Al-Kitaab fii Ta'allum al-'Arabiyya - A Textbook for Beginning Arabic: Part One (Paperback, Third Edition) (Arabic Edition)

The negative reviews for this product should be completely disregarded. The people reviewing this book fall into three categories in my opinion. First, non-college students trying to learn Arabic outside of a classroom setting. Second, casual Arabic learners that do not have the motivation to learn this incredibly complex language. Finally, people who had not first used the preface to this book, Alif Baa.In order to use this book, it is very important that you have some sort of background knowledge of the Arabic alphabet. As some have mentioned, Alif Baa is a great book and helps you along with the initial baby steps. In a classroom setting, Alif Baa can easily be completed in a month. Self-study students will find Alif Baa to be an absolute necessity as well.While using al-Kitaab part 1, one must keep in mind that the vocabulary words presented may seem out of the ordinary for a beginner. These words are used to introduce complex grammatical concepts that are nonexistent in say, Spanish. As the book progresses, it builds on itself grammatically while introducing more words and verbs that are used every day by students. In reality, how often will you talk to a native speaker about your favorite colors or animals? Those are not useful conversation topics.That said, this book alone is not sufficient to 'learn' the Arabic language, but it is the best introduction available to non-native Arabic speakers. I have had great success with this book supplemented with Rosetta Stone and several other grammar books from the Middle East. If you are not in a college or similar style class, this book is difficult to keep yourself motivated with. It is not ideal for self study, but that is not what it was written for. Without the assistance of a teacher or native speaker, it is easy to become lost or misled. This is not due to the book itself, but the pure complexity of the Arabic language.Arabic is not a language that can be casually picked up. It is not Spanish or French. It has grammatical structures completely different from most languages. Unless you have a strong background in Hebrew sentence structure or Farsi vocabulary, Arabic will be difficult and require a significant commitment to learn.The absolute best feature of this book and the improvements on the previous version comes with the introduction of Eastern Arabic (Shaami) and Egyptian Arabic (Masri) dialects to complement the Modern Standard Arabic (Fusha) taught in common class settings. The structure of the book makes either one or both of the dialects instrumental to each lesson. This is an invaluable experience. Unless you are planning to only read Arabic newspapers or listen to the news, dialect experience is essential. While Fusha is widely understood, it is not spoken outside of the media. Without dialect training non-native speakers will be out of place in any Arabic native speaking country.This book is the best book written for native English speakers. It may seem strange in the beginning but you will recognize the genius behind it as you progress further into the Arabic language. As I mentioned, it was written to be a textbook to supplement a college or similar style class. I would recommend this to any professor seeking a book for a first year class and would encourage first year Arabic students to overlook the negative reviews and approach this book with a positive and motivated outlook as they take their first steps in the Arabic language.

Make no mistake - this is a hard textbook, but, then again, the Arabics are hard languages. I think if you understand that, have a good dictionary, have the answer key, and have learned more than just what is presented to you in Alif Baa, you will do fine with it. If you go straight from Alif Baa to Al Kitaab the learning curve is indeed very steep, so be prepared to struggle at first if you choose that route.

This is the new benchmark in teaching Arabic in a modern approach. It also has the great feature of putting side by side the classic Arabic word and it's colloquial equivalent in both Egyptian and 'Levant' Arabic; I.e. the version used in Lebanin, Syria, Jordan and Palestine. For learners this is crucial for them not to be lost and to be able to develop an understanding of both everyday used language, as well as 'book' language

I am a college student studying Arabic and Al Kitaab was my textbook for that class. This book was extremely helpful and any of you, who wish to learn Arabic should find it extremely helpful. Before purchasing it through Amazon I have used a rented copy of this book for a year, and I bought it because I think it will remain helpful to me in the future. If you are interested in picking up Arabic as a language then this book is for you. Below you will find a more detailed review to help you make a more informed decision whether to purchase this book.PriceThe price I got this book for was 52 dollars, which considering that you will use it for beginner and intermediate courses would be a fair price for a student. If you are a casual learner, I still think this is a decent price point for this book, but I feel it may not be the best to learn it by yourself using this book as it is a bit advanced for beginners.ContentThe book is divided into self-contained chapters that teach you different aspects of Arabic languages, each containing drills, audio, video among other exercises. It comes with a DVD containing the audio and video to help you in those exercises. The only problem you may face with the content is that they don’t give enough vocabulary, and the ones they do give are introduced at a slow pace which may hinder growth. I would recommend purchasing an English to Arabic dictionary.QualityThe book is a well edited book a lot of good graphical illustrations to aid with your learning process. The binding of the book was well done hence it will survive everyday wear and tear. The paper used was of decent quality as well, although it felt like plastic sometimes, like a magazine.MiscellaneousTo help with your learning, access to the website and E-cook are also provided with the book. The website helps you solve the exercises and guide you through the book more thoroughly. They teach you Modern Standard Arabic but also provide vocab in different dialects to help you understand spoken Arabic and adapt to different regions. The end of the book contains a small section with a small dictionary to help you better grasp the language.

By far the best text for Arabic language learning out there. Not a traditional method of learning the language, but trust the text-- its developers know what they're doing.