Standard Arabic: An Elementary-Intermediate Course

First of all, this book is not for learners who just want to learn enough Arabic to get by on the streets of Cairo, it is a very serious and compact textbook for people who want to acquire a sound grounding in MSA (especially for acquiring practicla knowledge in reading journalistic and expository Arabic) and those who work with a teacher. It is more compact than the Alif Baa and contains much more info than Teach Yourself Arabic for a reasonable price.Some reviewers complained about the extensive use of linguistic jargons in this book, but if one could not even overcome the difficulties with grammatical terminolgies in English, how can he learn Arabic, a notoriously hard language, well? In fact, once one understand what those terminologies mean, it makes the explanations crystal clear.However, I do have a complaint: the texts are completely unvocalized, even the glossaries in each lesson and appendices are not fully vocalized, and the recording of the book cannot make up for it, since it reads the text only.Suggestions for people who intend to use this book for self-study:1: You cannot soly rely on this book alone, you need a few more books with more recordings, conversational books and easier books.2: You should do the excercises SELECTIVELY, otherwise it is more than likely they are going to overwhelm you.3: You should not expect to absorb 100% of information in each lesson, but requently go back to previous lessons to review, since each lesson contains so much information that adamantly try to learn everything and learn every word appeared is just not practical.With some endeavours with this book, you will be amazed how much Arabic you have learned from it.

The vocabulary lists in here seem rather arbitrary and don't seem to fit in to anything in particular. I tend to learn the vocabulary in the order in which I find it, but I found that I had better result by giving the vocabulary less attention. This book really shines in grammar. Al-Kitaab is all over the place, Rosetta Stone teaches me how to say that various things of various colors are on airplanes, but this really gets into grammar. Most grammar books just through grammar at you because, you know, they're grammars, but this is intended to be a whole course, so it gives much more context. This book was a WONDERFUL addition to my Arabic class' assigned Al-Kitaab and had me mastering grammar long before anyone else.

This book is heavy in more ways than one. From the decidedly mixed bag of reactions to it from other reviewers, I have to believe that how people feel about it is greatly determined by what kind of linguistic background they have and what exposure to Arabic (if any) they had before taking this on. For some, there is no question that it would be a quantum leap both in terms of the highly technical coverage of Arabic grammar, and in the demands it makes on learners, especially with the huge amount of vocabulary to be memorized that comes with each lesson.Having come to this work from other Arabic textbooks with which I was considerably less than satisfied ) the extremely rigorous treatment of the grammar makes it very valuable to have, as it clears up a number of points that have not been made clear in other books. Consider, for instance, the question of whether the pattern of stress is altered if case endings are pronounced (the answer to that is yes, by the way). The size of the vocabulary lists is less daunting if you already know some.So although this is probably too dry and academic to work out well as a classroom text, and I certainly wouldn't suggest it be the first book for a beginning learner, it does have a great deal to offer serious learners as a backup and reference. And it is definitely worth the effort to master the linguistic terminology that is needed to understand the grammatical explanations.

This book is seen from the point of view for a teacher to teach arabic..and not for a student to learn from it self. However, it is possible to learn by your self but need somebody to check your pronunciation since there is no CD as long as I know. The book is excellent and the best way to learn arabic ; from writing to reading.

I want to update my interview. If you are an Arab-American with some background in Arabic, you may like this book if you want to review. If you already study a lot of Arabic and understand linguistic terms and can think in high level English, which I am trained to do in graduate school, then this would be great. Usually, very motivated learners learn languages. You must be motivated and somewhat experienced to benefit from this book. I think if you can find a tutor to help you with this book, there are many advantages to using it. However, you would have to go slowly. It could be a bit dry. I like the fact that it explains Arabic grammar using Arabic terms. I learned Arabic at the American School of Kuwait and was compelled to take it, and I was, basically, fluent, but, for some reason, I didn't understand my instructor's explanations. It's easier for me to make sense of the terms that were used in the past and learn from this book than from my teachers. I can relate more to this book than my instructors.If you want something for learning Arabic and self-study go with:1)Nicholas Awde and Alif Baa for mastering the alphabet2)Don't go to Al-Kitab, it's too much of a jump. Go and use Mastering Arabic by Whightwick. There are two volumes now. If you have a tutor, use Alosh's "Ahlan Wa Sahlan" book.If you want things geared to dialects, then go with Munther Younis for Levantine and Al Kitab for Egyptian and a mix of classical. Alosh sticks to just classical, but in a pratical way.

This book contains no characters whose families you learn about, no side-bars on Arab culture, no storylines. If you are goal-oriented, know how to learn a language, and are serious about mastering Arabic, this book is for you. If you want superfluous time-wasting filler, buy the inanely titled al-Kitaab.

i bought it used and it was in great quality