Alif Baa: Introduction to Arabic Letters and Sounds [With 3 CD's]

by Kristen Brustad, Mahmoud Al-Batal, Abbas Al-Tonsi

Book Overview

Now available in MP3 format, this Audio On the Go CD contains all of the audio featured in the second edition DVDs for Alif Baa . While the audio on this CD is not new or different from the audio... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 087840273X
• ISBN13: 9780878402731
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: Georgetown University Press
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 8.5" x 10.9"

Customer Reviews

Audio CD's are Helpful

Really enjoying this - I listen to the CD more than anything and it has helped with pronunciation.

Book received

This book was received, but is missing the 2nd CD which should be in between pages 80 and 81. It also is completely written-in.

Misled by the seller

The seller falsely claimed that the book would come with With a set of three audio CDs, none was delivered.

excellent text book

The Alif Baa and Al Kitaab text books are wonderful for learning Arabic. They are best in the context of a formal course, but could be used for individual study as well.

Great beginner book

I used Alif Baa (with DVDs) in Arabic 101 at the University of Maryland (Baltimore County) and it's probably the best beginner book I have encountered. The DVDs are great and add a lot to the text and exercises. It even shows a chart with the letters, and you can click on the appropriate character to hear and show someone pronouncing it in several different voices. Great idea. Lots of exercises to listen to and write down. And, for $5, there's an answer key to Alif Baa which will help an awful lot if you want to teach yourself.

Excellent!

I've been studying Arabic for about a year now (with a couple months' break in the middle) and have been through several other books that introduce the Arabic alphabet. Based on the recommendations of several other reviewers, I ordered the book and the answer key from Georgetown Press. I got the newest version, which is in DVD format. I am very impressed. In the Introduction section, not only do they pronounce all the sounds of the letters, they have a video image of someone pronouncing them. This is really helpful, as not only do you hear the difference, you can also see how the shape of the mouth and position of the tongue changes for the different sounds. I'm already pretty comfortable with the alphabet, having used Mace's book as well as some other sources, but I've already learned several new things working through the first chapter of this book. They also have video footage of someone writing the letters, so you can see how they are formed. While I will eventually have to go to school somewhere or do a study abroad to get more experience speaking Arabic in real-life settings, I find Alif Baa a great start for self-directed study. I strongly urge people to buy the DVD edition of this book and the answer key as well--from Georgetown press if not available here.

A superior introduction to a potentially daunting task

This book is by far the best introduction to the Arabic writing system that I've been able to find. The accompanying CD's do what no other books dedicated to teaching the Arabic alphabet do, which is teach the sounds of Arabic at the very same time it teaches you individual letters. "Teach Yourself Arabic Script" for example only describes the particular sounds, which can be very different from English sounds and which one usually needs to hear in order to produce. "Alif Baa" is also bound on the left-hand side, so the reader instantly gets used to the feel of a book which starts on what seems like the back page. Also, the size of the letters when they are introduced is fairly large so that the reader can see the shape of each letter and their sometimes confusing details, since Arabic letters are often variations on a particular theme. The page layouts are neat and uncluttered, the typeography on even the smaller-printed text is crisp, and write-on lines for student answers are ample. Also, it is not necessary to purchase the videotapes to make full use of this text, as one reviewer complained. In each chapter there is a page dedicated to a cultural note which is illustrated through video scenes, but this is only an introduction to basic conversation in the Cairene dialect and not an instrinsic part of the book's main task, which is to teach the shapes and sounds of the Arabic alphabet. Contact information for the publisher is given in the back, and the answer key might be obtained from the press, I haven't tried yet. Once a reader has diligently worked through Alif Baa, she or he will be able to jump right in to any basic Arabic course and indeed have a major advantage, since none offer as thorough an introduction to reading and writing Arabic is this title.

Excellent introduction to Arabic letters and sounds.

This book is a very well-considered introduction to Arabic letters and sounds. It focuses on the difficulties English speakers have in recognizing and pronouncing letters such as "DHaa" vs "daal". The companion cassettes are absolutely necessary; the book is worthless without them. Exercises consist mainly of differentiating between similar-sounding words, and distinguishing what letter actually appears in a spoken word. No "answers" to the exercises are given, but I found none were needed. The book is intended to take 6 weeks of study to finish.