"Al-Kitaab: Part One" develops skills in standard Arabic while providing additional material in both colloquial and classical Arabic. With new video material and revised and updated text and exercises, the bound-in and revised DVDs supersede both the former CD audio set and video DVD previously available only as separate items - making this singular volume a comprehensive whole for those immersed in the early and intermediate stages of learning Arabic. Providing approximately 150 contact hours of college-level instruction, parts of this revised edition are updated with contemporary selections for reading comprehension. The organization of the chapters has been adapted to reflect the most current pedagogical developments. Audio tracks for vocabulary sections now allow students to hear a new word followed by a sentence using it in context with previously acquired vocabulary and grammatical structures, enabling students to build new vocabulary skills while reviewing old material. The basic texts have been refilmed with a new cast of actors. The DVDs also contain substantially more material that exposes the learner to Egyptian Arabic: students have the options of seeing and hearing the video of each lesson in both Modern standard Arabic and Egyptian colloquial Arabic. In addition, a short dialogue in Egyptian colloquial Arabic appears at the end of each lesson. New video materials also feature interviews with Egyptians (subtitled in English) about various aspects of Arab culture, such as gender issues, fasting in the Muslim and Christian traditions, social clubs and their significance, and more. This title develops all language-related skills including reading, listening, speaking, writing, and cultural knowledge; immediately incorporates extensive use of authentic materials for reading, listening, and grammatical practice, thus relating abstract grammatical concepts to practical skills; presents narrative-based content through audio and video media rather than written text to develop meaning-focused language processing skills, utilizing two main characters and their extended families; develops reading skills through the use of composed texts derived from the main narrative and authentic texts from newspapers and journals; and, introduces grammar using spiraling and inference, challenging students to discover the grammar of the language by means of analogy, problem solving, and educated guessing. It reinforces grammar and vocabulary through extensive classroom and homework exercises that provide constant review and expand to challenge students as their skills develop; introduces students to Egyptian colloquial through scenes based on the main narrative to promote the use of shared vocabulary and structure of the two registers to increase listening comprehension skills; and, contains Arabic-English and English-Arabic glossaries and reference charts as well as a new grammar index.
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"The student hears, sees and reads Arabic, and learning is kept close to an authentic linguistic and cultural experience." -- ADFL Bulletin "This is an extremely impressive volume, clearly demonstrating the practical and academic value of an outstanding textbook and the enormous amount of effort required in creating such a tool." -- Forum for Modern Language Studies "More drills and activities have been worked into the text, giving students more practice in the skills being presented." -- MESA Bulletin "One of the most complete modern Arabic pedagogy programs available." -- eLanguage.net
About the Author
Kristen Brustad is an associate professor of Arabic at the University of Texas at Austin. Mahmoud Al-Batal is an associate professor of Arabic and the director of the Arabic Flagship Program at the University of Texas at Austin. Abbas Al-Tonsi is a professor of Arabic at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar.
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3.3 out of 5 stars
82 reviews
124 of 134 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
The best resource I've found...
July 20 2005
By Gary B.
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
Some of the people posting seem rather bitter towards Al-kitaab fii Ta'allum Al-'Arabiyya. One poster even mentioned that after the first couple of chapters he could say he was a specialist but not tell somebody his name. That's probably because he didn't use the primer Alif Baa.
I studied Modern Standard Arabic at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California back in 1989 and now that I want to study Arabic again, Al-kitaab fii Ta'allum Al-'Arabiyya is the best resource I have found. Trust me, I've reviewed so many books out there - This is honestly the best one that I've seen. The DVD is a great plus.
If you are trying to learn Arabic on your own, from scratch, I think you will be in for a rude shock. Perhaps you'll learn some tourist Arabic, but that's about it. If you have access to a teacher/tutor of Arabic, then get the book, Alif Baa, go through that and then tackle Al-kitaab fii Ta'allum Al-'Arabiyya.
Good Luck.
PS. A great way to supplement your vocabulary is to use the "Before You Know It" software program from www.BYKI.com (I think that's the URL) - it's the best software program I've seen for building vocabulary as you get to see/hear the word in a flashcard format. I would definitely use this program in conjunction with Alif Baa and Al-kitaab fii Ta'allum Al-'Arabiyya.
I studied Modern Standard Arabic at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California back in 1989 and now that I want to study Arabic again, Al-kitaab fii Ta'allum Al-'Arabiyya is the best resource I have found. Trust me, I've reviewed so many books out there - This is honestly the best one that I've seen. The DVD is a great plus.
If you are trying to learn Arabic on your own, from scratch, I think you will be in for a rude shock. Perhaps you'll learn some tourist Arabic, but that's about it. If you have access to a teacher/tutor of Arabic, then get the book, Alif Baa, go through that and then tackle Al-kitaab fii Ta'allum Al-'Arabiyya.
Good Luck.
PS. A great way to supplement your vocabulary is to use the "Before You Know It" software program from www.BYKI.com (I think that's the URL) - it's the best software program I've seen for building vocabulary as you get to see/hear the word in a flashcard format. I would definitely use this program in conjunction with Alif Baa and Al-kitaab fii Ta'allum Al-'Arabiyya.
40 of 44 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not a systematic approach to language-learning. . .
July 9 2006
By Andrea J. Parker
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
Despite being the "new, revised edition", Al-Kitaab 2nd Edition is still lacking. . .
-The majority of vocabulary words are not interrelated, which makes memorizing a list of thirty or forty words rather difficult.
-The grammar concepts are not explained well. In addition to the poor explanation, the book often revises what one has learned in previous lessons later in the book. The order in which grammatical structures are explained is absurd: why would one wait until the 8th lesson to explain word roots? The concept of roots makes memorzing and learning words so much easier -- not to mention the fact that knowing a root allows one to guess new words based on the root.
