example that has dozens of times the text you need - filled with vocabulary you've never seen. Often, they give you an entire page of text and ask you to find the 4% of it - in a script you are still getting used to - that is relevant to the current lesson. This unforgiveable mistake wastes incredible amounts of time.
3. Examples are given without translation, completely undermining the utility of the examples. Einstein once said "Example is not a good way to teach; it is the only way to teach." A book that makes examples difficult by using new concepts and obscure vocabulary - and incomprehensible by then not translating - is an embarassment. Translations are missing everywhere they should be - in complete sentences, in verb charts, and even in English explanations of grammar.
4. The book has uses an Arabic linguist fetishist approach to introducing grammar, always using the Arabic word for tenses and concepts. I'm sorry, but when English-speaking students are struggling just to get concepts like the jussive, it only makes it harder if we have to learn the Arabic word for "jussive." OK, it isn't so bad to memorize the Arabic words for "masculine," "feminine," and "dual." But "Jussive," "verbal sentence," "nominal sentence," "case endings," "subjuntive," and "verb form?" Come on, we're still stuck on United Nations which you introduced in the first chapter.
5. OK so this isn't a flaw, but just a good practice this book skips. There are lots of things that sound very similar in Arabic, such as the words for "fourth," "Arabic," and "spring." There should be special spelling / listening sections that allow for special practice of these words.
6. One of the most basic concepts when writing a textbook of any kind (math, language, social sciences) is to introduce simple material and examples early, and then build upon them later on. This book does the opposite. In examples and exercises, it uses grammar you don't learn about until 100 pages later. All the worse, they don't translate anything for you so you don't even realize what is going on. When writing or editing a textbook, it is the job of the authors to make sure that advanced concepts are not included until after they have been explained. A good math textbook doesn't include division in examples that are meant to teach addition. This book does far worse, and it is not a difference of "teaching philosophy," it is just plain sloppy and lazy editing.
7. It might seem that the integration of audio, video, and visual image material is a strength of this series. It isn't. These materials seem to have been thrown in there with no regard for the grammar and vocabulary that they contain compared to the grammar and vocabulary the students have been taught. Again lax quality control about what goes in there is to blame.
A horrible experience.......2006-04-29
Looking through the many reviews of this book/series, it's clear that people either love it or hate it; very few see it as "so-so".
I'm in the "hate it" group. I used it for first-semester university Arabic, studied a great deal outside of class, got an A-plus for the first-semester course, and still didn't go on for the second semester despite having wanted to learn Arabic for years. Using this book, with its inane and kindergarten-esque exercises like "see if you can guess what ... means" and "count the instances of .... in this reading selection" was simply too frustrating to even contemplate suffering through another semester. The feelings of my classmates generally seemed to mirror my own, based on the complaints expressed both in and out of class; people dropped out like flies during the course of the semester. (The university went back to the old University of Michigan series the next year, and has reportedly vowed "never again" re Al-Kitaab.)
Arabic is a very difficult, if fascinating, language, and given its cultural and geopolitical importance, it cries out for a good set of initial learning materials. This series (except for the initial book that teaches the sounds and alphabet) isn't it.
