Standard Arabic: An Elementary-Intermediate Course

by Eckehard Schulz, Günther Krahl, Wolfgang Reuschel

Book Overview

This book presents a comprehensive foundation course for beginning students of written and spoken Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), providing an essential grounding for successful communication with speakers of the many colloquial varieties. This long-established and successful text has been completely revised with the needs of English-speaking learners especially in mind, and will prove invaluable to students and teachers alike. Step-by-step guide to...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0521774659
• ISBN13: 9780521774659
• Release Date: August 2000
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 654 Pages
• Weight: 2.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.9" x 9.8"

Customer Reviews

not always easy to use, but thorough and comprehensive

This book is heavy in more ways than one. From the decidedly mixed bag of reactions to it from other reviewers, I have to believe that how people feel about it is greatly determined by what kind of linguistic background they have and what exposure to Arabic (if any) they had before taking this on. For some, there is no question that it would be a quantum leap both in terms of the highly technical coverage of Arabic grammar, and in the demands it makes on learners, especially with the huge amount of vocabulary to be memorized that comes with each lesson. Having come to this work from other Arabic textbooks with which I was considerably less than satisfied ) the extremely rigorous treatment of the grammar makes it very valuable to have, as it clears up a number of points that have not been made clear in other books. Consider, for instance, the question of whether the pattern of stress is altered if case endings are pronounced (the answer to that is yes, by the way). The size of the vocabulary lists is less daunting if you already know some. So although this is probably too dry and academic to work out well as a classroom text, and I certainly wouldn't suggest it be the first book for a beginning learner, it does have a great deal to offer serious learners as a backup and reference. And it is definitely worth the effort to master the linguistic terminology that is needed to understand the grammatical explanations.

standard arabic:an elem/intermed course

the book is one of the better books i have used to try to learn arabic, and it actually oes help me learn arabic better i feel confident that with this book and the next i will be able to speak and write arabic. maybe you should offer the cassettes with the purchase for the book. some of us are sick and can not always make it to the instructor, but my zest for learning is there thank you noor alsayed

What classrooms should be using

This is a 5-star book, but basically all that means is it's the best on the market for general needs. This has been adapated from a German text, and the perfect Arabic textbook for English speakers doesn't appear to exist yet, but Standard is very close. Follow it up with the advanced version in the series (mostly texts but very good selections). This is what classrooms should be using, most opt for either the Big Orange Book or Al-kitaab fii Ta'allum Al-'Arabiyya. With a teacher, this book is better than either. Moreover Standard Arabic is most likely the best tool for self-study out there, and this is the context in which I've used it. However I recommend the reader have some exposure to arabic beforehand, especially with script as Standard's biggest shortcoming is a lack of transliteration (which has created ambiguities such as whether a waaw is to be read as a consonant or a vowel) This is NOT a straight grammar, and there are probably better reference texts for MSA out there, however one of the appendices is devoted to 47-pages of paradigms, and there are comprehensive subject indices in Arabic and English but you will have to do a lot of flipping. The only audio available with this book is cassettes (unless there is a new edition somewhere). This is simply a very concice lesson book in the modern style of language teaching. For self-study, Al-Kitab will get you there (books 1 and 2), however the only advantage are the DVDs, and the Advanced Standard goes places the second Al-Kitab doesn't. Also Al-Kitab gets far more revisions so it is possible it will be improved, at the moment Standard is much more complete, contains more excercies, and is half the price. For self-study there are several places to begin before using the Standard, namely: J.R. Smart's Arabic from the Teach Yourself Series An Introduction to Modern Arabic by Ziadeh/Winder from Dover Mastering Arabic from Hippocrene (this is really a introductory course and Hippocrene's 'Beginning Arabic' is useful only for the 60 pages of Arabic literature for the very advanced student and the inclusion of F.E. Sommer's 'The Arabic Writing in Five Lessons with a Key' which is still the best short introduction to the script for the absolute beginner) Or of course Book I of Al-Kitab, but both Standard Books are half the price of both Al-Kitab books In summation I recommend the Elementary-Intermediate SA book for the following reasons: 1) It is a far better course book than Al-Kitab except for the added multimedia that Al-Kitab brings; and both are better than the Orange Books 2) For self-study it is comparatively more complete and up-to-date than anything from Dover, Hippocrene, or TY 3) The vocabulary lists are extensive 4) There are more excercises than in any other Arabic Textbook I've seen 5) Correct grammatical terms are used throughout - AND are given in Arabic and referred to as such throughout, so if one has a problem an Arabic speaker will immediately understand wha

Hard but comprehensive

If you want to learn Arabic as in novels, magazines etc this is the book. But dont start directly using this book. I recommend you study Mastering Arabic by Jane Wightwick and then come to this book. Few guys have found this book hard. Well, learning languages needs practise and this book has it. Exercises and exercises. This is the best book to learn MSA.

Kitaab Mukammal!

Great Book! It's definitely not padded or dumbed down like many course books out there. The focus is heavy on grammar and the course moves along quickly, but if you have a knack for languages and aren't put off by lots of grammar terminology, this course is great. I finally feel I'm starting to get somewhere with my Arabic. The cassettes are a useful addition to the book.