Pimsleur Instant Conversation Arabic (Eastern) [CD] [Audiobook] [Audio CD]

Pimsleur (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0743529405 | ISBN-13: 978-0743529402 | Publication Date: February 1, 2003

Speak Arabic Instantly!

The Pimsleur® Method provides the most effective language -- learning program ever developed. More than one million people every year use it to gain real conversational skills in new languages quickly and easily -- without books, written exercises, or drills.

Easy and Practical

This package contains sixteen lessons that will get you started speaking today! Simply listen, follow the instructions, and then respond out loud, just as you would in an actual conversation. Complete one lesson each day, in consecutive order. When you've finished this program, you'll be thrilled to realize you can hold a real conversation in Arabic!

Go beyond the 8-lesson Quick & Simple -- and double your language skills

Simple, step-by-step instruction

No classes to attend -- learn at your own convenience and pace

No books, written exercises, or memory drills

Listen-and-respond method lets you self-test your mastery

Increase Your Language Skills

Learning a new language is a tremendously rewarding achievement. Once you see how much you've learned in these sixteen lessons, we think you'll want to continue with the complete 30-lesson Pimsleur® Program. To help you, we'll give you a rebate of $150.00 when you purchase the Level I Arabic Comprehensive Program. Please see bottom of package for details.

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Pimsleur (February 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743529405
• ISBN-13: 978-0743529402
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7.9 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,034,543 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Resource, but beware..., March 22, 2004

By 

"drphillip" (Sydney, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pimsleur Instant Conversation Arabic (Eastern) [CD] (Audio CD)

If you want to learn conversational Eastern Arabic, and are not bothered about learning how to both read and write, then this is perfect: I was amazed at the progress I made even after the first lesson, at the beginning of which I have to say I was quite daunted. I have done a couple of levels of Arabic in classes here, but even after the first two levels my conversation was far weaker than it was after using Pimsleur. In fact, I was so impressed that I bought the full comprehensive course, and that was when I discovered, much to my disappointment, that the few hundred dollars I had just spent was for a mere sixteen lessons, as the first sixteen lessons are exact reproductions to what you will find here. Finding that there was no obvious indication that the lessons here are reproduced in the Comprehensive Level 1, I wrote to Simon & Schuster but unfortunately received no response. All those outside of US and Canada ...beware unless you are prepared to pay hundreds of dollars for what is effectively just 16 more lessons.

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I did'nt think I would like it, April 23, 2003

By 

Eddie. H "altthis1" (Great Bend, kansas United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Pimsleur Instant Conversation Arabic (Eastern) [CD] (Audio CD)

I bought this to see how well the pimsleur method works before shelling out a lot of cash for the comprehensive course. I am suprised at how well it gets you speaking and understanding the language.
The Arabic used is the syrian dialect and the tapes are very well done. This is not a complete language course, nor did it claim to be, but an introductory program to help you with simple conversation. I think its best use would be if you were planning a trip to syria in a month and needed a crash course.
Also its a good way to kick off your language learning experience in this dialect.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Practical, Gentle Beginning Course That Gets Results, October 1, 2004

By 

Laurel (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pimsleur Instant Conversation Arabic (Eastern) [CD] (Audio CD)

I bought this CD course from a big book store, not knowing what to expect and not expecting much. I was happily suprised when it turned out that this course was exactly what I needed.

The dialect taught in this course is Syrian, very compatible with Jordanian, Lebanese, and Palestinian dialects. The lessons are coherent and teach some vocabulary. I'm at the end of the expanded, 30-lesson version of this course which includes the following: how to greet an acquaintance, how to tell time, family and children, ownership, discuss prices and other money-related transactions, how to give and ask for directions and describe transportation, how to order in a restaurant. But beyond these topic-based goals, the course has really given me a good feel for the structure of this conversational language and also a decent accent.

I would recommend this course to anyone who wants to get a good start in conversational eastern arabic. I'm amazed by how, especially in the beginning of the course, I'd listen to a lesson and think, "there's no way I'm ever going to be able to pronounce or remember that," and then after a couple of listens would have no trouble at all. My arab friend tells me my understanding and speech is better than that of many people who studied arabic in college, and he also recommends it to other americans who want to speak arabic.