Customer Reviews

Arabic for Beginners (Hippocrene Language Studies)

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This book is not your beginner's "Teach Yourself" text. It is disorganized and does not introduce the student to the language in a step-by-step fashion. There are no hint as how to pronounce the words. Voweling is used sporadically and inconsistently, and the vocalization via transliteration is inconsistent with the voweling on the Arabic text, leaving one to wonder whether the pronunciation is like the Arabic text or like the transliteration. The first four lessons introduce the alphabet, the vowels, and a host of grammatical rules that are more confusing than helpful at this stage. Lesson five starts with 5 paragraphs in Arabic with English translation which would cause any beginner studying on their own to abandon the attempt to learn Arabic. I had studied Arabic as a child years ago, and I am fluent in Hebrew. Thus, I could understand the text by either bringing back forgotten memories or by inference from Hebrew since the grammatical constructs of the two languages are similar. However, for the English speaking student to whom this is his/hers first introduction to the language, the task is nearly impossible. Arabic is very different from English in the way the verb is used and the way nouns and adjectives are conjugated. The author introduces these forms without explanation. Each lesson includes a list of new vocabulary. However, it is not organized alphabetically either in the text body or as a glossary at the end. I suppose that as a classroom text with the aid of a teacher to fill the gaps, demonstrate pronunciation, and provide examples for usage of the grammatical rules, this could be a useful text, although I will be surprised if even then this would be your best choice of text. Personally, I am in search of another text with audio cassets.

I found the structure of this book to be quite confusing. The explanations of grammatical patterns seemed haphazard, at best, and were difficult to follow. Many chapters started with paragraphs of arabic sentences, with English translations, with explanations of the grammar used following. Important information often comes pages after the arabic examples it explains (for example, the fact that singular indefinite nouns are always prounced with 'un' at the end, three pages after seeing the words and the incorrect transliterations). The romanization used was inconsistent across the book.

I am not stranger to foreign languages, with my studies spanning the globe from standard Romance languages (French and Spanish) to Japanese. Despite that, and unfortunate experiences with many extraordinarily bad texts, I still had trouble following this one.

I will first state the few good things about this book. It is fairly accurate in its grammar explanations. It also has several selections from modern Arabic literature that however don't come with a glossary. Also, this book can be used to learn Arabic, but only should be used if it is the only book available.
The words in vocabulary lists are in no apparent order, neither order of appearance, English alphabetical order, or Arabic alphabetical order, and it is almost impossible to find the meaning of words from the texts. Furthermore, there is no glossary at the back of the book.
The text is sometimes fully voweled, sometimes partially vowelled, and sometimes not vowelled at all in the first ten lessons. Although the book uses a romanization system, the romanizations given are often inaccurate, and no romanization is given for plurals or synonyms even though the Arabic is given.
Finally, the book is confusing giving complicated texts in the first few lessons that use verbs and complicated grammar, though the book has not yet even talked about how to form verbs at that point.
This book has led me to be hesitant about purchasing other title published by Hippocrene Books.
I recommend Teach Yourself Arabic by J.R. Smart, which is almost perfect except for the scarcity of romanization after the first four chapters and the poor quality of the audiotapes.

This book, I found, meets all the promises of it's reviewers and my requirements as an Arabic beginner learner.

A fine addition to the arsenal of aids in my efforts as a self-learner!

The structure was bad, and the "basics" were either not basic or had poor grouping. A better book for beginners is Read and Speak Arabic for Beginners.

I bought this book shortly AFTER September 11, 2001, and so it must have been published earlier in the year. Consider the following phrases and ponder them in this light:

In lesson nine, model sentences in order:

19: The soldier is brave.

20: God is powerful.

22: The sermon is eloquent.

29: The tank is full.

36: The sky is high.

38: The city is crowded...(and my personal favorite)...

39: The duck is fat.

In lesson eleven, a few useful sentences:

3: The mother stays at home. She cooks food, brings up the children and looks after the domestic chores. Say with me, now girls: "I am but a woman. I am but a woman".

5: The Director of the establishment told the workers: "Every one of you has made an effort and played his role for achieving the industrial and trade targets of the company, hence you deserve extra allowance." I am hoping to drop this line in small talk. Probably. Not.

In lesson 12, Syed gives us lots of descriptions of New York City, including a line about tall buildings, and friendly people.

In lesson 14, Syed talks about the happy peasants.

On page 108 and 109, in lesson 17, Syed quotes from the Koran...I think.

3: Do not call those who are slain in the way of God as dead. But they are living.

16: O my brother! Do not leave the water tap open.Do not write on the wall of the house nor throw the waste paper and peel of the fruits except in the waste-paper basket.

Lesson 18 offers this line:

5: The rocket has been fired.

In one lesson, (I can't find it now that I want to quote it)

Syed parses the verb to beat as follows: He was beaten, he is beating, he beat, he will beat, etc...

pp 134-135:

11: He has enjoined upon me prayer and almsgiving, so long as I remain alive.

12: The wind continues to be strong.

13: The market continues to be crowded.

14: The airplane was about to explode.

20: The playground is not crowded with people.

28: We don't have much time.

29: People had imagined that aviation was an impossible skill.

In lesson 21 I will learn how to say the following lines:

1: Certainly God is with the steadfast.

2: As if the news was correct!

3: The plane crashed, but the loss is little.

4: If only the accused was free! (See sentence 17, below)

10: Perhaps the train is reaching the station according to schedule.

16: If only the medicine was useful!

17: Perhaps the culprit is free!

18: It pains me that the war is continuing.

20: Perhaps the goal is near!

Perhaps I should give Pimsleur a try.