-The DVDs are a nice feature, but the actors often talk too quickly and there is no script provided so that the student may follow along with the video.
Overall, if you are using Al-Kitaab with a talented instructor, this textbook is tolerable. From sources that I know, the University of Michigan is going to be publishing a much more organized, easy-to-follow introductory level Arabic textbook soon. It might not be a bad idea to wait until that textbook series comes out.
If you are looking to 'teach yourself' Arabic, start with 'Alif-Baa' or some other alphabet book of choice. Even then, I wouldn't recommend 'Al-Kitaab' for self-study. There are simply far too many nuances of the Arabic language that this book fails to address. The poor organization and terrible grammar sections would make self-study with this series torture.
The Arabic language, while difficult for non-native speakers to master, is such a beautiful one: do yourself a favour and find a talented instructor from whom to learn this language (or if you're a self-learner, find a different textbook series).
-The majority of vocabulary words are not interrelated, which makes memorizing a list of thirty or forty words rather difficult.
-The grammar concepts are not explained well. In addition to the poor explanation, the book often revises what one has learned in previous lessons later in the book. The order in which grammatical structures are explained is absurd: why would one wait until the 8th lesson to explain word roots? The concept of roots makes memorzing and learning words so much easier -- not to mention the fact that knowing a root allows one to guess new words based on the root.
-The DVDs are a nice feature, but the actors often talk too quickly and there is no script provided so that the student may follow along with the video.
Overall, if you are using Al-Kitaab with a talented instructor, this textbook is tolerable. From sources that I know, the University of Michigan is going to be publishing a much more organized, easy-to-follow introductory level Arabic textbook soon. It might not be a bad idea to wait until that textbook series comes out.
If you are looking to 'teach yourself' Arabic, start with 'Alif-Baa' or some other alphabet book of choice. Even then, I wouldn't recommend 'Al-Kitaab' for self-study. There are simply far too many nuances of the Arabic language that this book fails to address. The poor organization and terrible grammar sections would make self-study with this series torture.
The Arabic language, while difficult for non-native speakers to master, is such a beautiful one: do yourself a favour and find a talented instructor from whom to learn this language (or if you're a self-learner, find a different textbook series).
73 of 88 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wow - DVDs bring it alive
Sep 23 2004
By F. Gibbons
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
I wrote a review for the previous edition of this book in March 2004. The new semester has started, we're using this new edition of the book which I picked up last night before class. This is my immediate response.
1. The text looks pretty similar, maybe cleaned up a little, but the vocabulary, the story of depressed Maha, and the overall structure appear to be similar to the first edition.
2. What's not at all similar is the fact that the book now comes with three DVDs. They contain the video material of Maha's story, and they contain audio for the exercises (previously included on CDs which had to be bought separately). Most valuable of all, I think, is that they contain lots of footage of interviews with real Arabic speakers. There are conversations with real people in the street. There are graduate students talking about what it's like to be a TA (mu'iid). There are *real* high schoolers talking about the pressures of al-thanawiya al-'amma (like European high-school diploma, where performance in a few exams determines what college you get into). I think this really helps bring it all to life. I think this material makes it worth far more than the purchase price.
3. The video stories of Maha and her family have been re-shot, with ridiculously beautiful-looking people. It was easier to believe that the somewhat heavy "old" Maha was frequently lonely. Now Maha is stunningly beautiful, like she just got back from filming Baywatch. Difficult to believe she would be lonely. Same goes for everyone else - everyone is beautiful. It's like a daytime soap. Perhaps they were trying to counteract negative stereotypes of Arabs as poor, living in crowded conditions; or as super-rich, living in unbelievable wealth. This family appears to live like an upper-middle-class American family, with slick haircuts, laptop computers, etc. Perhaps they just need to make the story a little less maudlin (Maha's always lonely, Khaled's mother died two years ago,...)
In all, from my cursory examination last night after class, I think this is fantastic. It's so hard to find real Arabic-language material, this is a great resource.
1. The text looks pretty similar, maybe cleaned up a little, but the vocabulary, the story of depressed Maha, and the overall structure appear to be similar to the first edition.
2. What's not at all similar is the fact that the book now comes with three DVDs. They contain the video material of Maha's story, and they contain audio for the exercises (previously included on CDs which had to be bought separately). Most valuable of all, I think, is that they contain lots of footage of interviews with real Arabic speakers. There are conversations with real people in the street. There are graduate students talking about what it's like to be a TA (mu'iid). There are *real* high schoolers talking about the pressures of al-thanawiya al-'amma (like European high-school diploma, where performance in a few exams determines what college you get into). I think this really helps bring it all to life. I think this material makes it worth far more than the purchase price.
3. The video stories of Maha and her family have been re-shot, with ridiculously beautiful-looking people. It was easier to believe that the somewhat heavy "old" Maha was frequently lonely. Now Maha is stunningly beautiful, like she just got back from filming Baywatch. Difficult to believe she would be lonely. Same goes for everyone else - everyone is beautiful. It's like a daytime soap. Perhaps they were trying to counteract negative stereotypes of Arabs as poor, living in crowded conditions; or as super-rich, living in unbelievable wealth. This family appears to live like an upper-middle-class American family, with slick haircuts, laptop computers, etc. Perhaps they just need to make the story a little less maudlin (Maha's always lonely, Khaled's mother died two years ago,...)
In all, from my cursory examination last night after class, I think this is fantastic. It's so hard to find real Arabic-language material, this is a great resource.
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3.3 out of 5 stars
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