Ultimate Arabic: Beginner-Intermediate

by Living Language

Book Overview

Developed by the experts at Living Language, this course has everything you need to learn Arabic from scratch or to revive the Arabic that you learned years ago. Ultimate Arabic combines conversation... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1400020816
• ISBN13: 9781400020812
• Release Date: February 2006
• Publisher: Living Language
• Length: 536 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.1" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Ultimate Arabic Beginner-Intermediate

Love this book. Very clear, very very helpful, (still using it), and I have encouraged others to buy it. Love it....Thanks!

Good Overview

I bought this for my wife and she speaks several languages fluently. It appears that the lessons in this program are a good start for an Arabic student. She also purchased a book on the Arabic alphabet that was a great supplement. The problem with Arabic (I lived in Bahrian and know a bit about this) is that the language is diverse and so much is geographically dependent. If you know where you will be living or working, then it may be a good idea to get a general course like this and then something that will target a specific area or region (Gulf Arabic for example). This CD and book program targets general Arabic, as well as Egyptian, Iraqi, Lebanese, and Saudi dialects.

Brilliant!!!

As a serious linguist I use all the materials I can get in order to break the language and I was quite impressed when I saw this title. I have experienced other Ultimate courses, such as RUSSIAN and it was a wonderful learning experience. Arabic is not one, but many: There are many dialects, but the ones I am interested in are covered on Ultimate Arabic. You have the Eastern dialect (as spoken in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine), you have Egyptian Arabic, Iraqui Arabic, Gulf Arabic, etc... apart from the dialects there is MSA (Modern Standard Arabic). The latter is only used in literature and on newscasts, and on official speeches. It has a resemblance to Saudi and Gulf Arabic, but many words change. So much that the differences can be compared to those between Spanish and Italian, and or Portuguese. Same origin, but the languages have evolved according to geography. With this course, you will get a deep understanding of MSA and you will be introduced to four major dialects. You will learn how to read and write the Arabic script's 32 symbols and you will get ample practice from the beginning. There is no transliteration, so you will be reading and writing Arabic in no time and believe you me, this is one thorough course of Arabic!!! I have checked everything there is out there and this is in the top 3. My sincere appreciation goes to the team that developed this product. Shukran Kteer!!!

Buy this book

This is quite possibly the best Arabic book out there. Whether you're taking classes or just studying Arabic on your own, this book will DEFINITELY help you. Instead of just teaching you pointless vocabulary items with tiny bits of grammar, it describes to you the structure and LOGIC of Arabic. All languages possess a certain logic to them. The logic of the Arabic language is VERY different from that of English. This book won't just tell you basic grammar, it will immerse you in learning how to form your own sentences and teach you the language the way languages should be taught: learning the language's logic. Another EXTREMELY important thing is the variety of Arabic it teaches you. MSA (modern standard arabic [which is taught here]) will basically be understood anywhere, but each region that uses MSA as its formal standard (for ex: Egypt, Iraq) has its own specific brand of Arabic. The differences between such a local dialect and MSA are pretty big at times. SO, it is even better to hear that this book/CD course not only gives you an AWESOME immersion into MSA, it gives you a good explanation of four major Arabic dialects: Saudi, Lebanese, Iraqi and Egyptian. ABSOLUTELY AWESOME. I highly recommend this whole package.

This is a great course!

This is one of the best arabic courses I have seen on the market. It gives you a complete run down of arabic grammar and it shows how standard written arabic differs from the colloquial dialects, something you have to know if you're going to an arab country. I recomend getting the audio material with the book, because arabic has some sounds that don't exist in english, and so you're going to need all the practise you can get. All in all, I can't find anything lacking in Ultimate Arabic.