Customer Reviews

Eastern Arabic (Richard Slade Harrell Arabic Series)

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

 

 

I wrote the previous review. I want to make sure that people are aware they need the tapes to this book which covers all the chapters. If you have a person that speaks this dialect then you probably will not need the tapes.
What makes this a good book is it covers the same sentences when spoken to a man, woman, group, and third person.
1.It introduces each word separetly with its meaning before adding it to a sentence.
2. It covers grammer but not to the point you get sick.
3. It has exercises at the end of each chapter to test your knowledge.
4. Each chapter is only several pages and cover situations, example shopping.
5. Each lesson builds on the previous and makes sure to keep words that were learned continue to be used or reviewed.
6. The book contains 30 lessons and an arabic-english, english -arabic dictionary at the end of most of the words covered in the book.
The bad
1. If this course is bought throuh Amazon the tapes do not come with it and must be purchased seperatly.
2. I bought the entire course through Audio forum for 185$ which includes the 8 tapes. I know its expensive but I have not seen any eastern arabic course compare to it. ( not yet)

This is probably the best available option for learning the Arabic actually spoken around the Eastern Mediterranian. Originally its title was 'Jerusalem Arabic' which means that what you are really getting is the Palestinian dialect, which is very close to Syrian and not quite as close to Lebanese. Learners who come to it from an Egyptian background will also find much that is familiar in the grammar and vocabulary.

The lessons build on each other in a very logical way so that even an absolute beginner with no previous Arabic exposure should be able to work through them. The vocabulary is not the most interesting, but it is useful for everyday life and interactions with native speakers in their own environment- however, it doesn't go much beyond that. Also, the drilling is very 1960s- rote exercises, for instance a set of sentences with a feminine subject which have to be converted to plural, or plural subjects to be converted to singular. And because of the book's age, some of the expressions it introduces might be a little dated by now. The only solution for this, of course, is the help of a native speaker.

Still, since there are many fewer pedagogical materials for Levantine Arabic (and very few of them recent) than other forms of vernacular Arabic (Egyptian or even Gulf) this is a course that a beginning learner can plow ahead with. One irksome feature: the book does not make use of the Arabic alphabet at all. Transcription is a lot of unnecessary bother for a native teacher and an absolute dead end for the student, who will never have any occasion to use it again after completing the course.

This was a great purchase i'm trying to learn the Levantine dialect in Arabic and this book helps a lot! The dvd is great because listening practice helps you pick up the sounds and i enjoy this book!

If you want to learn Eastern Arabic, This is the book!