Just Listen 'N Learn Arabic [Audio Cassette]

Just Listen 'N' Learn (Author), Natl Textbook (Author), Brian Hill (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 084428470X | ISBN-13: 978-0844284705 | Publication Date: October 1, 1991 | Edition: Pap/Cas

This highly successful language-learning method combines text and audio to provide everything students need to speak, read, and understand Arabic quickly and with confidence.

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies; Pap/Cas edition (October 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 084428470X
• ISBN-13: 978-0844284705
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 7.9 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,723,400 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #7 in Books > Books on Cassette > Languages > Arabic

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good course on spoken Arabic, but not perfect, May 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Just Listen 'N Learn Arabic (Audio Cassette)

This book (and tapes) provide a basic introduction to the dialect of Arabic spoken in Jordan, Sryia, and Lebanon. The book covers everyday situations such as greetings, shoping, resturants and so on. After working through the book, I feel like I have a good grasp of basic Arabic for travel puropses. One thing I really liked about the book was the fact that there are many pictures or the Arab world which help to break up the lessons. The main fault I have with this book (or tapes) is that the vocab words are never slowly pronounced so you can hear all the sounds in the word. Instead, there is just a dialog which is spoken quickly. As a result, it is difficult to pick out the sounds of the individual words. Since this is basicaly a course on spoken Arabic, I think this is a major flaw. However, if you are dedicated and work through the lessons you can pick up a lot.

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not so user-friendly, July 14, 2001

By 

Paul Jorgensen (Vancouver, BC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Just Listen 'N Learn Arabic (Audio Cassette)

Just Listen and Learn Arabic is a decent course in the colloquial Arabic of the Levant IF you already know some Modern Standard Arabic. I tried using it before I knew any MSA and I found it totally confusing because it doesn't give a very clear explanation of Arabic phonology, or of the variations of pronunciation. Sometimes the dialogues would show a word written one way, but in the recording it would be pronounced another way and I didn't know why. After I learned some MSA and browsed some other Arabic books these things made more sense to me.

Once you're past those initial hurdles this book is pretty good. The dialogues are authentic conversations, not scripted ones, so sometimes they go fast and there are words you don't know, but in the long run that is very helpful in developing your comprehension. The dialogues involve topics very relevant to travellers, like ordering in a restaurant, reserving a hotel room, taking taxis, etc. It's not like some Arabic books which start with sentences like "The delegation is meeting to discuss the problems with transportation infrastructure".

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Conversational Arabic Book, January 22, 2001

By 

Chris Traub (Windsor, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Just Listen 'N Learn Arabic (Audio Cassette)

I have read every instructional book I can find on learning Arabic. Just Listen n'Learn Arabic is easily the best that I have found for learning conversational Arabic. This course also introduces the reader to Arabic script in a gradual and relatively easy manner. The conversations on tape are natural-sounding and they contain useful information for getting around or getting acquainted in the Arab world. Several times I have tried using what I have learned from the course with Arabs whom I have just met and I am always understood. This is always a delight and it makes the effort worthwhile.