Arabic (Eastern) III, Comprehensive: Learn to Speak and Understand Arabic with Pimsleur Language Programs [Audiobook] [Audio CD]

Pimsleur (Author)

Book Description

Series: Comprehensive | Publication Date: July 28, 2009

Eastern Arabic is the dialect spoken in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Palestine. Eastern Arabic is also very well understood in the eastern and southeastern parts of the Arab world -- Arabia, the Gulf Region, and Iraq. Pimsleur's Eastern Arabic is based on the dialect of Damascus, Syria.

 

Comprehensive Eastern Arabic III includes 30 additional lessons (16 hrs.), plus Readings, which build upon the language skills acquired in Levels I and II. Increased spoken and reading language ability.

Level III will increase your vocabulary and grammatical structures and triple your spoken proficiency. Upon completion of a level III, you will be able to:

* participate in most informal and some formal discussions on practical, social, and some semi-professional topics,

* form longer sentences while maintaining the target language syntax,

* be understood even by native speakers unused to dealing with foreigners,

* handle increasingly difficult grammatical structures,

* enjoy fluent conversations with a variety of strangers,

* have a near-native accent, and the subtleties of the language will be apparent in your speech,

* read at the same level at which you speak.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dr. Paul Pimsleur devoted his life to language teaching and testing and was one of the world’s leading experts in applied linguistics. After years of experience and research, Dr. Pimsleur developed The Pimsleur Method based on two key principles:  the Principle of Anticipation and a scientific principle of memory training that he called “Graduated Interval Recall.”  This Method has been applied to the many levels and languages of the Pimsleur Programs.

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Pimsleur; Unabridged edition (July 28, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743563883
• ISBN-13: 978-0743563888
• Product Dimensions: 12.7 x 11.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,100,967 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dr. Paul Pimsleur (b. 1926, d. 1976) devoted his life to language teaching and testing and was one of the world's leading experts in applied linguistics. He was fluent in French, good in German, and had a working knowledge of Italian, Russian, Modern Greek, and Mandarin Chinese. After obtaining his Ph.D. in French and a Masters in Psychology from Columbia University, he taught French Phonetics and Linguistics at UCLA. He later became Professor of Romance Languages and Language Education, and Director of The Listening Center (a state-wide language lab) at Ohio State University; Professor of Education and Romance Languages at the State University of New York at Albany; and a Fulbright lecturer at the University of Heidelberg. He did research on the psychology of language learning and in 1969 was Section Head of Psychology of Second Language Learning at the International Congress of Applied Linguistics.

Dr. Pimsleur was a member of the American Association of Teachers of French (AATF), American Educational Research Association (AERA), Modern Language Association (MLA), and a founding member of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL).

His many books and articles revolutionized theories of language learning and teaching. After years of experience and research, Dr. Pimsleur developed a new method (The Pimsleur Method) that is based on two key principles: the Principle of Anticipation and a scientific principle of memory training that he called "Graduated Interval Recall." This Method has been applied to the many levels and languages of the "Pimsleur Programs."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars perfect for a trip to Damascus, March 29, 2005

By 

J. Spencer - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Eastern Arabic, 2nd edition (Audio CD)

Note that these CDs are specifically in the Damascus dialect, ask a native speaker if that dialect will work where you are going. My wife is Syrian from Damascus, and I found these tapes much more useful than the class I took from an Egyptian teacher. The spoken dialects are very different. Now my wife's family is actually understanding the things I say, it's worth every penny.

My guess is that the critical review below stems from trying to use the Eastern Arabic CDs for a trip to Egypt. You have to get the Egyptian CDs to learn the Egyptian dialect. Egyptians struggle to understand my wife, they are probably not going to understand an English speaker trying to speak the Damascus dialect.

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pimsleur Eastern Arabic I, 2nd Edition (Syrian Dialect), March 2, 2007

By 

Karl Thorsson (Reykjavík, Iceland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eastern Arabic, 2nd edition (Audio CD)

This is a review of Pimsleur's Eastern Arabic I, 2nd Edition
Updated 19 August 2009

ABSOLUTELY SUPERB!!!
FIVE STARS HANDS DOWN, 10/10
Crystal Clear Speech from native Syrian speakers

NOTE
This is the first installment in the Eastern Arabic series. After you complete this course you can directly go on to
Pimsleur Eastern Arabic II, Copyright 2006. After completing the latter you can jump to Pimsleur Eastern Arabic III, Copyright 2008.

Pimsleur's 1st edition of Arabic (Eastern) I will not help you make a smooth transition into Eastern Arabic II. Therefore I highly recommend you study with this product, namely Pimsleur's Eastern Arabic I, 2nd Edition.

To illustrate a different aspect of Arabic study I will elaborate further:
If one learns MSA (Modern Standard Arabic), one will learn the language of the Koran, aka Classical Arabic, this is a language used in books, not a language used to communicate with people on a regular basis.
If John Doe learns MSA, he will be eventually understood when he speaks in a shop, and then his interlocutor will respond to John in his/her local dialect, which John will find unintelligible and then the conversation will be over. Nevertheless, if John Doe learns a dialect such as Eastern (Syrian) or Egyptian, he will have a better chance of understanding the response from his Arabic speaking interlocutor.

In my opinion, this is the best Arabic Course if you are headed to Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, the Palestinian Territories, where Eastern Arabic is spoken. Additionally, after completing this course, I personally have not had much difficulty in communicating with people from Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen, Bahrain, Kuwait, UAE (where Gulf Arabic is spoken). Note that Iraqis speak Iraqi Arabic which is different but similar to Syrian, but you will still be able to communicate. The Gulf dialect is also different but more similar to Syrian than Egyptian.

If you are heading for Egypt, you should get Pimsleur Egyptian Arabic instead. Egyptian and Eastern, while sharing the same root have evolved over the centuries.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent starting point, November 18, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Arabic (Egyptian) (Pimsleur Language Program) (Audio Cassette)

What an excellent starting point! Unlike most tapes, this set was slow enough to keep up with and breaks down the pronunciation of a word into manageable pieces. The repetition is helpful to remember the vocabulary. I used it in the car going to work everyday and finished all the tapes in one month. My only regret is that there isn't another expanded set available.