Job Discussion Forums

[megs]

I have been looking for a good Arabic for beginners textbook, but everything I have found has been so dry. I'm looking for a communicative text, along the lines of New Headway or Side by Side. I've found a great teacher, now I'm just looking a textbook to use. Any suggestions?

[Sekhmet]

Hey, I'm looking for something similar. I've been hanging around the AUC bookshop in the hopes that something interesting will show up, but as you say - it's all boring and dry. But I think thats just what we have to put up with. I teach from New Interchange, and would love something of that sort for my Arabic studies!! Hmm... new project?

[veiledsentiments]

I found the same problem when I first arrived in the Middle East back in the mid-80's - and it seems that little has changed. I knew an American fellow who was fluent in Arabic (with an MA in TEFL) who was writing a text for teaching AFL. BUT, he started at about high intermediate level!!

We discussed the problem of lack of good introductory texts, but it appears that he ran into the same questions that seem to come up - what dialect? start with Arabic text immediately or later? how much transliteration? It seems that no one knows or can decide exactly how to approach it.

How many people were chased away from continuing Arabic study because of that huge orange Cambridge Modern Standard Arabic textbook?? Is that thing still around?

AUC has done some in-house texts in transliterated Egyptian dialect that are not quite as scary, but I am still waiting for that good introductory text similar to our introductory English materials.

VS

[godleyangel]

There is a series of textbooks that begins with "Alif Baa", which teaches the sounds and writing system of Arabic. It's a great introduction that is accompanied by CDs for pronunciation and word recognition, etc. This book is followed by "Al-kitaab fi ta-allum al-arabiyya: A Textbook for Arabic." The authors are Kristen Brustad, Mahmoud Al-Batal, and Abbas Al-Tonsi. There are two textbooks, part 1 and 2, that I am familiar with (although I am told that a part 3 has also come out) which come with CDs that have monologues and vocabulary on them as well as some listening exercises. It's a great series, however the grammar is quite watered down, so some concepts that would enable you to understand certain basic concepts in Arabic (like, for example, that most Arabic words originate from a 3 consonant root) are not introduced until chapter 7 or so of the first part, which I found rather frustrating because I personally do better when all the grammar rules are out in the open.

This series teaches the Modern Standard Arabic that can be understood throughout the Arab world; it is the language of the Quran, historical texts and most all news media.

Good luck in your Arabic studies!
Angelique

[Sekhmet]

I agree - Al-Kitaab is good, in terms of learning the written side of the language (ie. Fousha) The main problem from my point of view is the fact there is very little relation between MSA and Egyptian colloquial, which is what I'm interested in.
Although I know it is hard to find courses that deal with all facets of the language, thats what I'm looking for - all skills being developed at once!!! I guess I'll just have to keep looking...

[eslandflteacher]

Hi,

I maintain that EMSA, with some appropriate modifications in the area of oral practice, is still the best introduction to Arabic.

You can't go wrong with a good grounding in grammar/system of operation that EMSA provides.

K

[shfranke]

Greetings.

Three multimedia (textbook and CD / audiocassettes) for self-study of conversational / functional Arabic (in dialects of Iraq and the Gulf) include:

1. Modern Iraqi, by Yasin M. Alkalesi
(Georgetown University Press, pb and six CDs)

2. Iraqi Phrasebook, by Yasin M. Alkalesi
(McGraw-Hill, paperback only)

3. Teach Yourself Gulf Arabic, by Jack Smart and Frances Altorfer
(NTC Publishing Group, paperback; audiocassettes optional)

The contents are organized around the most-likely situations which a visitor / tourist / newly-arrived expat would encounter.

Although some other textbooks and packages exist, these three seem the better-organized and easy-to-use references around.

A university in California is developing a mutlimedia, interactive (a la video game with an interactive component) software for functional training of US military personnel in the Iraqi (Baghdadi central) dialect of Arabic, and that product should appear as a commercial product before the year's end.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Stephen H. Franke
San Pedro, California