109 of 109 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good reading and conversational primer for BEGINNING student, January 10, 2004
The title of this book is misleading, since to me, "Mastering Arabic" implies gaining complete fluency, while this book is targeted at students who have little or no Arabic ability. So if you have already had an Arabic class or two and have some ability in the language, look elsewhere. This isn't a book for raising the fluency of existing Arabic students to the next level.
For its intended purpose, however, "Mastering Arabic" is pretty good. It starts out by teaching you the Arabic script (necessary for any serious student -- stay away from books that transliterate everything into English letters). Then in each chapter, there are some short grammar lessons, a number of activities, and some new vocabulary. The activities range from fill-in-the-blanks exercises to reading newspaper headlines to matching pictures with sentences to crossword puzzles, and so on. All are at a pretty basic level, but they do provide you with "authentic" Arabic usage.
"Mastering Arabic" is really intended to be used in a classroom, or with some tutoring by a native speaker. If you are learning Arabic for self-study, the lessons do proceed gradually enough for you to be able to use this book on your own. However, in that case, I would recommend buying the accompanying audiocasette tapes (you can order them through Hippocrene's website).
This book is at an "Intro to Arabic" level, but it is far above the level of your average phrasebook or "Arabic for Business Travelers" or similar books intended merely to teach you some basic conversational phrases. When you finish this book, you should be able to handle "survival Arabic," which is to say, you'll be able to manage simple sentences and communicate everyday ideas, and your vocabulary will be adequate for basic communication. If you want to go beyond that, such as being able to read newspapers or watch Arabic TV or carry on more complex conversations, you'll need to find more advanced books and learning resources.
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43 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Finally! An Arabic instruction book with a clear plan, March 8, 2006
I've been self-teaching Arabic for over a year now, using many different types of sources (Pimsleur CDs, Arabic newspapers and texts, many other books and tapes) and this is the first and only "textbook" type of instruction that has a clear and well-constructed plan that can be used by a beginner or novice for self-instruction. It comes with two CDs that are very well prepared, also. I've used "Teach Yourself Arabic", "Al-Kitaab", "Living Language", "Instant Immersion (THE WORST!)", etc., and this is the only text that is clear, well-thought out, and plainly builds on previous instruction. I HIGHLY recommend it--along with other aids such as the Pimsleur CDs, Awde's "The Arabic Alphabet", Wightwick's "Your First 100 Words". Since I mentioned them above, I should point out problems with two particular series: The "Living Language" series is OK--but NO ARABIC SCRIPT! That's a huge fault. "Instant Immersion" (8 CDs) is nothing more than a recitation of words and phrases with their English equivalents--no more helpful than attempting to memorize an entire book verbatim by having someone read it to you. Get "Mastering Arabic" with the 2 audio CDs--Wightwick and Gafaar have done a wonderful job with this.
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27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best Starter Book I Found, March 11, 2005
I started with this book, and I had tried loads before. I ended up doing a degree in Arabic and this book was a perfect start. Its important to get a grip of the writing before you do anything else, or you will be hobbled in your studies. Its beautifully presented and the examples are large (you wouldn't believe how many books have tiny examples for you to copy). I would heartily recommend this book.
I also worked in Foyles (charing cross road) which had one of the best foreign language sections in the UK for non-European languages (some really obscure titles!) and I regularly looked through the books available for learning as a beginner. This still looks the best.
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