Others say...

"Not bad for very beginners"
I am little more than a beginner and I've seen a lot of Arabic textbooks. Some reviewers were too harsh in my opinion.

First, it's a simple guide and no stress introduction. Dialogs are good, with 2 rates - natural and slow. I'd prefer ALL dialogues to be recorded, not just selected as it is very important.

The simpler version of standard Arabic is chosen with no case endings, which is the feature of spoken dialects.

I wouldn't use 2 versions of romanisation but only one - standard and I would provide the Arabic text as well, at least for reference.


It's not classical or Koranic Arabic but it's a more or less standard Arabic of modern media, also used by many foreign learners and it's not colloquial either (not spoken dialects). It's probably very difficult to choose a version of Arabic to suit all learners.

"So-so publication; useful for first-time language-learners"
Although I rate this publication as a "so-so" product, it is somewhat useful to first-time language-learners with no prior background in the Arabic language, which I have. Because of that background, I must disclose that this review of the book is skewed by comparisons with similar publications for self-study of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) or the major regional dialects such as Iraqi, Egyptian, Eastern/Levantine, and Saudi/Gulf).

The English transliteration system for Arabic text is awkward. The accompanying CD was OK and matched the lessons in the text. This would be much more useful and effective for self-study if the CD were updated to enable automatic speech recognition and provide active feedback to the user.

Hope this helps.

"Don't like the transliteration system"
I am in complete agreement with Al-Shayib's August 5, 2006 review. I too took a good look at the book at the book store and was unhappy that the book uses a transliteration system without at least showing the spelling in Arabic. I could have made allowances if it weren't for the fact that the transliterations used do not correctly approximate the correct pronunciation such as 'kah-leb' for dog when it should be, as Al-Shayib said, kalb or kelb. Needless to say, I put the book back on the shelf.

"Use the CD--the two transliteration systems are confusing"
I'm very much in favor of the "X for Dummies" concept. It would be wonderful to be able to simplify Arabic. However, I returned this book to the bookstore shelf after a quick glance at the inside cover, which listed some survival phrases, and a quick thumb-through. The transliteration system is very misleading (that is, the Arabic written phonetically in 'Latin' letters). Actually, there are two transliteration systems in use. In one column is listed the word or phrase in a very scientific and accurate system. In the next column the author gives a supposedly simplified Berlitz-type transliteration such as is used in phrase books for tourists. I had a very tough time interpreting any of the utterances just by looking at the "Berlitz" column. The system used in that column is neither scientific nor an effective "Berlitz"-type system. The most glaring example I saw is his assertion that the "kasrah" vowel-marker is pronounced "like the long 'e' in 'feet' or 'treat'". According to him, the Arabic word for 'girl' is 'bee-neht'. The British picked up this word during their long sojourn in the Middle East, and they spell and pronounce it 'bint', with a short 'i', which is exactly how it should be pronounced, even if it can have a derogatory connotation in British English. Another example with the 'kasrah' is the number 'six', which the author writes 'see-ta'. 'Sit-ta' or even 'sit-tuh' would be more understandable, as without the double 't' sound and short 'i', it just doesn't mean 'six.' His 'kah-leb', 'dog', should be written 'kalb' or 'kelb'.

The author has great credentials, and I have not listened to the CD. Maybe the "X for Dummies" editors imposed the "Dummied down" system on the book. It's too bad when an attempt at simplification makes the subject matter more difficult

"Great for folks who don't want to mess with the script"
This guide is exactly what it says it is- Arabic for Dummies. If you are not comfortble with the Arabic script, or just want to learn the basics of speech, this is the book for you. This is also great for travelers who want to get beyond just being able to say hello. The book is easy to read, has intresting cultural tips and put together well. As a new arabic student, it was nice to have a guide that was completly transliterated, but if you truly want to understand Arabic you are going to need to write it!

 

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What our customer's say!

"It's truly for complete dummies", The book is friendly, but it has no arabic script at all! I was very surprised at how a language can be taught without first studying the alphabet and then some words, and the trying to write it all down... but this book just doesn't cover the script (which is so beautiful %)). It just tells you how to pronounce words and what they mean, but you will never learn how to read and write in Arabic with this book. I decided it's a worthless way of learning.

"POOR AUDIO CORRELATION WITH TEXT", As a high-intermediate learner of Arabic, I found that the quality of arabic spoken on the audio cd included was very poor. It sounded as if a group of beginning students and native speakers with poor enunciation of modern standard arabic were carrying out the conversation. This sort of quality may get past the likely beginners who buy this book, but it is poor arabic audio learning material. Furthermore, there was poor correlation of the audio with the english-translation text and the translitered text, thus totally destroying the purpose of having a text to follow the audio (especially if you are a beginner- you would likely be more confused!) Finally, modern standard arabic and spoken arabic are mixed so freely and without any consistency that it serves horribly as any sort of academic text. This is a book that probably would have made a DUMMY feel more likely a DUMMY. I felt lucky that I was able to borrow this at my library rather than shell out even $5 for this book in order to realize that not only was it nowhere near my level, but that it was just a bad arabic audio and text in general! For beginner's, I would recommend LIVING LANGUAGE, ULTIMATE ARABIC (beginning-intermediate).

"Good reference manaual", I have used the "for dummies" books in other subjects before and they are great tools, especially the pictures & tips. The DVD is a great added supplement. It is better to hear natives speak to train your ear for the different dialects when studying languages. I have been studying Arabic for a long time, I also tutor Arabic speakers(in English). I mainly purchased this book for a reference source, as it contains a lot of reminders that are very useful and helpful especially the grammatical rules I had forgotten since my first class.

"Excellent Complement to Other Learning Materials", This is an excellent complement to my other Arabic language learning materials. The fact that it uses transliterated Arabic is not an issue for me; what is more important is that it explains grammar clearly and provides information and explanations in very easy to understand language. I have already learned the Arabic alphabet and their equivalent letters in the alphabet we use for English, so it does not matter that the Arabic in this book is transliterated. In fact, in some respects it is an advantage as I can read through the material more quickly to better focus on the grammar points I am trying to learn and understand. I test myself by transliterating the transliterated Arabic back into Arabic script so the book serves two functions.

"not recommended for true learners", I bought this book the summer before I took my first Arabic class. When I started Arabic class, I found out how useless this book is (by comparison with Arabic in Ten Minutes a Day). Why? Although they cover the same material, Arabic for Dummies contains no Arabic script. Because there is no standard transliteration system for Arabic, learning Arabic in transliteration is like learning no Arabic at all.

When I learned the actual alphabet in class, including the letters, I learned the different sounds Arabic has, including two different types of D, S, H, K and T. The transliteration attempted to express this with capital and lower-case letters, but that doesn't help the mind see the difference as much as two completely different characters does. I can also now read my album covers (of music) and will be able to read street signs and menus when I visit Egypt. Now I'm disappointed in my Arabic for Dummies book because none of the vocabulary is given in the Arabic alphabet. It is not appropriate for supplementing my education because I am trying to learn to read Arabic as well as speak it, and when I speak the words, I want to be imagining the script in my head, not Latin approximations.

Another thing - this book focuses on the religious greetings and doesn't give many alternatives. I learned in my Arabic class that using the religious greetings may offend some non-Muslim Egyptians, and we learned alternative phrases that do not indicate a particular religious standing, such as Merhaba vs. Salaam Aleikum.



 
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