Arabic in Three Months (Hugo's Language Courses Ser.)

by Mohammad Asfour

Book Overview

This Hugo language course is designed to quickly give a full working knowledge of Arabic. Essential grammar is simply explained, with short exercises and conversational drills putting it into context.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0852851596
• Release Date: January 1995
• Publisher: Hunter Pub Inc
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.5" x 5.3"

Customer Reviews

By far one of the best books for colloquial Arabic.

First off, I am a student of Arabic and have been studying both Modern Standard Arabic (fusHa) and Levantine Colloquial Arabic ('amiyyeh) for awhile. Additionally, I am Palestinian, so I'm quite familiar with what is and isn't suitable for the real world. Most Arabic books are terrible, terrible books. The problems are numerous, including: teaching you the rather user-unfriendly writing system in the first chapter and writing in Arabic script after that, having script that's way too tiny, leaving out diacritics that are vital for learners, teaching you tourist phrases in incorrect Arabic and other such things, leaving out grammar or using way too much grammatical jargon that you can't make any sense of it.... This book is different. When I found this book, I looked through it and instantly noticed that it teaches spoken Arabic that was very familiar to me - this is the same Arabic I hear spoken in my house! (The author is Jordanian; the dialect taught by this book is used mostly in Palestine, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.) I was very surprised, as no other book I had come across taught the spoken Arabic that is /actually used/ in Arab homes and businesses. Other reviews were disappointed because of the use of the transliteration system and the complete absence of Arabic script. One must understand that colloquial Arabic and modern standard Arabic are quite different. The former is what you speak, the latter is what you read with and give speeches with. Colloquial Arabic /is not written./ Thus, one shouldn't expect a colloquial Arabic book to use Arabic script. I found that the transliteration system was the clearest one I have come across yet AND that it really facilitates learning. Also of vital importance is that this book explains grammar in a lucid way instead of getting bogged down in jargon, as most other books do. There are very, very few resources for people wanting to learn the nuts and bolts of colloquial Arabic and this book does an excellent job of it. I very highly recommend this book. Note: As I said, this book teaches the dialects used in Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan. Arabic dialects do differ in varying amounts from each other. If you use this book with the intention of using it in Egypt, it will work well enough; if you read this book and then go to Morocco or Algeria, it will be essentially useless. Do your research on dialect differences.

A Traditional Grammar, with Translation Exercises

The book (unfortunately, I don't have the cassette--I'd appreciate comments on it by someone who has it) is an old-fashioned grammar tutorial, of the "Teach Yourself" type, of a Jordanian variety of spoken Levantine or "Syrian" Arabic in transliteration. I think it's excellent at what it does, but the title should not be taken literally; this one book is not enough to teach you "Arabic" in three months. The author, Dr. Mohammad Asfour, proceeds from the grammatically simple to the complex, starting out with a clear and brief explanation of Arabic phonetics and his transliteration system in Chapter 1 and proceeding to simple two- and three-word sentences in Chapter 2. The example sentences are interesting and varied, dealing with economics, politics, love, as well as everyday subjects ("I saw him yesterday"). Dr. Asfour's English is excellent and his grammatical explanations are clear and easy to understand, if you make the effort. The "hard" part of the grammar, i.e., verb conjugations, is squeezed into Chapters 5, 6, and 7 (here I think a more gradual treatment would have made the material easier to digest). Chapter 8 introduces question words, negative sentences, and sentences with relative clauses "the man that I saw..." (once again, well done but but better broken up, with simple questions and negations introduced even earlier). The final chapters build up vocabulary and take up topics such as conditional sentences and comparisons. Curiously, greetings and "familiar phrases"--what most students want to learn first--are left until the last chapter, Chapter 12. Apart from issues involving sequence, two shortcomings are the fact that the exercises, with some exceptions, mainly consist of individual sentences with no context to help motivate and clue the reader, and that the vocabulary piles on very fast. But if you're looking for a good summary of colloquial Arabic grammar, this book is more accessible than Cowell's academic "Reference Grammar of Syrian Arabic". If you want a more contemporary-style, "functional" approach organized in units according to "talking about yourself", "shopping", etc., try "Just Listen 'n Learn Arabic" from Passport Books/NTC, also based on Jordanian speech, which gradually introduces the Arabic script, as well.

why I appreciate the Hugo colloquial Arabic course

As a previous student of classical Arabic who had always wanted to learn from a cassette/book course the rudiments of colloquial Arabic, I really found this course superior to other "tourist-oriented" courses. One can learn how to compose one's own thoughts instead of simply memorizing set phrases. The slant on spoken as opposed to written Arabic sets it apart from other courses I've taken as well. Bravo, Hugo!When I get back from Tunesia, I'm going to brush up on my command of German with your colloquial German cassette/book course...