Alif Baa: Introduction to Arabic Letters and Sounds (Al-kitaab Arabic Language Program)

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

Alif Baa is the first volume of the best-selling Al-Kitaab Arabic Language Program, now in its third edition. In this edition of Alif Baa: Introduction to Arabic Letters and Sound , English-speaking students will use the integrated method of learning colloquial and formal (spoken and written) Arabic together. Alif Baa provides learners with all the material necessary to learn the sounds of Arabic, write its letters, and begin speaking Arabic.

NEW: Audio and video content needed to complete the homework exercises is available to stream online for free on the Publisher website. (Note: DVDs that once featured the audio and video are now obsolete and no longer included in the books.)

FEATURES
Alif Baa provides the essential first 20-25 contact (classroom) hours of the Al-Kitaab Arabic Language Program, accompanied by 40-50 homework hours. Students who complete Alif Baa should reach a novice-intermediate to novice-high level of proficiency.

Genres: Language, Nonfiction, Reference, Textbooks, Linguistics, School, Middle East

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Kristen Elizabeth Brustad

Reviews

[Colleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

So far an autodidact, this book helped me learn the Arabic alphabet (how to write it, speak it, hear it, and read it). The DVDs are really extensive and helpful. However, if you think you can work through this book and then drop yourself into Arabic 3 at the University of Pittsburgh and NOT embarrass yourself on the first day, you are wrong. This book leaves most of the essential vocabulary and grammar to the second book in the series: Al-Kitaab.
The most important thing I learned from this book is that Arabic is a damn sexy language, for real, and not as hard to learn as is often suggested. I'll see you in Arabic 2 next semester.

[Meera · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was required by my first Arabic class and it's great. If you don't know the Arabic alphabet this book will be really good for you. It has dictation exercises, listening exercises, video dialogues, vocab and cultural insight. It is perfect for beginners!

[Brooklyn Ramsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was a really good resource for learning arabic! it definitely can’t be used without in-person instruction, but it was still very useful to me.

[Alan · Rating 2 out of 5]

An okay starting book that is unfortunately overpriced, sometimes inaccurate/mistaken, and packaged with a horrible DVD that a high school student could have easily assembled. I don't know what the standard on beginner Arabic textbooks is, but I imagine there are better ones than this. I also don't know why Egyptian and Levantine Arabic is in here. That is just confusing and essentially is akin to trying to learn three different languages at the same time - bad idea!

[Michelle Riess · Rating 5 out of 5]

I used this book for an Arabic I course at Harvard, and it is an excellent resource for learning the basics of the Arabic alphabet, core vocabulary, and introductory grammar. This is a great choice if you want a solid foundation in reading, writing, and listening—not just memorizing travel or business phrases. The accompanying videos and listening activities are especially helpful, particularly if you’re studying independently without a formal class. A note for learners with vision difficulties: the Arabic text can be small and a bit hard to read at times, especially when you're still getting used to recognizing the letters and trying to distinguish between similar shapes. My own vision isn’t the best these days, so I found this to be a challenge. I used the online edition, which allowed me to zoom in, and that made a big difference—so keep that in mind if you also need larger text for clarity. The follow-up books in the series, Al-Kitaab, continue from this volume and are almost entirely in Arabic, so be prepared for a significant increase in immersion once you move on.

[Susie Soprano · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best language books! Arabic being as one of the most challenging languages (to me, I speak roughly 7 languages), this book has helped me gain basic knowledge, i.e. writing, connecting letters, rules applying when making a sentence and vocab! Great!!!

[M.]

Finished reading this...time to officially start writing and reading now hehe. Practice makes perfect!
I can write my name now!
ملاك
oh and I can also write "Morocco"!! 🇲🇦
المغرب
I'm so proud of myself lmaoo😭

[Pedro · Rating 4 out of 5]

The fact that I can understand these squiggles amazes me. Languages are not my strong suit and this was not a pleasant process. Nevertheless, I'm very happy with how much progress I've made.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Workbook for learning Arabic script, Read in college back in 2004, an older version than this one.

[Franz · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent resource, especially when paired with classroom instruction.

