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List Price: $54.95 | | Publisher: Georgetown University Press
Salesrank: 3230
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| Our Price: $47.00 |
| Used Price: $30.00 |
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| Media: Paperback |
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Editorial Review:
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.
Al-Kitaab fii Ta'allum al-'Arabiyya with DVDs: A Textbook for Beginning Arabic, Part One Second Edition Reviews:
Great book. 
2008-09-25 - Great book. Despite it being a used one, it still consisted all it's dvd as needed, for almost half the price of my bookstore price. Thanks a lot!
Al-Kitaab 
2008-09-21 - I but a lot of books and I do not expect to "review" my purchase each time. If I am swindled you will hear from me, otherwise thank you very much and don't bother me. Do you "preview" my response?
Al-Kitaab fii Ta'allum al-'Arabiyya with DVDs (Part 1)
2008-09-07 - No book, CD, DVD or other will ever teach anyone a language. However, this is the best that I have ever seen (but would still recommend using other materials to complement this combination of textbook/DVDs). The only disadvantage in my case is that it relies heavily on Egyptian Arabic instead of pure Modern Standard Arabic (but does throw in some regional dialect differences now and then, including that of Iraq). One should start with the "Alif Ba" series and buy the corresponding "Answer Keys". As good as it is, it was written to be used in a classroom setting; personally, I am using it for self-study and get help from Iraqi friends. Like any language, there is a need for much repetition and most people will have moments of frustration when they are tempted to quit. I congratulate the authors on an outstanding job. (One person I know, who may have a knack for languages but is a native speaker of English, is now able to hold basic conversation with Iraqis after ten months of study and has not even started Books 2 and 3!)
The authoritative text for learning Arabic
2008-07-08 - This product is by far the undisputed standard for learning how to read, write & speak arabic. I have purchased many others before buying this one, including 'teach yourself arabic' and 'living language complete arabic' but they fell far short of expectations.
The text is thorough and is filled with challenging and interesting exercises. The DVDs complement the text very well, and make the learning experience more interactive and interesting. The native speakers featured are excellent and the dialogues relevant. One of the best features of this course is the positioning of standard arabic alongside egyptian colloquial arabic. I found this especially helpful as over the years, I have developed a basic command of spoken egyptian arabic and had no idea what the standard equivalent was. This course has given me the ability to differentiate between both and switch accordingly depending on the situation.
I would recommend this course to anyone interested in learning arabic without hesitation. Other courses I have purchased in the past are far inferior and do not even compare to this one.
Don't try this on your own
2008-06-11 - While I would say that you shouldn't try this on your own, in the context of the classroom, it's a very useful resource. It does not stand on its own in terms of learning material for everyday conversational use but it does not pretend to do so.
For those who would knock it, read the introduction. It is not shy about relating the amount of effort that must be put in to get an adequate result.
