Arabic for Life or Mastering Arabic (Specific Languages) Language Learning Forum

Arabic for Life or Mastering Arabic
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ericblair
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Speaks: English*
Studies: French

Message 1 of 18

23 August 2014 at 5:51am | IP Logged

My local library has The Arabic Alphabet: How to Read & Write It by Awde and Samano.
I've checked it out.

If I can test to approximately the A2/B1 level, my workplace will fund me getting
private tutoring. I only am tested in reading, speaking, and listening. NOT writing. I
have around 18 months to get there, but sooner would definitely be better.

After using the above course to learn the alphabet, I am unsure where to go.

I was thinking this:
http://www.amazon.com/Arabic-Life-Textbook-Beginning/dp/0300 141319/ref=

As it looks quite comprehensive and is only $78.68 new.

Or this set:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0230013120/ref=
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0781812690/ref=
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0781812542/ref=

If the links don't work, that is Mastering Arabic 1 (with 2 CDs), Mastering Arabic 1
Practice Book, and Mastering Arabic 2 (with 2 CDs) all from Jane Wightwick. The total
cost of these is about the same as for the Arabic for Life textbook.

Anyone have experience with any of the above? Other things I was considering getting
(not necessarily right away) were:
Hans-Wehr dictionary ~$33
OR
Lingualism Arabic Learner's Dictionary: Arabic-English by Aldrich ~$22

Learn to Read Arabic Quickly by Judith Meyer ~$15
http://www.amazon.com/Learn-Read-Arabic-Quickly-Alphabet/dp/ 144787692X/ref=

Mastering Arabic Script by Wightwick ~$15 Unsure if I would need more writing practice
outside of the Awde book and whichever main course I am using.

Other than that, I planned to pick up a copy of An Introduction to Modern Literary
Arabic by David Cowan since it can be had for a song on Amazon anyway.

So, basically....thoughts on Arabic for Life versus the set of Mastering Arabic books
from Wightwick and then which supplemental things I should get. Additionally, whether
any of the extras I listed are worth getting. If none of this makes sense, I am open to
other suggestions since I've never dabbled in Arabic before! I saw there is a Michel
Thomas course for it, but I heard the pronunciation of the teacher sucks. I then heard
the teacher on it was Wightwick. So it made me a bit nervous.

As of now I am leaning towards just using the Awde alphabet book, and then ordering
Arabic for Life and An Intro to Modern Literary Arabic to use as grammar supplement.
That is my "Keep it Simple Stupid" fallback. Thanks!
1 person has voted this message useful

ericblair
Senior Member
United States
Joined 4701 days ago
480 posts - 700 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: French

Message 2 of 18

23 August 2014 at 5:53am | IP Logged

PS My library also had a 1982 copy of Teach Yourself Arabic by A.T. Ayyad, but I could
find no info or reviews on this particular book anywhere. Any thoughts on it would be
appreciate. Thank you in advance to everyone for any advice.

Links and resources that are online are also appreciated. Though I tend to learn better
with things not on the net.
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Doitsujin
Diglot
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Speaks: German*, English

Message 3 of 18

23 August 2014 at 6:53pm | IP Logged

Pretty much any "Learn the Arabic Alphabet" book will do.

If you have access to a larger library, ask for the old Linguaphone Arabic course, which comes with one of the best Alphabet teaching booklets that I've seen so far. (I learned the alphabet with it.)

Unfortunately, there's no book preview for the Arabic for Life textbook, which makes it hard to evaluate it. Unlike Jane Wightwick, the author is also not exactly a household name when it comes to teaching Arabic.

I'd definitely go with the Mastering Arabic books, because Wightwick usually does a great job at explaining complicated Arabic grammar features.

As for the Hans Wehr dictinonary, you don't need it right away, and probalby couldn't use it anyway, because it lists headwords by root. I.e. if you wanted to look up مكتبة [maktaba], you'd need to know that its root is k-t-b and that you'd find it under ك [k] and not م [m].

As a beginner you may want to look for a dictionary that lists entries alphabetically or use online websites, e.g. Elixir FM Arabic.

ericblair wrote:

Other than that, I planned to pick up a copy of An Introduction to Modern Literary
Arabic by David Cowan since it can be had for a song on Amazon anyway.

