Your First 100 Words in Arabic (Book Only): Beginner's Quick & Easy Guide to Demystifying Non-Roman Scripts

I am using this on my own in preparation for college level Arabic classes and so far it's been pretty helpful re: pronunciation but the narrator's voice on the CD grates upon my nerves and the English instructions are too drawn out (thus less time for Arabic). The book itself is good because it has large type and flashcards you can cut out. My main quibble with the book: ugly graphics. Overall it is very helpful but it's not enjoyable to listen to ... unlike Pimsleur.

Original review (prior to formal Arabic instruction): This book was my "ice-breaker" to learning Arabic, for personal interest in Christian-Muslim dialogue, and professional interest in Islamic world view(s). The key to this book's exceptional utility is the ease of associating sound patterns of phonetic transliteration of words for everyday objects (household items, clothing articles, etc.) with the written patterns of Arabic characters. Although I totally lacked familiarity with the Arabic alphabet, the correspondence between "sound and sight" was remarkably easy to decipher, granted the basic level of vocabulary. While I don't expect more advanced vocabulary or grammar to be nearly so easy, the book accomplishes its objective: Removing the intimidation of a completely unfamiliar alphabet. Well done! As an aside, I've found that the ability to read music (a skill I've only recently acquired) helps significantly. It's a very short "leap" from reading pitches represented by non-Roman characters (musical notes) to reading phonemes represented by a non-Roman alphabet. Addendum following instruction: Since writing the above review, I've completed a semester in beginning Arabic, and I now have a mild-to-moderate criticism of the book. There are basic sounds and sound patterns that simply cannot be represented by English phoneticisms, period. So for the purpose of learning the *sounds* represented by Arabic *script*, English phoneticisms are misleading in some cases, and flat out wrong in others. For those already familiar with Arabic sounds, phoneticisms or transliterations are merely "codes" rather than representations. Unfortunately, this book gives the (often false) impression of *representing* the sounds. Readers who get a false sense of confidence in mispronunciations learned from this book (as I did) may be discouraged when they first encounter the difficulties of correct pronunciation. That's where my music reading analogy falls apart: In music training you actually hear the notes represented by the symbols, whereas the edition of this book that I reviewed did not include a CD. The book still works very well re demystifing Arabic *script*, but the apparent representations of Arabic *sounds* should be taken with a grain of salt. For the English speaker, many Arabic sounds and ways of verbally connecting sounds are totally unfamiliar. To learn to properly pronounce Arabic on even the most basic level, inter-personal instruction is an absolute must. Recordings are good supplements for "ear training," but they cannot provide the correction essential for properly *verbalizing* Arabic sounds. As an example of why this correction is essential, well into my first semester of very exacting instruction, I could detect the anglicized mispronunciations of acquaintances who've "picked up" Arabic overseas without benefit of intensive instruction. In contrast, on the first day of my second semester, my new teacher, a native *Saudi* Ar

This is the book to begin learning any language. This makes the transition to other learning methods much easier. This book gives the foundation for reading Arabic script and recognizing essential words in the Arabic language. I did have the pronunciation of some words wrong, but it was easy to make corrections. Other methods will teach the grammar and phrases, but this book should be the first to buy. This book and the "Teach Yourself Gulf Arabic" have given me a basis for expanding my knowledge of the Arabic language.

This book does exactly what the title says: it makes learning the script an easier process. I used this book first and then went on to Arabic Explorer software by Rosetta Stone. I found I was pronouncing words wrong, but that was easily corrected because I only knew 100 words. I don't know how I could have used the Arabic Explorer software without this book, because they don't even introduce the script. With this book though it was a good transition. The best way I found to use this book was to go through a set of flashcards until I had the transliteration memorized and then start trying to cover up the transliteration and go straight from the Arabic script to the English word. A very good starting place for those who want to read and speak Arabic.

Spent all of June in Safaga, Egypt. I showed this book to my Egyptian counterpart (a teacher, private pilot, Senior Master Gulf of Suez Ship Pilot, and business owner) and he immediately asked me to buy one for him to use to help his clients when they're in town. This is the way most of us learned English in Grammar school. Some by rote and visual learning. I believe this is the best primer for English-speakers available on the market. Definately the most useful of the ...of books/tapes I have purchased. I'm going to AMAZE my host family when I return to Ismalia next month.