Standard Arabic: An Advanced Course [Paperback]

James Dickins (Author), Janet C. E. Watson (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521635586 | ISBN-13: 978-0521635585 | Publication Date: March 13, 1999 | Edition: Student Manual/Study Guide

This comprehensive course is designed for intermediate to advanced students of Arabic at upper undergraduate level. It uses authentic materials and a wide variety of techniques to develop the four basic language skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening. Each of the twenty chapters is designed around a particular topic relating to the culture, history, politics, geography or society of the Arab Middle East, to give students an insight into important aspects of the region.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is a welcome addition to the limited pool of textbooks that can be used to teach modern standard Arabic in general and advanced Arabic in particular. The work seems to be a result of great efforts by the authors based on their personal experiences teaching the language in academic institutions...The topic-based selection of texts makes it very attractive" Religious Studies Review

Language Notes

Text: English, Arabic --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 620 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; Student Manual/Study Guide edition (March 13, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521635586
• ISBN-13: 978-0521635585
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.9 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,307,855 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exactly what I've been looking for!, June 8, 2000

By 

Foo man Choo - See all my reviews

This review is from: Standard Arabic: An Advanced Course (Paperback)

This book is exactly the kind of book I have been wanting for a long time! As an advanced course, I feel it would be excellent for someone who has completed 3 years of university study, or for someone who has finished or is near the end of the course at the Defense Language Institute.

This book presents authentic Arabic texts from a variety of sources and on topics about the Middle East. This gives the double advantage of not only learning the Arabic, but also teaching important information about the history, culture, and society of the Middle East. Along with the Arabic texts, pertinent grammar lessons are presented with thorough explanations in English, followed by several examples usage in Arabic. There are also many questions and exercises, presented in both Arabic and English to assist in comprehension.

I have not yet recieved the accompanying cassette, but several of the listening selections come from a series by the BBC called "Pick of the Month". I already have the BBC cassettes and I'm very pleased that the authors chose these as their listening exercises.

Most students of Arabic are aware of the famous "EMSA" Elementary Modern Standard Arabic texts from the 1960's, as these are the standard texts used in many universities. This book is by far the best Arabic text to be published since EMSA/IMSA!

For motivated students, I highly recommend this book as a tool for self-study and maximizing your capabilities in Classical Arabic.

For professors, both at Universities and DLI, I stongly suggest that you consider this book for incorporation into your courses. For DLI, this book covers important grammar that I didn't get, and for the Universities, this offers excellent authentic material to augment the more intensive grammar.

Thank you Dr Dickson and Dr. Watson. This is the book I wish I could have written!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very useful mid- to advanced textbook, February 23, 2001

By 

J. E. S. Leake "sailor and scholar" (Offshore, Persian Gulf) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Standard Arabic: An Advanced Course (Paperback)

Just to add to the other reviews, this textbook (which I used at 3rd year undergraduate level at Durham) is useful also to the solo student struggling to advance his or her Arabic. Buy the cassettes too, as they're an integral part of the course. I also recommend strongly that the private student buy the Teacher's Handbook too if he has no teacher as this contains - amongst other things - suggested translations and transcriptions of passages on the cassettes.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Recommended with Reservation, December 16, 2004

By 

Desert Dweller (Vail, Arizona) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Standard Arabic: An Advanced Course (Paperback)

As a university level professor of Arabic, my profession is constantly on the lookout (or we should be) for textbooks that are relevant, user-friendly, well-constructed and that can serve as a springboard for further studies in Arabic. I recently acquired this textbook intending it for my personal use as a review and as a stimulus for classroom activities. I am very impressed with the overall subject matter content of the book and am really pleased with the size of the print type.

I will caution the prospective buyer, however, that this is definitely not a "teach yourself" manual to be used on your own. Rather, an imaginative, competent speaker of the language who can serve as an instructor or guide is an absolute requisite. Even with advanced degrees in Arabic, I found some of the material at or just beyond my capabilities. Someone who is just starting out in Arabic (that is less than three years of study at the university level) may want to rely on a less comprehensive textbook.

That said, I found the book just perfect for my purposes. The only drawback, however, is that the grammar and stylistics portions of each chapter refer back to examples from previous chapters. It would be helpful if these examples were in closer proximity to the actual texts referenced. These would save the learner the trouble of going back and re-reading these texts to find the examples cited. The lack of vocabulary listings and textual notes tends to compound this problem.

Nonetheless, along with a good dictionary for those hard-to-remember terms, I would recommend this book only to those students with the proper preparation to tackle it.