Alif Baa: An Introduction to Arabic Letters and Sounds (Al-Kitaab Arabic Language Program) [Arabic] [Paperback]

First, to understand my review, a little about me: I am fluent in English, Spanish and Russian and I am a linguist. So I enjoy all the details about language that this book includes.

Great book for practicing writing, dictation, and reading along with conversation skills. Each chapter introduces some letters, has you practice writing them, has a few dictation exercises where you listen and try to write the word. Also, the book has access to an online component which is SO MUCH easier than downloading each individual media file on your computer. The website is great and loads quickly. Towards the end, the focus is more on conversation.

The book focuses on Egyptian, Levantine and Modern Arabic. All vocab is presented in all three dialects. However, as someone studying Gulf Arabic (for which textbooks are hard to find), I wish they presented gulf arabic as well. Don't confuse yourself with all the dialects - if you just wnat to know Arabic stick with modern Arabic and then later learn a specific dialect.

The reason it recieves a 4:
1) The answer key has to be bought separately which is so annoying if you are learning on your own. Especially since they do not tell you this. I spent a good deal of time searching for the answer key before finally googling and figuring out I had to buy it.
2) Since it's a textbook, the book is quite pricey. Plus the online subscription only lasts 18 months, so if you want to use it for longer than 18 months, you will have to pay an additional $25 (the first 18 months are free).

Overall, a solid textbook. But probably better for serious language students who are learning a second or third language.

I used this book for the first 5 weeks in my first semester of Arabic at The University of Texas. The Syllabus for that class was designed by Mahmoud Al-Batal himself, so I know that we used the book the way the Authors intended. We did every single exercise from every single chapter (using the al-kitaab website mentioned in the book) and I found this approach to be very helpful. One of the biggest challenges in learning Arabic is distinguishing between the various foreign sounds between there less foreign counterparts. For an English speaker, these sounds are usually very difficult to distinguish and correctly produce initially. As such, many of the exercises are appropriately devoted to differentiating these harder-to-hear sounds from the ones that English speakers are more familiar with. Also, this newest addition has vocabulary given in three different dialects/registers. This book is designed this way to suit a multitude of purposes, so you do not need to learn all three if you do not want to. Many college programs teach only formal Arabic during there introductory courses, so if you find it too confusing to try and learn 2 or 3 different ways to say something, then don't. At UT, most classes learn formal Arabic and one of the two dialects. This was difficult at first, but it got easier as the course progressed. I'm now at the end of my first year (we're about to start chapter 12 of Al-Kitaab 1) and it has gotten much easier to distinguish between these two registers. We usually speak in the dialect we're using, and write essays/tests in formal Arabic which fairly closely models how you would use these registers in real life. Anyway, I have one suggestion: in Alif-Baa, they often introduce vocabulary words before you will know how to write them. Do go back and practice actually writing these words after you've learned all the letters. It will save you a lot of heartache later. This is a great addition and it can easily be used for self-study (for best results, make sure you purchase the answer key or use the provided free website which will tell you when you get something wrong). The Al-kitaab books are not not designed to accommodate private study, so I would switch to a different course after this book if that is your intent. However, with dedication and the purchase of the answer key and the use of the DVD(or the website after is made available for the Al-Kitaab books when the 3rd editions are produced) it is still possible to make significant progress with the series on your own as long as you get a native speaker to check your pronunciation, usage, and understanding of key concepts.

Three final notes: 1, make sure you purchase this new if you intend to use the website, because it won't let you reuse the code if it has already been used previously.
2, the website makes it seem like it can't be used without being enrolled in a course. This is not true. After you've signed in and added the book number, click on "Book Details" below the space to input the course number and you should be given the option to use this book independently. Regardless, all of the videos and exercises are on the included DVD, although in a format that is less easy to use.
3, The al-Kitaab books will be produced in the 3rd edition in the same format as these: with all the vocab included in 3 columns (both in formal and the same two dialects). I know this because we are using the unpublished 3rd edition in my classes at UT. They have also completely restructured the order and way they introduce grammatical topics, which in my opinion is a significant improvement over the 2nd edition. The biggest change is that they've started to introduce the root and pattern system much earlier, while still saving a lot of the details until the 2nd Al-Kitaab book which lays out the entire system in full detail throughout the course of the book. Also, they've front-loaded a lot of the vocabulary sections, so you definitely have more words to learn per chapter. These will be much nicer editions then what is previously available (when they become available).

I love this book. It is very easy to comprehend. The best part is the different dialect they have with transliteration. I have been in the States for over 25 years and trying to make the best way of trasletiration of Arabic words because of the different sounding and pronounciation, but this book has it all. It simplifies sounds and pronounciation and learing Arabic letters in an easy manner. The accompied CD is great way of self teaching method too. I am teaching this book in an after school program and I am realy enjoying it! i hope my students will.
The only withdrawal is that I wish there are more vocabulary in each chapter that makes up sentences that are used in daily life instead of just hearing them from the converstaion on the CD.