Customer Reviews

Mastering Arabic (Palgrave Master Series)

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I have taught Arabic for over 15 years and have written my own texts on the subject. I feel that this book/tape combination is an excellent tool for those who are serious about studying the Arabic Language. There is very little emphasis on grammar, which is a weakness, but it does give a good solid introduction to the language. The style is enjoyable, the use of graphics imaginative and the continuity of the study subjects flows smoothly. I highly recommend this book. Make sure that you get the accompanying tapes.

I highly recommend this book because of it's organization and the two CDs that come with it. It starts out teaching you how to right the alphabet (broken in to two groups of letters which aids in remembering how to write them) and introduces words as it goes. It is grammar heavy but, ummm, it's rather important to know the grammar rules in order to speak MSA properly.

Great book with a great price! I recommend this over Alif Baa any day, it gets you in to the language and using it, my Egyptian and Iraqi friends are impressed with my "accent" and with my knowledge of vocabulary and writing skills. GO FOR IT! It's worth every dime, and is darn cheap on Amazon.com!

Yet another book that I recommend to supplement your formal school studies in Elementary Arabic I! Even the CDs are great, they use a native speaker so you get used to those "intimidating" Arabic sounds and even start to master them.

This is a language book. It contains 2 CDs that are very high sound quality which is necessary in order to understand exactly how the sounds in a foreign language very different from English should be spoken. It begins with learning the alphabet and continues to progress through words (vocabulary) and then to sentence structure. It then continues to familiar phrases useful to one who might be attempting to use their Arabic in a real life situation (like when traveling in the Middle East). This is not just a business travel "crutch" for emergencies; it seems much better than that. I have worked in several other books on Arabic and they all seem to leave something to be desired but this one (with its CDs) seems to pretty well overcome the other's shortcomings (so far). This is really a little too early to tell since it will be several years before its real benefits are known to me.

I am a typical Mid-west American with some interest in languages and I have studied Spanish, German, with some Hebrew and Russian exposure. I thought I would tackle Arabic because it is an entirely different language in structure and speech than any other language that I have studied. I am 68 also. This is an adventure.

There is also another book to complement this book that looks to be worthwhile. It is called Arabic - Verbs & Essentials of Grammar. It is written by the same authors and appears to be a nice complement to studying Arabic.

This is a good introduction to Arabic. Regretfully, the book is useless without the audiotapes. The tapes are inexpensive, and available online through Hippocrene Books' website. Without alot of drills and exercises in each chapter, it is necessary to repeat the same audio exercises over and over again to absorb pronunciation, and, as a result, very little vocabulary is learned. This is still a good foundation course for further study.

I found the tape in a local Arabic/Islamic bookstore (IQRA Book Center - iqrabookcenter.com, and they had a lot but I can't find it on their site, so you may have to call the store or look for a local Arabic bookstore in your area. The ISBN is 0-87052-984-6.

The tapes make the book a perfect language learning tool and will have you conversing Arabic in no time flat.

The website for Arabic/Islamic resources mentioned by a reader earlier is not iqrabookcenter.com, it is infact iqrabookcenter.ORG

I usually don't post correctional reviews, but I felt this was important in the name of expanding everyone's resources.

This is a wonderful book for anyone who wishes to learn Arabic on their own. Examples are clear and simple, there are numerous exercises which help practice the gradually introduced grammar and vocabulary. Many points are covered without the reader experiencing a burdening overload of information. This book has been wonderful every step of the way, a great tool for teaching one's self the Arabic language.