Customer Reviews

Arabic Grammar: A First Workbook

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I disagree strongly with the other review: let's face it, the subject itself (Arabic grammar) is what is tedious, not Wickens' book! In fact, I have always appreciated the way he tries to liven up a deadly-dull, but necessary subject. Throughout the book are many tips and personal thoughts from the author, and I would recommend Arabic Grammar as the best book out there. Remember, this book is a grammar, with all the paradigms and minutiae that "grammar" implies, but Wickens keeps it as lively as any grammar I've seen. Highly recommended!

I must admit up front I do have a particular fondness for this work as it was my constant companion during my first year of Arabic studies some years ago. It has many strengths and perhaps a weakness or two.

This is an introductory text for the study of classical, or at least standard literary, Arabic. This book will help you on your way to being able to read, say, Ibn al-Athir or other medieval writers, but will not help you should you find yourself in downtown Damascus in sudden need of directions to the nearest toilet. This is not a fault in the book; it is the nature of the Arabic language. There is a wide gulf between the literary language and the spoken "dialect" of any given region. This text is designed to teach you the former and states so up front.

There is much grammar in here but it is well presented. There is some possibly arcane terminology (one learns, for example, that a standard if-then sentence consists of a protasis and apodosis), but Prof. Wickens will make clear what he is discussing. The reading passages at the back of the book are essential for emphasizing the grammar studied in various chapters. Some of the readings are a trifle odd perhaps. Maybe eclectic might be a better description. As I recall they range from the death of Jahiz (crushed by the weight of his books when they fell on him) to ruminations on the usefulness of the camel to that sentence that always amused the students, "dakhala al-ajnaad al-quds yaqtiluuna sukaanaha kullahum." (Earlier versions had put "al-atraak" (Turks)in place of "sukaanaha" (inhabitants)but a sort of proto-PCism prompted the change. <g>)

The one shortcoming I felt was that later chapters sometimes had the feeling of being rushed. In the chapter on Arabic numbers (which are, to be honest, fiendishly complicated) Prof. Wickens introduces the subject, gives a good overview, but then suggests the student consult one of the standard works, presumably Wright. Likewise, the section on hollow and weak verbs at some point states merely that if the student takes the rules governing x and applies the exceptions for y, he should be able to figure out the paradigm.

All that said, I highly recommend this book if you want a serious introduction to an endlessly fascinating and certainly never tedious subject. This work is a good introduction and, armed with the Hans Wehr dictionary, you will be ready to get a good start on just about anything written in standard Arabic in the last 1,300 years or so.

There is also a good introduction in which Prof. Wickens muses on the meaning of "fluency" in a language. Prof. Wickens used to recall with good humour early reviews which had singled out the introduction as the best and most useful part of the book. Perhaps it still is.

This book describes in a few pages the elements of Arabic grammar. It is very useful for anyone struggling with large books (that contain exercises etc.) or incomplete explanations. It is a wonderful reference.
On the other hand, it's pretty scholarly, assumes considerable linguistic knowledge, and really not meant to teach Arabic to an unsophisticated beginner. The last part consists of texts that might as well have been deleted because they don't serve this beginner training purpose.

This book explains arabic grammer in great detail and so makes a wonderful reference book. I wouldn't recommend it as a basic beginner text, though, it is much to detailed and wordy. Wickens does a wonderful job of explaining some of the finer points that other books leave out and may help clarify certain points, but overall, I would suggest trying other books first. Even the teach yourself series is more acccesible while getting across the same points. Basically, I had trouble taking it too seriously.