I haven't read this one, but based on the Amazon preview, it looks like a solid traditional Arabic grammar.
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ericblair
Senior Member
United States
Joined 4701 days ago
480 posts - 700 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: French

Message 4 of 18

23 August 2014 at 9:53pm | IP Logged

Thank you for the input! I suppose going with what is established is not a bad idea.
I had money left on a giftcard so on Amazon I went ahead and ordered:
Mastering Arabic 1 (with 2 cds)
Mastering Arabic 1: Practice for Beginners
An Introduction to Modern Literary Arabic

I figure there is no need to buy EVERYTHING now. Once I finish Arabic 1 and the
practice book, I will look into getting the Mastering Arabic 2 course. I am hoping
that picking up their Easy Arabic grammar isn't needed as a standalone since presumably
(hopefully?) all the grammar I need will be covered in the main course text or in the
other grammar I purchased.

Thanks again for the help. I will post a review and impressions once I get into these
things as Arabic is the first language in a while I will study with zero background in
it or a related language.

Off to start The Arabic Alphabet by Awde and Samano for now :)
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napoleon
Tetraglot
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India
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Speaks: Bengali*, English, Hindi, Urdu
Studies: French, Arabic (Written)

Message 5 of 18

23 August 2014 at 10:28pm | IP Logged

Doitsujin wrote:

Pretty much any "Learn the Arabic Alphabet" book will do.

Agreed.
I used Wightwick's book to learn the script. And despite its faults it does do a good job teaching ruqa (cursive script). And then there's the FSI Script book, which is decent as well. Heck, you can even learn it online. But you're not interested in writing so it shouldn't matter. :)

Doitsujin wrote:

Unfortunately, there's no book preview for the Arabic for Life textbook, which makes it hard to evaluate it. Unlike Jane Wightwick, the author is also not exactly a household name when it comes to teaching Arabic.

In its defence, "Arabic for Life" does have great reviews on Amazon. But, I haven't used it myself, so I can't really say if it's any good.

Doitsujin wrote:

I'd definitely go with the Mastering Arabic books, because Wightwick usually does a great job at explaining complicated Arabic grammar features.

I'm afraid we'll have to disagree. :)
While I haven't used "Arabic for Life," I have used Wightwick's "Mastering Arabic". (Perhaps, I should say, I tried using it but couldn't.)
Wightwick does a great job of simplifying Arabic grammar. Some would accuse her of oversimplifying things. You aren't really "Mastering Arabic". "Beginning Arabic" would have been more apt. :)
But, the real problem with "Mastering Arabic" is something else. She doesn't use any diacritics, so most of the time you're left guessing the pronunciation of a word.

Edit:

I'm quoting what nancydowns had to say about the book in the Arabic Study Group log:

nancydowns wrote:

...
I have a book "Mastering Arabic" by Wightwick and Gaafar. It seems like a good book, but they seriously gloss over
grammar points, and it is not fully vocalized. So when I posted a picture of my handwriting, I was missing some vowels, namely the case markers for the
nouns. That wasn't covered in my book, so I am glad that Napoleon pointed it out. I went and searched online and found some information about it then.
...

Edit Part 2:

It took me so long to write this post that by the time I was done, you'd already ordered the book. :)
Anyway, I hope you tell us how you find it.

Have fun with Arabic! :)

Edited by napoleon on 23 August 2014 at 10:41pm
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Doitsujin
Diglot
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Message 6 of 18

24 August 2014 at 12:57am | IP Logged

napoleon wrote:

Wightwick does a great job of simplifying Arabic grammar. Some would accuse her of oversimplifying things.

Sometimes she does oversimplify things, but I fail to see the benefit of teaching all grammar elements right at the beginning.

napoleon wrote:

You aren't really "Mastering Arabic". "Beginning Arabic" would have been more apt. :)

I totally agree with you on that. The Mastering Arabic books only teach the basics. But nothing prevents students to continue their studies with a more advanced textbook or grammar. :-)

napoleon wrote:

But, the real problem with "Mastering Arabic" is something else. She doesn't use any diacritics, so most of the time you're left guessing the pronunciation of a word.

Traditionally, many Arabic textbooks don't teach case endings right away and Wightwick does use diacritics in the answer keys where necessary. (I presume that the audio CDs contain the text of all the lessons.)

@ericblair: Please post your experience with the Mastering Arabic books in this thread.

In addition to the books that you ordered you also might find the following free resources useful, after you've mastered the alphabet:

All the Arabic You Never Learned the First Time Around by Jim Price (DLIFC grammar book; public domain)

Arabic Simplified by Arthur T. Upson (very detailed and clear grammar book; public domain)

4 persons have voted this message useful

ericblair
Senior Member
United States
Joined 4701 days ago
480 posts - 700 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: French

Message 7 of 18

24 August 2014 at 4:05am | IP Logged

napoleon wrote:

Doitsujin wrote:

Pretty much any "Learn the Arabic Alphabet" book
will do.

