Ahlan Wa Sahlan: Functional Modern Standard Arabic for Beginners (Textbook)

I have been tutoring Arabic for 5 years ([email protected]) & this is the best book I found to be the text book for my students. My students love my lessons & this book is a big part of the good experience. it does not run over the material, it goes with you step by step, I do not know how Arabic would be learnt without a teacher, it is not like studying French if you know English..the difference starts in the Alphabet (writing & pronunciation) & grows more in grammar. So if you are looking for a gimmick book that will teach you to say parrot's "good morning" & "good night" & "have a nice day" then this is not the book...this is a serious, carefully planned, aiming at well-educated level of understanding & ability to handle this beautiful poetic language. for those who says it won't help you learn on your own: Arabic is one of the hardest languages to learn, & it is an Afro-Asiatic language so if your 1st language is Indu-European then do not blame the book, & the book is not full of misspelling, probably you were not understanding the language enough to know what you are reading! for those who do not like the book because of politics: the book is not political, it is a language book, but of course it will call Palestine by its native people given name & by the name Arab call it because it is teaching you Arabic in context! in this book you will follow some Arab students correspondances with their family & friends, & it will give you a background of the culture.

This textbook is designed to cover the first year of instruction in Modern Standard Arabic. Accompanied by an instructor's manual and an audio program, it will teach students to read, speak, and write Arabic. The text presents an engaging story that involves Adnan, a Syrian student studying in the U.S., and Michael, an American student studying in Cairo. In diaries, letters, and postcards, the two students describe their thoughts and activities, revealing how a non-American views American culture and how the Arabic culture is experienced by an American student. The text also provides information about the geography of the Arab world, prominent characters in history, festivities in Arab culture, the media, daily life, and the family. Exercises in comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, and writing attend to both form and meaning and develop functional abilities and knowledge about the Arabic sound, writing, and language systems. A great advance in the way Arabic is taught and an outstanding new addition to the available materials on the subject. ALSIADI,The State University of New jersey,RUTGERS .

This textbook is designed to cover the first year of instruction in Modern Standard Arabic. Accompanied by an instructor's manual and an audio program, it will teach students to read, speak, and write Arabic. The text presents an engaging story that involves Adnan, a Syrian student studying in the U.S., and Michael, an American student studying in Cairo. In diaries, letters, and postcards, the two students describe their thoughts and activities, revealing how a non-American views American culture and how the Arabic culture is experienced by an American student. The text also provides information about the geography of the Arab world, prominent characters in history, festivities in Arab culture, the media, daily life, and the family. Exercises in comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, and writing attend to both form and meaning and develop functional abilities and knowledge about the Arabic sound, writing, and language systems. A great advance in the way Arabic is taught and an outstanding new addition to the available materials on the subject.MOHAMED A ALSIADI,The State University of New jersey,RUTGERS .

I have been studying Arabic for four years, and this is the best textbook I've seen that is currently available. It is well organized and easy to read. Useful vocabulary and a thorough introduction of the Arabic language are contained within. In this day and age a working knowledge of arabic is highly useful. This book, in turn, will prove highly useful to any student of the Arabic language.

I was intorduced to this book through the Arabic program at Ohio State where Dr. Alosh is currently a professor. The book is easy to grasp with or with out the help of a native speaker and helps the student to also understand the culture in hand with the language. Simple and complete, I would recommend this program to any person wanting to learn Arabic. Salam!