All The Arabic You Never Learned The First Time Around

by James M. Price

This is an Arabic Grammar book published by the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center. It has very simple explanations and examples of Modern Standard Arabic grammar as well as drills and answer keys to help reinforce the material taught.

525 pages, Paperback

Reviews

[Taru Luojola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nimensä mukaisesti arabian (nimenomaan standardiarabian) kertaamiseen tarkoitettu oppikirja, joka toimii todella erinomaisesti itseopiskelukirjana. Kirjan ytimenä on arabian verbijärjestelmän pilkkominen pieniin ymmärrettäviin osiin ja niiden yksityiskohtainen ja systemaattinen harjoitteleminen yksi kerrallaan. Tämä toimii oikein hyvin ja antaa sellaiset valmiudet, joita minäkään en ensimmäisestä arabian oppikirjastani saanut. Verbijärjestelmän jälkeen kaikki muu on kirjassa vain lisämausteena. Kirja on tarkoitettu yhdysvaltalaissotilaiden opetuskäyttöön, ja se näkyy pitkin matkaa tietynlaisena huumorina. Tätä tyylirikkoa lukuun ottamatta suoraviivaisen tehokas kirja. Lopussa on yli 60 sivua verbien taivutustaulukoita, joten tämä toimii siltäkin osin hyvänä käsikirjana.

[Spencer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic resource for those who have learned some Arabic but want to address shortcomings in order to continue forward with the language. This is perfect for a person who studied a couple of semesters of Arabic at university (or the equivalent) and wants to get back into studying the language or simply work through things from a different perspective.

You will need to be a savvy student in order to discern which concepts are more important (verb forms) and which are less important (case endings), as some principles in the latter category are given a lot of time and attention in the book.

Strengths:
--Clear explanations of grammatical concepts.
--Engaging, conversational tone.
--Organized for effective self-study.

Weaknesses:
--Dated.
--Attitude toward colloquial Arabic.

[Chris Vig · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the hardest parts of learning any language is getting over the hump from “beginner” to “advanced”. This is intended as a true “intermediate” book and the author absolutely nails it, lucidly explaining most of the confusing concepts that introductory courses gloss over and putting you on a sound foundation to move on to more advanced materials. It also helps that the book is surprisingly funny, with a bit of black humor to keep things interesting.

[Liên · Rating 5 out of 5]

Found my holy grail intermediate Arabic book.

ATAYNL is hilarious (love me a sassy textbook). I look forward to reading ahead for the jokes alone:

- Unfortunately, no one ever told Arabs that all you have to do is put a س on the end of a word to make it plural.
- Why do these schizophrenic hollow verbs exist? The only reason I can think of is to refute the assertion of Orientalists that Arabic is a logical, robot-like language.
- the verb يُدَرِّسُ، دَرَّسَ (“to torture”)
- She studied Arabic, an easy language, in order not to study Spanish, a difficult language.
- Some words which do not end with ة are feminine; حَرْب “war” is one example. (“Peace” سلام is masculine - interesting.)

More importantly, the book does keep its title’s promise. (I had trudged through 3 different intro Arabic series, cover to cover, and none ever told me about these???). Explanations are lucid and no frills. Every language textbook should have a section for “the little words no one ever learns but which are very important.” I just wish the readings and exercises weren’t so political, but oh wells.

Only halfway through ATAYNL, and I can already stumble my way through authentic Arabic texts without harakats (Grammatically. My vocab is about as rich as a 3yo’s, so actual comprehension is still a long~ long~ way to go. One day insha'llah.)