Agreed.
I used Wightwick's book to learn the language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=38235&PN=0&TPN=9">scr ipt. And despite its
faults it does do a good job teaching ruqa (cursive script). And then there's the FSI
Script book, which is decent as well. Heck, you can even learn it online. But you're
not interested in writing so it shouldn't matter. :)

Doitsujin wrote:

Unfortunately, there's no book preview for the Arabic for Life textbook, which makes it
hard to evaluate it. Unlike Jane Wightwick, the author is also not exactly a household
name when it comes to teaching Arabic.

In its defence, "Arabic for Life" does have great reviews on Amazon. But, I haven't
used it myself, so I can't really say if it's any good.

Doitsujin wrote:

I'd definitely go with the Mastering Arabic books, because Wightwick usually does a
great job at explaining complicated Arabic grammar features.

I'm afraid we'll have to disagree. :)
While I haven't used "Arabic for Life," I have used Wightwick's "Mastering Arabic".
(Perhaps, I should say, I tried using it but couldn't.)
Wightwick does a great job of simplifying Arabic grammar. Some would accuse her of
oversimplifying things. You aren't really "Mastering Arabic". "Beginning Arabic" would
have been more apt. :)
But, the real problem with "Mastering Arabic" is something else. She doesn't use any
diacritics, so most of the time you're left guessing the pronunciation of a word.

Edit:

I'm quoting what nancydowns had to say about the book in the any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=38235&PN=0&TPN=8" >Arabic Study Group
log:

nancydowns wrote:

...
I have a book "Mastering Arabic" by Wightwick and Gaafar. It seems like a good book,
but they seriously gloss over
grammar points, and it is not fully vocalized. So when I posted a picture of my
handwriting, I was missing some vowels, namely the case markers for the
nouns. That wasn't covered in my book, so I am glad that Napoleon pointed it out. I
went and searched online and found some information about it then.
...

Edit Part 2:

It took me so long to write this post that by the time I was done, you'd already
ordered the book. :)
Anyway, I hope you tell us how you find it.

Have fun with Arabic! :)

No worries, napoleon.Your replies are still very helpful for future readers of the
forum. There is a reason I ask so many questions on so many languages. It is a great
resource for others :) Just curious, had I not ordered it, what would you have
suggested I go with?
2 persons have voted this message useful

napoleon
Tetraglot
Senior Member
India
Joined 5006 days ago
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Speaks: Bengali*, English, Hindi, Urdu
Studies: French, Arabic (Written)

Message 8 of 18

26 August 2014 at 11:45am | IP Logged

I am yet to come across a good Arabic book for beginners. If you find one, do let me know. :)
Jokes apart, I've used A. Rahim's Madinah series and while there may be better books out there, I certainly haven't found any.

Doitsujin wrote:

...
All the Arabic You Never Learned the First Time Around by Jim Price (DLIFC grammar book; public domain)

Arabic Simplified by Arthur T. Upson (very detailed and clear grammar book; public domain)
...

of course, the two books Doitsujin mentions are also great.
Price's ATAYNLTFTA is a classic. Although, it's more of a reference. Not recommended from those just starting out.
Arabic Simplified isn't your traditional grammar tome, but seems perfectly designed to teach Arabic to a beginner. Thanks Doisujin. :)

I hope you won't mind if I quote from my log again:

napoleon wrote:

I am going to post the first page of the first lesson in Madinah Book 1. And I'm also going to post the first page of lesson 10.
The first lesson teaches you to how to point to something and say:
This is a book.
This is a pen.
If you want to say car (which is feminine in Arabic), you'll have to wait till lesson 6.

In the meanwhile, from lesson 5, almost every chapter is a dialogue. A conversation between students and their teacher.
Take lesson 10 as an example. (This is what I'm studying now.)
It teaches you, among other things, to ask people whether they have any siblings.
It also teaches you how to reply: you have one brother. And one sister. If you have more. Or, if you have no siblings at all, you're out of luck.

It's a great book. It's also graded: grammar is introduced in bits. It doesn't throw entire sentences at you from the first lesson.
But, by the time you're in lesson 10, you're reading dialogues and short passages.
Parts of the book are dreary and sleep-inducing, though. But, I guess it's the same as any other book.

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