Absolutely Brilliant.......2005-10-22
The book will teach brillant Arabic as long as you are not foolish enough to attempt the study of this language on your own. You should have either a native Arabic speaker (or a professor with a strong Arabic background) teaching you. First off, this is because a language is a means of communication and as such must be taught via communication. Secondly, it will insure you practice Arabic in a conversational manner in which you are constantly thinking about how to formulate sentences and ideas, not by just parroting a DVD. Also, the book is wonderful in the sense that it does not translate. You are not meant to speak Arabic while thinking in English (or any other language). Formulating your thoughts, ideas, words, and sentences in English first is a mark of a poor language-learner. You should switch to thinking in Arabic. You don't need to know the English words/transliteration for "taa marbutaa" or "shadda" "al-quamariyya/al-shamsiyya" because you can read and pronounce the Arabic. Thus, you must take the words in Arabic because they explain Arabic concepts in an Arabic style of thinking. What this book does, in conjunction with good teaching (if you are honestly serious about learning Arabic, by the way, you will go to a university where you can get the professors who wrote "al-kitaab" as your professors, as they will be the best teachers), is eliminates using English as a bridge into Arabic. You must jump the gap from English to Arabic yourself. Should you fall, either pull yourself out, or go find that easier path(which guarantees that while you may learn to speak and understand Arabic, you will never be more than a foreigner in Arab culture), or switch languages. Preferably to an ancient language, which deal only in translation and English equivalents.(Plus, it's enjoyable literature. I recommend Catullus and Ovid, personally).
Poor Quality.......2005-07-26
This book is poorly written for those learning Arabic. The introduction of vocabulary is extremely sloppy, the drills need considerable improvement and some need to be eliminated because the difficulty level is too high, grammatical explanations are weak, later grammatical things are put into earlier chapters without explanation, and grammatical things are explained out of order. This book can only be used with heavy supplemental instruction and material from an instructor. I cannot express what a huge disappointment this book is. I will say that the authors' first book Alif Baa, which introduces the Arabic alphabet, is very useful. I would suggest going through Alif Baa, then going into Standard Arabic: An elementary-intermediate course by Schulz, Krahl and Reuschel. That book has very thorough grammatical explanations,good drills and can serve as a good reference grammar. A separate two-tape set can be purchased for it.
Book Description
The beauty of the Arabic language, both spoken and written--and the richness of the Arabic-speaking world, its history and culture--has recently become of increasing importance and a matter of revelation for the English-speaking world. It is essential as this new century unfolds, that understanding develops between nations--and language is the magic key.
The Al-Kitaab Arabic language program is among the English-speaking world's most widely used Arabic language learning texts. Alif Baa with DVDs: Introduction to Arabic Letters and Sounds is the first part of the Al-Kitaab program. This revised, second edition contains updated readings, new and revised exercises, and completely new audio/video materials on two DVDs bound into each volume.
In teaching the sounds and letters of Arabic, Alif Baa provides a variety of exercises aimed at developing the crucial nascent skills of reading, listening, writing, speaking, and cultural understanding. In conjunction with learning how to read and write the alphabet, Alif Baa introduces about 150 basic vocabulary words, including conventional forms of politeness and social greetings.
Standard Arabic vocabulary is distributed throughout the book, enhanced by the visual and audio materials on the DVDs and implemented in practical exercises. It introduces a range of Arabic from colloquial to standard in authentic contexts, including social greetings in dialogues that take place in an Egyptian context, the most widely-used and understood Arabic dialect.
Finally, Alif Baa includes capsules on Arab culture as well as an English-Arabic glossary. Alif Baa provides the essential first twenty contact hours of instruction that are the foundation for the rest of the Al-Kitaab language program.
Customer Reviews:
excellent.......2007-09-26
I love the book, and the DVDs are incredibly helpful. An excellent buy for anyone who wants to learn Arabic.
~*~*Totally Awesome!!*~*~.......2007-09-24
The book I purchased was brand new so of course it was in perfect condition. The book also contained DVDs as part of the lesson. I would recommend this to anyone wanting to learn Arabic because it provides you with listening material for you to practice with and perfect your pronunciation.
Great starting point for students of Arabic.......2007-09-17
Alif Baa text and DVDs provide excellent written, visual and audio descriptions of all the letters, many of which are indistinguishable to the native English speaker. Limited vocabulary and dialogues are included to keep the focus on learning the letters as spoken and as written.
Excellent Introduction to the Alphabet. .......2007-09-13
To is by far the best package for learning the arabic script/alphabet. If you can only afford one thing, I would definitely buy this. You may find other books more helpful but the addition of the DVD makes this indispensable.