[YAYabby · Rating 5 out of 5]

where would I be without you

[Ancillar Bradingus · Rating 5 out of 5]

read (1) 1996 or so

Still got it.

[lafon حمزة نوفل · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was the designated book for a class I was taking as part of the HeadStart program at uOttawa. This is not the greatest book for teaching the language in my opinion.
Granted this is designed for complete beginners (which I am not), but it seems to miss quite a bit of the nuances of the language. For the most part it disregards such things as dual, plural, past, future tenses, most of the grammar of the language, and doesn't really have any verbs.
If you've got a terrible teacher for the course, you're not going to enjoy it. My prof for this course (Afifa Haddad) was one of the two funniest of my teachers this semester (although my English prof was pretty cool too).
Another peeve was the narration on the included DVD. This was a bit hit-and-miss with a few of the speakers being wonderful, and a few of them completely unintelligible, even for someone who has at the very least a passing (if not greater) familiarity with spoken Arabic.
All in all unless this is a mandatory part of your course I would skip it.
It costs quite a pretty penny too, weighing in at approximately $90 Canadian, brand new. Even buying it secondhand I payed $45 Canadian. Not exactly the cheapest book out there.

[Alyssa Tallama · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book was the bane of my existence for about 3 months!
(joking!..... sort of)

The exercises on the DVD are very useful - but the audio quality for some of the recordings (especially the dictation drills) was poor [they would start abruptly] thus i had to replay the track several times before i could be sure about which sound i was hearing.


aside from those few technical critiques, i would definitely recommend the textbook. Also, i personally never watched the videos of the calligrapher writing the letters - the step-by-step penmanship lessons in the book seemed sufficient

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Textbook required for Modern Arabic I course.

As a some-what speaker of Arabic, this book was really helpful but in the sense of learning from other dialects it was confusing. Despite most of the information (the vocabulary) being of formal or root Arabic, I couldn't learn from my Egyptian dialect that much from the professor requiring us to only learn Formal Arabic and very little dialect of our choosing. It's a decent book but I'd recommend learning other material from the side to increase knowledge of the Arabic language.

[Conrad · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty good introduction to a tough language. The DVDs that come with it are essential for sharpening pronunciation. There's more information in those and in the book than is very easy to absorb, but that's fine. I only wish the words used in the dictation drills were given definitions in English. I wouldn't mind starting to build vocabulary even though my grasp of grammar is nonexistent.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Learning Arabic is hard... This book doesn't make it easier, exactly, but I am actually learning the alphabet and able to write so it must be doing something correctly.

There are a lot of exercises and useful drills, although the DVDs are a little cumbersome to navigate.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This Arabic Textbook is sufficient in learning the alphabet, but it uses too much Egyptian Dialect, when learning the basics of a language, you need the root, not the dialect, especially in a college level class.

[Maggie Dory · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty great book for learning the very basics of Arabic. Think of it as a sort of Arabic kindergarten:I wouldn't recommend it as a stand alone, but it provides a solid foundation that can be built upon with a competent teacher and additional books to improve syntax

[Mishmish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good introductory textbook. I️ like that it has translations for formal, Levant, and Egyptian dialects. Gives small highlights into cultural norms and practices. Would recommend using the DVD for listening and dictation practice.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I joined my Arabic class 4 weeks late... by using Alif Baa i was able to catch up with the class and learn the new stuff at the same time... GREAT BOOK!!!!

[Nina · Rating 5 out of 5]

fun.

[Sarah (Say) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This made Arabic very accessible & the DVD was incredibly helpful. Skip the intro, though; it might scare you!

[Riobhcah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good book to use independently of class instruction in that the DVD's and the online instruction offer a pretty good teaching on how to pronounce the letters in Arabic.

[Hazier Ika]

usefull for my college. like it!

[Natasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was amazing - phonics for grownups. I feel solid on the alphabet and the vocabulary is... coming along! A great way to learn the language.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

maa shaa' allah!

[Kalebherman]

This is a good introduction to the Arabic language and focuses on the alphabet, better than some other books I've used.

[tabras · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book to introduce the Arabic alphabet and some basic words/conversations.

[Ebrima · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good