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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good textbook... Buy the answer key!, March 11, 2010
This review is from: Alif Baa With Multimedia: Introduction to Arabic Letters and Sounds (Arabic Edition) (Paperback)
Good book, it was required for a class, so I didn't have much choice. My first impression was that it was very academic and difficult for the beginner (I've used other Arabic text textbooks) The DVD is very helpful. One thing that is an absolute must is buying the answer key. There are several spelling dictation drills and other drills that are simply audio on the DVD. Without the answer key or a professor you have no feedback as to whether you're getting it right or not. My confidence and learning went up significantly after I purchased the answer key. Overall a good, thorough book.
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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing and poorly designed, October 17, 2009
This review is from: Alif Baa With Multimedia: Introduction to Arabic Letters and Sounds (Arabic Edition) (Paperback)
For a language that seems to have such an emphasis on beauty, precision and grace, this book is embarrassing. It is poorly laid out, with no chapter or section indication on each page, which makes the task of cross-referencing a big waste of time. (The Table of Contents is just not enough.) Plus the Arabic typography is so small as to require a magnifying glass for a reader with 20/20 vision. I understand the point of view not to include much transliteration. But why is there no unified table of all the Arabic alphabet, the multiple ways characters are written, and diacritical marks? The DVD has a table with just the basic alphabet, but nothing to show the nuance to writing the language. A chart like the Periodic Table of Elements could be beautiful and very helpful in learning the ways letters morph when they bond to form words and the subtleties of pronunciation of the vowels, etc. One strength of the book and DVD is the many different types of exercises it includes. In that regard it is stronger than other introductory language learning tools I have used. It would be simple to solve many of the navigation problems with this book and DVD. This would making working with the book and more importantly, that initial immersion in Arabic, much more enjoyable. On the other hand, if the goal of this text is to discourage all but the most zealous students, then it is perfect just the way it is.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
the most widely used university level Arabic language textbook, December 19, 2009
This review is from: Alif Baa With Multimedia: Introduction to Arabic Letters and Sounds (Arabic Edition) (Paperback)
The Alif Baa textbook is the first in a series of Arabic textbooks that have become the university standard for Modern Standard Arabic teaching. I've used this same series of books at Columbia University, Harvard University, Middlebury Language Schools, and the American Language Institute of Fez. Alif Baa is the beginner's beginner manual - it teaches the alphabet, and some very basic vocabulary. When I used this textbook, we covered all the material in about a month. I don't know how well this book would work for auto-didacts trying to learn the language without a classroom or instructor. I don't think that it was designed for that purpose. I know that Arabic teachers appreciate this manual because it walks a line between the more technical, grammar-obsessed textbooks and the more free-wheeling, conversation based textbooks. It will lay the groundwork for obscure, scholarly research or for a heated discussion about politics.
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