There are a few reasons why this book is superior to other Arabic books that attempt to teach the script. However there is one that stands out in my mind.
The teaching of arabic letters as unique sounds apart from the English alphabet and the exact position of the tongue in the mouth, throat constriction, level of aspiration, and great tips for practicing foreign sounds and exercises.
When speaking a language, I pride myself on the accurate pronunciation of it. Once past the conversation level, pronunciation of the language is my priority and I believe that Alif Baa does an excellent, superb job of this. Especially clearing up the tricky difference between Thaa and Dhaa. I knew of the difference, but could not separate it in speech. Now I do it with much greater accuracy.
I recommend this book whole heartedly.
Addendum: I was reading the reviews and someone said it assumed that you had a teacher. This is true and not true at the same time. MAKE SURE YOU BUY THE ANSWER KEY, WHICH IS ONLY $5 EVEN BEFORE YOU BUY THIS BOOK. When you buy this answer key, this becomes the best way to teaching yourself Arabic script.
Did it for me! ... From "romanization" to actual Arabic!.......2007-07-30
This work provided the structure in a comfortable format for me to make the difficult transition from Arabic, phonetically approximated in English letters, to sounding and writing actual Arabic. There are more concise statements of the rules, but this is an actual "work-book" with space to fill in exercises as you progress. Brustad sets a good pace - ten lessons each taking about 2 hours apiece to complete. Sprinkled throughout are elements of Arabic culture ~ and as a bonus you will learn 100+ real words in Arabic as you master the letters and sounds. The DVD's are helpful as you watch the physical act of forming the letters in script and training your speech muscles to make the 9 or 10 sounds Arabic uses that English does not. I did lessons 1-5 without the Answer Key: and there were just enough times I wondered "Have I got that right?" that I ordered it. If you do not have a teacher (I do not) I would suggest buying the Answer Key up front. Remember when you first discovered you could "read English"? I had the same experience - in Arabic - after finishing Alif Baa!
Average customer rating:
- Excellent Series for learning Arabic
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Al-Kitaab Fii Ta Allum Al-Arabiyya, a Textbook for Beginning Arabic, Part One
Kristen Brustad
Manufacturer: Georgetown University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette
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ASIN: 0878402934 |
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Series for learning Arabic.......2001-04-13
As I was instructed by Kristen Brustad and Mahmoud Al-Batal (two of the authors), I may be slightly biased; However, this series of books and methodology are an excellent, comprehensive way to learn Arabic reading and writing, along with differences in dialects and cultures as well as a solid basis for learning the spoken language. The accompanying audio-tapes will add to the learning process for those who aren't immersed in an Arabic speaking environment. Of course, conversation practice and immersion are still the best way to truly learn the spoken language. I would highly recommend this book, as well as it's predecessor, Alif-Baa (an introduction to Arabic where you learn the alphabet and some basic vocabulary and grammar) to anyone wanting a good place to start learning Arabic. The books make learning Arabic fun and relatively easy, considering most "Westerners" initially find the language quite intimidating.
Customer Reviews:
Why is the price on this book inflated?.......2006-08-04
The same book is available from the publisher for $4.95. Then why is the price on this book almost 10 times as high on Amazon??
Not helpful but..........2004-11-04
...if you email the pubisher, you can get it for free. It's really only the monologues (off the cd's) and doesn't give 99% of the answers to the exercises in the book. Even with the lowest of expectations, you'll be disapointed. If you actually pay for it, you'll be angry too.
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Alif Baa: Introduction to Arabic Letters and Sounds
Answer Key To Al-Kitaab Fii Ta Callum Al-cArabiyya
Answer Key To Alif Baa: Introduction To Arabic Letters and Sounds
Arabic-English Dictionary: The Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic
Al-kitaab Fii Ta'allum Al-Arabiyya With DVDs: A Textbook for Arabic
