Al-Kitaab fii Ta'allum al-'Arabiyya: A Textbook for Arabic, Part Three [Paperback]

Kristen Brustad (Author), Mahmoud Al-Batal (Author), Abbas Al-Tonsi (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0878402721 | ISBN-13: 978-0878402724 | Publication Date: November 2001

Continuing the Al-Kitaab Arabic textbook program, part three is intended to help learners reach an advanced level of proficiency. More than thirty authentic texts by writers from across the Arab world address a range of political, social, religious, and literary themes and represent a range of genres, styles, and periods. Although the book focuses primarily on modern Arabic, classical Arabic texts have been incorporated into some of the lessons to introduce students to the continuity of the language throughout its history. Accompanied by audio CDs, this text combines the features of a texbook and a reader. Like its predecessors, this book presents vocabulary-building drills and contextualized explanations of grammar, with exercises designed to push students toward independent learning. New with this volume is an increased attention to the stylistic features of Arabic, and excersises that aim at transforming passive skills into active ones.

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Georgetown University Press (November 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0878402721
• ISBN-13: 978-0878402724
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,427,349 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Student of Arabic, January 20, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Al-Kitaab fii Ta'allum al-'Arabiyya: A Textbook for Arabic, Part Three (Paperback)

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.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hard, but rewarding, March 2, 2004

By 

F. Gibbons (Boston, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Al-Kitaab fii Ta'allum al-'Arabiyya: A Textbook for Arabic, Part Three (Paperback)

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.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't buy!, February 16, 2005

By 

Emily C. Best - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Al-Kitaab fii Ta'allum al-'Arabiyya: A Textbook for Arabic, Part Three (Paperback)

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.