Arabic For Dummies

by Amine Bouchentouf

Regarded as one of the most difficult languages to learn for native English speakers by the U.S. State Department, Arabic is gaining both prominence and importance in America. Recent world events have brought more and more Americans and other English speakers into contact with Arabic-speaking populations, and governments and businesses are increasingly aware of the importance of basic Arabic language skills. Arabic for Dummies provides you with a painless and fun way to start communicating in Arabic. Why should you learn Arabic? Well, besides the fact that over 200 million people in more than 22 nations use it to communicate, there are tons of reasons to get up to speed this 1,400 year old language,

Nearly all of the Middle-East speaks Arabic or one of its dialects Basic Arabic skills are extremely useful for anyone traveling to, doing business in, or serving in the Middle East It is the language in which the Koran is written There is a rich, centuries-old literary tradition in Arabic Arabic For Dummies presents the language in the classic, laid-back For Dummies style. Taking a relaxed approach to this difficult language, it’s packed with practice dialogues and communication tips that will have you talking the talk in no time. You’ll get the scoop

The Arabic alphabet, pronunciation, basic grammar, and the rules of transliteration The history of the language and information on classical Arabic and its dialects How to make small talk and make yourself understood when dining, shopping, or traveling around town How to communicate on the phone and in business conversations Handy words and phrases for dealing with money, directions, hotels, transportation, and emergencies Arabic culture and etiquette, including ten things you should never do in Arabic countries The book also includes an Arabic-English dictionary, verb tables, and an audio CD with dialogues from the book to help you perfect your pronunciation. Written by a native Arabic speaker who helped start a year-round Arabic department at Middlebury College, Arabic For Dummies is just what you need to start making yourself understood in Arabic.

CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

Genres: Language, Nonfiction, Reference, Ebooks, Linguistics

384 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 21, 2007

About the author

Amine Bouchentouf is a native English, Arabic, and French speaker born and raised in Casablanca, Morocco. Amine has been teaching Arabic and lecturing about relations between America and the Arab world in his spare time for over 4 years and has offered classes and seminars for students at Middlebury College, the Council on Foreign Relations, and various schools across the United States.
Amine graduated from Middlebury College and published his first book, Arabic: A Complete Course (Random House), soon after graduating college in order to help Americans understand Arabic language and culture. He has written Arabic For Dummies in an attempt to reach an even wider audience with the aim of fostering better relations through education.
He holds a degree in Economics from Middlebury and has extensive experience in the arena of international investing. He is a registered investment advisor and a member of the National Association of Securities Dealers. Amine is currently working on his third book, Investing in Commodities For Dummies (Wiley Publishing).
Amine is an avid traveler and has visited over 15 countries across the Middle East, Europe, and North and South America. Aside from his interest in languages, business, and travel, Amine enjoys biking, rollerblading, playing guitar, chess, and golf. He lives in New York City.

Reviews

[بتُـول ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

It does not teach Arabic exactly, but gives some idea about it.
Arabic is my mother language. I read this book just to see haw non-Arabic speakers can learn this difficult language.
I can say that the book is easy and interesting. However, it's like the first step in gaining the language but not mastering it (mastering a language needs a lot of practice. you can't get it by reading only)
Another comment is that there are some slight mistakes in translation and in other things.
Overall, I like it and it was fun.

[Michael O'Brien · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, this is a good, easy to read overview of the Arabic language. No, you will not be fluent in Arabic after reading it, but you will have a good reference on its alphabet, grammar, terms, and common word usages. In addition, it adds some helpful tips on common Arab customs and on travel to Arab countries.

I found it a useful companion to the Rosetta Arabic language learning software, which provides very little structured information on Arabic alphabet or grammar.

[Fred Kohn · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book didn't work for me at all. I suppose it might be OK for an international traveler wanting to pick up some Arabic in a hurry. The emphasis was on vocabulary and common phrases. I was more interested in grammar and word construction, and there wasn't much of that. Most annoying was the unacceptable number of mistakes in the transliteration of Arabic characters into Latin characters: words in the wrong order, the wrong word transliterated, words left out, and sometimes even the wrong symbol (incorrectly using a close quote denoting hamza when the letter being transliterated was 'ain was common.)

[Colleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading again. Want to build my Arabic skills back up and better, but this really isn't cutting it. Anyone know a speaker who'd offer tutoring?

[Maia Uhalde · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty decent, given the limited quality resources to learn Arabic available in the market. The book's greatest strength lies in its guidance on local customs and etiquette - the cultural do’s and don’ts. The design is clean and modern. However, it dedicates too much space to vocabulary that is unlikely to be used by beginners. The decision to place the most common phrases chapter too late in the book is a pedagogical misstep. Another flaw is that the Arabic script is in an uncomfortably small font and lacks vowel markings (harakat), making accurate pronunciation and reading challenging, which can demotivate learners.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great book for beginners learning Arabic. Its strength lies in the simple explanations it provides as well as its easy-to-follow structure and index of useful tables and resources. However, it is littered with misspellings and inconsistencies in its application of grammar and writing conventions. To make it worse, the book, unfortunately, commits these crimes in both the written Arabic script (Abjad) and the transliteration into English. Some very basic mistakes that must have been made when copying and pasting words. These problems steadily got worse as the book progressed. I wonder if all of these were corrected in the 3rd edition, and I don't want to know how bad this was in the 1st.

[Joyce · Rating 2 out of 5]

Geen Arabisch schrift

[Crisfusterber · Rating 4 out of 5]

El libro no es para gente que no sepa nada de árabe. De hecho, no ha incluido la letra LAM (como la L) ni explica cómo se escribe cada letra.

Si sabes algo de árabe, puedes corregir ciertos errores; si no tienes la menor idea, lo mejor es que lo leas con alguien que sí sabe.

Aprovecho para recomendar "Un té con Yasmine", un canal de YouTube de la usuaria @YasmineFB21 donde, para empezar, puedes ir aprendiendo a escribir el alifato (alfabeto árabe).

[Margaret Cunningham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic reference guide to the very basic Arabic for a monolingual Scots lass such as myself. As expected with attempting to learn any language, the very basic of greetings taken from this guide were often met with laughter from my Arab friends. If only the guide had a section on the regional variations of Arabic.

[Sarah Yasin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know arabic after reading this. I also don't need to know how to say "my mother's brother's cousin on his father's side."

[Kea Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid, basic overview presented in easy-to-digest chunks.