Product Description

The beauty and richness of the history and cultures of the Middle East are matters of increasing interest to the English-speaking world. As nations make their way into this new century, there must be dialogue and understanding--and language is the doorway into that new understanding.

This revised and updated second edition of Al-Kitaab contains new video and audio material on three DVDs, along with revised and updated texts and exercises. Following naturally on the introductory text, Alif Baa, for the Al-Kitaab Arabic language program, this initial Part One text further develops skills in standard Arabic while providing additional material in colloquial as well as classical Arabic.

The audio vocabulary portion of the DVDs allow learners to hear a new word followed by a sentence using it in context along with previously acquired vocabulary and grammatical structures, enabling students to build new vocabulary skills while reviewing previously exercised material. The video portion offers the option of seeing and hearing the video of each lesson in both Modern Standard Arabic and Egyptian Colloquial Arabic. The DVDs also contain substantial material exposing the learner to Egyptian Arabic (the most widely used and understood Arabic dialect), a short dialogue in Egyptian Colloquial Arabic appears at the end of each lesson. New video materials also feature subtitled interviews with Egyptians about various aspects of Arab culture, such as gender issues, fasting in the Muslim and Christian traditions, social clubs and their significance, and more.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4706 in Books
• Published on: 2004-09-30
• Original language: English, Arabic
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 544 pages

Review
More drills and activities have been worked into the text, giving students more practice in the skills being presented. -- Middle East Studies Association Bulletin, June 2006

The student hears, sees and reads Arabic, and learning is kept close to an authentic linguistic and cultural experience. -- Association of Departments of Foreign Languages Bulletin, Fall 2005

This is a revised and updated edition, with new video and audio material and new exercises...An extremely impressive volume. -- Forum for Modern Language Studies, October 2005

From the Publisher
FEATURES

• Develops all language-related skills including reading, listening, speaking, writing, and cultural knowledge

• Immediately incorporates extensive use of authentic materials for reading, listening, and grammatical practice, relating abstract grammatical concepts to practical skills

• Presents narrative-based content through audio and video media rather than written text to develop meaning-focused language processing skills, utilizing two main characters and their extended families

• Develops reading skills through the use of composed texts derived from the main narrative and authentic texts from newspapers and journals

• Introduces grammar using the techniques of spiraling and inference, challenging learners to discover the grammar of the language by means of analogy, problem solving, and educated guessing

• Introduces Egyptian colloquial Arabic through scenes based on the main narrative to promote the use of shared vocabulary and structure of the two registers, increasing listening comprehension skills

• Contains Arabic–English and English–Arabic glossaries and reference charts as well as a grammar index

Customer Reviews

The best resource I've found...
Some of the people posting seem rather bitter towards Al-kitaab fii Ta'allum Al-'Arabiyya. One poster even mentioned that after the first couple of chapters he could say he was a specialist but not tell somebody his name. That's probably because he didn't use the primer Alif Baa.

I studied Modern Standard Arabic at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California back in 1989 and now that I want to study Arabic again, Al-kitaab fii Ta'allum Al-'Arabiyya is the best resource I have found. Trust me, I've reviewed so many books out there - This is honestly the best one that I've seen. The DVD is a great plus.

If you are trying to learn Arabic on your own, from scratch, I think you will be in for a rude shock. Perhaps you'll learn some tourist Arabic, but that's about it. If you have access to a teacher/tutor of Arabic, then get the book, Alif Baa, go through that and then tackle Al-kitaab fii Ta'allum Al-'Arabiyya.

Good Luck.

PS. A great way to supplement your vocabulary is to use the "Before You Know It" software program from www.BYKI.com (I think that's the URL) - it's the best software program I've seen for building vocabulary as you get to see/hear the word in a flashcard format. I would definitely use this program in conjunction with Alif Baa and Al-kitaab fii Ta'allum Al-'Arabiyya.

Sometimes you can't make it on your own...
The idea that one can learn Arabic on one's own is, quite frankly, insane and just plain stupid. It's not going to happen. And if you're taking an Arabic class, chances are you'll be using this book. There's just no way out of it.

It's a decent book but previous comments about the grammar instruction are spot-on. While all the guys in my class find Maha 'hot,' both genders agree that she is annoying and pathetic. Khaled is a bit better. The DVDs are great learning tools and the best way to figure out how to accurately pronounce the vocabulary-- if they didn't try to sneak in extra vocabularly throughout the chapter. You do develop a rather strange set of vocabulary without much rhyme or reason to it. Watch the DVDs *before* class to get the most out of them.

Remember two things before you drop your Al Kitaab out the window to fall on the head of some poor unsuspecting German language student:
1) It's called 'the book' for a reason. Right now, this is the best we've got.
2) Arabic is a tough language and it's not at all intuitive to non-natives. In French, you can often guess half the words. Not so with Arabic. Thus, as the preface tells you, you need to be studying 2-3hrs for every hour of class you have. Few people actually put this time in; those that don't suffer the consequences. No textbook can teach you Arabic if you're not willing to do the work yourself.

My recommendation for learning Arabic would be to start with an intensive, find a great teacher, forget you have a real life, make friends with your classmates, and get a tutor. Learning Arabic isn't a summer project-- it's a multiyear commitment. Don't bother with it unless you're really passionate about learning it because the payoffs can be a long time coming. This book, however, can work. I've seen several students go through the sequence and come out with an impressive knowledge of the language. A lot depends on the instructor.

Wow - DVDs bring it alive
I wrote a review for the previous edition of this book in March 2004. The new semester has started, we're using this new edition of the book which I picked up last night before class. This is my immediate response.

1. The text looks pretty similar, maybe cleaned up a little, but the vocabulary, the story of depressed Maha, and the overall structure appear to be similar to the first edition.

2. What's not at all similar is the fact that the book now comes with three DVDs. They contain the video material of Maha's story, and they contain audio for the exercises (previously included on CDs which had to be bought separately). Most valuable of all, I think, is that they contain lots of footage of interviews with real Arabic speakers. There are conversations with real people in the street. There are graduate students talking about what it's like to be a TA (mu'iid). There are *real* high schoolers talking about the pressures of al-thanawiya al-'amma (like European high-school diploma, where performance in a few exams determines what college you get into). I think this really helps bring it all to life. I think this material makes it worth far more than the purchase price.

3. The video stories of Maha and her family have been re-shot, with ridiculously beautiful-looking people. It was easier to believe that the somewhat heavy "old" Maha was frequently lonely. Now Maha is stunningly beautiful, like she just got back from filming Baywatch. Difficult to believe she would be lonely. Same goes for everyone else - everyone is beautiful. It's like a daytime soap. Perhaps they were trying to counteract negative stereotypes of Arabs as poor, living in crowded conditions; or as super-rich, living in unbelievable wealth. This family appears to live like an upper-middle-class American family, with slick haircuts, laptop computers, etc. Perhaps they just need to make the story a little less maudlin (Maha's always lonely, Khaled's mother died two years ago,...)

In all, from my cursory examination last night after class, I think this is fantastic. It's so hard to find real Arabic-language material, this is a great resource.