Elementary Modern Standard Arabic: Volume 1, Pronunciation and Writing; Lessons 1-30

by Peter (Ed.) Abboud and P.F. Abboud

Book Overview

The Elementary Modern Standard Arabic Course (EMSA), published in 1983, is the premier introduction, for the English-speaking student, to the active written language of the Arab world. Expressly designed for the beginning student, the course is written by a team of Arabic language teachers consisting of native and non-native Arabic speakers, linguists and people whose primary interests are literature and allied areas. It implements an audio-lingual...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0521272955
• ISBN13: 9780521272957
• Release Date: April 1983
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 658 Pages
• Weight: 3.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 8.5" x 10.9"

Customer Reviews

Excellent texts for a study of Modern Standard Arabic

Elementary Modern Standard Arabic I & II are excellent textbooks for university-level courses. They work! The lessons ease students into the complexities of the language in a way no other texts do. The reviewers who are complaining about these texts need to find less-academic sources. These texts are for university-level students who need to become proficient first in the formal language before they venture into the various spoken varieties.

Best arabic primer for a serious student.

This is an excellent text for learning modern standard arabic. This series has been the most widely used textbook for Arabic language for english speakers till recently. Although, the al kitab series has begun to aclipse this in popularity this still remains widely used. Some might find the style of this book rather dry compared to the more abundant audio-visual aids in al kitab, but I tend to favor this book over al kitab because of the more detailed treatment of grammer employed here. This book would be best suited for someone who wants to evetually pursue academic studies in Arabic or delve into arabic literature. But, if your intention is just to learn conversational arabic, learning the egyptian dialect the al kitab would be a much better option.

Thorough, easy to understand, but requires some patience

Comparing this book with others of its genre, I must say that it has stood the test of time rather well. The lessons are written clearly, and are not difficult to follow on one's own. They are comprehensive, and cover as much grammar as is needed to go to quite a high level. The book can also serve as a reference volume. The accompanying tapes (which you should absolutely buy) give hours of examples of pronounciation and drill.The downside is that the book is long. (However, remember the old saying that, "Short writing makes for long reading.") Its vocabulary is not particularly helpful for general conversation. And it is not produced in a "slick" manner; specifically, its appearance is of typed rather than printed pages, and it is devoid of the graphics that many present day students like.My conclusion is that if you want a solid coverage of the grammar of Modern Standard Arabic written in an easy paced manner, and have the patience to "eat the elephant a bite at a time," this book will serve you well. If you are looking for something that will help you with conversational Arabic, or one that will keep you entertained while you are learning, then this is not the right book.

Excellent book

I have been studying Arabic for 5 years now. When I first started, I used this book. Subsequently, I used the Georgetown Al-Kitab and the OSU study materials. Based on my experience with all these beginning books, I have been able to form an opinion of "Elementary Modern Standard Arabic". The advantages of the book are its easy structure, grammar emphasis and easy-to-understand explanations. The book covers 30 chapters/lessons. Each one of them is structured very rigidly: grammar points, new grammar sets and reading comprehension with new words from the same lesson. I find this structure of each lesson very conducive to learning and reinforcing what the student learns. The disadvantage of the book is its lack of rich vocabulary, its special focus in choice of texts for the lessons. In addition, the lack of graphics, pictures, etc makes it somewhat unengaging compared to other language books.

Learing One of the Hardest Languages

Peter Abboud's book is an excellent way to learn to read, write, and pronounce Arabic. After completing the first year, the language does become easier, but I do recommend that you continue the second year with Peter Abboud's book as well.