Arabic For Dummies
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Product Description
Product Description
Regarded as one of the most difficult languages to learn for native English speakers by the U.S. State Department, Arabic is gaining both prominence and importance in America. Recent world events have brought more and more Americans and other English speakers into contact with Arabic–speaking populations, and governments and businesses are increasingly aware of the importance of basic Arabic language skills. Arabic for Dummies provides you with a painless and fun way to start communicating in Arabic.
Why should you learn Arabic? Well, besides the fact that over 200 million people in more than 22 nations use it to communicate, there are tons of reasons to get up to speed this 1,400 year old language, including:
- Nearly all of the Middle–East speaks Arabic or one of its dialects
- Basic Arabic skills are extremely useful for anyone traveling to, doing business in, or serving in the Middle East
- It is the language in which the Koran is written
- There is a rich, centuries–old literary tradition in Arabic
Arabic For Dummies presents the language in the classic, laid–back For Dummies style. Taking a relaxed approach to this difficult language, it’s packed with practice dialogues and communication tips that will have you talking the talk in no time. You’ll get the scoop on:
- The Arabic alphabet, pronunciation, basic grammar, and the rules of transliteration
- The history of the language and information on classical Arabic and its dialects
- How to make small talk and make yourself understood when dining, shopping, or traveling around town
- How to communicate on the phone and in business conversations
- Handy words and phrases for dealing with money, directions, hotels, transportation, and emergencies
- Arabic culture and etiquette, including ten things you should never do in Arabic countries
The book also includes an Arabic–English dictionary, verb tables, and an audio CD with dialogues from the book to help you perfect your pronunciation. Written by a native Arabic speaker who helped start a year–round Arabic department at Middlebury College, Arabic For Dummies is just what you need to start making yourself understood in Arabic.
Note: CD–ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.
From the Back Cover
Your survival guide for everyday words and expressions
Your fun and friendly guide to Modern Standard Arabic
This unintimidating guide will help you start speaking Modern Standard Arabic — beginning today! Whether you′re a student, a traveler, or you work in business or government, you′ll find it′s packed with practical lessons, cultural facts, and handy references — including coverage of written Arabic, an Arabic–English mini–dictionary, lists of vital verbs, and more!
Discover how to
- Have everyday conversations in Arabic
- Make sense of Arabic grammar
- Improve your pronunciation
- Use idioms and popular expressions
- Get around in Arabic–speaking countries
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
MarHaba (mahr-hah-bah; welcome) to the wonderful world of Arabic! Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
MarHaba (mahr-hah-bah; welcome) to the wonderful world of Arabic! Read the first page
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Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
40 of 42 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Arabic for Dummies by Amine Bouchentouf is an excellent resource for anyone starting to learn how to speak Modern Standard Arabic. The text is straight-forward and the vocabulary included in the book is very useful. The layout of the book is also very good, as it is very step-by-step, though you are able to dive into any section and begin learning this beautiful language.
The dialogues on CD are useful for helping you to get your tongue around some of the strange sounds in the arabic language, and there are plenty of tables showing verb conjugation at the back of the book to help with some of, though not all, of the arabic verbs.
The dictionary at the back of the book is a useful compiilation of the words used in the book, though I recommend anyone to purchase a proper English - Arabic/ Arabic - English dictionary, for further reference.
My biggest problem with this book is the exclusion of the arabic script (apart from a small mention of the different letters at the start). This is both good and bad - those wanting to learn just to speak arabic will do fine with using this book, whereas those wanting to be able to read the script will have to learn to write arabic using another source, such as a dictionary, because the author failed to mention that each letter has different forms dependent upon where the letter falls in the word.
There is also a tranlation erorr on page 251 in the dialogue. Where it says "marHaba 'ilaa al-maghrib" this does not translate to "step forward please" it means "welcome to Morocco".
Overall, a good resource for learning Modern Standard Arabic, though not perfect and far from recommended for those wanting to learn arabic script.
The dialogues on CD are useful for helping you to get your tongue around some of the strange sounds in the arabic language, and there are plenty of tables showing verb conjugation at the back of the book to help with some of, though not all, of the arabic verbs.
The dictionary at the back of the book is a useful compiilation of the words used in the book, though I recommend anyone to purchase a proper English - Arabic/ Arabic - English dictionary, for further reference.
My biggest problem with this book is the exclusion of the arabic script (apart from a small mention of the different letters at the start). This is both good and bad - those wanting to learn just to speak arabic will do fine with using this book, whereas those wanting to be able to read the script will have to learn to write arabic using another source, such as a dictionary, because the author failed to mention that each letter has different forms dependent upon where the letter falls in the word.
There is also a tranlation erorr on page 251 in the dialogue. Where it says "marHaba 'ilaa al-maghrib" this does not translate to "step forward please" it means "welcome to Morocco".
Overall, a good resource for learning Modern Standard Arabic, though not perfect and far from recommended for those wanting to learn arabic script.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is a good introduction to spoken Arabic. It covers the basics like grammar, asking for food, shopping, travel and emergencies. It gives the Arabic (in English alphabet) then the phonetics which is really handy.
It comes with a CD so you can listen to spoken Arabic which is really good for the pronunciation.
No written Arabic but it is sold as a guide to start speaking Arabic which it does do!!
It comes with a CD so you can listen to spoken Arabic which is really good for the pronunciation.
No written Arabic but it is sold as a guide to start speaking Arabic which it does do!!
26 of 30 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I always try to use Dummy guides for subjects i know nothing about. After using them to learn VB6 and C# for work, i decided to fulfil a life long aim and start to learn Arabic. This guide is extremely easy to read and is gentle in the way it introduces you to the language. As the previous review states, there is very little written Arabic text here, which is why i bought a seperate book 'First Thousand Words in Arabic' (which was shown as a book deal) to compliment what i was learning verbally.
This book is definately useful for those who have no knowledge whatsoever, but for those who know some Arabic already it may prove too basic.
In all i enjoy this book (I'm still using it), and would recommend this and any Dummies Guide to those wishing to start out on a totally new subject.
This book is definately useful for those who have no knowledge whatsoever, but for those who know some Arabic already it may prove too basic.
In all i enjoy this book (I'm still using it), and would recommend this and any Dummies Guide to those wishing to start out on a totally new subject.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
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I bought this book from previous reviews that stated the CD came with the product. I downloaded the kindle edition and presumed the CD or an emailed audio file would follow, but... Read more
Published 29 days ago by Annoyed
wellpleased
Very well written, but does not allow for north African pronunciation.
Certainly gives you a good starting point.
Certainly gives you a good starting point.
Published 20 months ago by abc
excellent
fantastic value,easy to understand and follow,good brake down on how to say the words in arabic
Published on 16 Mar 2010 by L. Allenby
Not the best
I enjoy learning langauges and have purchased many langauge books and CDs before but I did not get on well with this one and am purchasing something with better reviews. Read more
Published on 16 Jan 2010 by R. Dean
the "for dummies " books are usually good but this one.....
Didn't like the transliteration, quite a lot of colloquial words but as these very from Arabic country to country this is not really that useful. Read more
Published on 20 Nov 2009 by Kate
Not as good as the rest of the series
I've used the Dummies Guides before, notably in computing (which I've taught). I have a good ear for languages and speak French which is good enough to have native speakers of... Read more
Published on 4 May 2008 by Ergo Sum
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