Customer Reviews

Berlitz Arabic Phrase Book & Dictionary (Berlitz Phrase Book)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a Berlitz phrasebook. It has useful phrases for travelers, almost no grammar, and a vocabulary that covers pretty much anything you are likely to need traveling as a tourist. Using it you can manage to handle "politeness phrases" (please, thank you, where is the bathroom) and simple requests; this is enough to let the locals know that you are at least making an effort. If you choose to study the language seriously, hang onto it and use it later when you are ready to travel.

As a physician I especially favor the color-coded medical section, which (alone of all the phrasebooks I've seen)has a "pointee-talkee" section with English on one side and Arabic on the other,which you and the local medical personnel can pass back and forth to handle questions and instructions.

Okay, it's not the answer to a language student's prayers. But it makes it possible to communicate in Arabic--and isn't that the name of the game anyway?

Although this book is directed at travellers, I have used it primarliy as a learning aid. I have found this book very useful in helping me learn Arabic pronunciation while learning useful words. The book is small and travels well, every section is color coded, and provides both translation and transliteration of every word and phrase. (My favorite is the foods section). The only thing that is missing, which as a beginner is very much needed, are the short vowels. Had that been included it would have gotten 5 stars.

This book is ok, but not really for a beginner, I think that if you really want to learn how to read and write Arabic I have seen many other books that are much better on the market, but this book is like a quick refrence book, not really a book to teach yourself anything. I did learn a few words, but very limited to what I can say from reading this book. I have been told I am also not pronouncing the words correctly, I learned the words from the phonetic words next to the arabic words in this book. Like I said great refrence, but not a serious way to teach yourself arabic.

Although the tape is useful (once you get past the loud intro) the book is of poor construction. The pages fell out only three days after buying the book. This is a problem, as every time I use the book I have to piece it together afterwards. My advice is to buy a real book such as one of the "Teach Yourself ..." series. They cost only a little more and are better constructed.

We're going to visit Tangiers, Casa Blanca, Fez, and other towns in Morocco. We will be shopping for cloth to make shirts, skirts, and other personal clothing. These fabrics are typically sold by smaller shops, whose proprietors don't have a great knowledge of English.

We've found that making even just a tiny effort to use the language of the country we are visiting pays rewards totally out of proportion to the small effort we've made to communicate. This really handy dictionary is especially helpful, because the Arabic entries are not only translated to English, but are shown also in Arabic script. Despite carefully reading the pronunciation page at the front of this dictionary, sometimes our pronunciation is incorrect. So if after we attempt to say what we want in Arabic but only receive a shrug in response, we can point at the words in the dictionary, written in Arabic script, and then receive a broad smile of understanding.

There is a terrific summary of how to write the Arabic script in the first 2 pages of the dictionary, which will let you decorate some crafts in beautiful, flowing Arabic Script, with your trusty caligraphy pen. You'll really enjoy using this small dictionary if you're fortunate enough to visit an arabic speaking country, or need to translate some arabic inscribed items you've acquired!