Rating: 
Summary: Avoid this book
Review: I've used this book during two years of Arabic at the University of Texas. My professor cannot stand this book, and beginning in Fall 2002, the beginning Arabic textbook will be replaced by another (al-Kitab, I believe). My TA despises the book, and very, very few of the students could glean any information from it.
My professor's major problem with the book are the Basic Texts and Comprhension passages which appear in every chapter. They are terribly out of date, and frankly, pointless. They are written in a "dumbed down" way, which makes sense in the initial chapters, but as you continue throughout the book, it gets very annoying.
My TA made the point to me that the book's emphasis on grammar is not the ideal way to teach a language. It makes sense if you wish to understand Arabic as a linguist, but for those trying to learn the language for reading and speaking purposes, the information is seriously over-detailed. Entirely too much emphasis is placed on specific grammatical exceptions that I rarely employ in my reading or speaking of Arabic. I feel this time could have been better utilized learning more common elements of Modern Standard Arabic.
As a student, I have a strong command of English grammar. This served me well in the lengthy explanations of grammatical elements, and after some struggle I could understand the concepts through the linguistic jargon. Most students, however, are not grammar experts. If you start trying to learn Arabic without a prior knowledge of simple grammatical concepts like what the imperfect case is in English, you will be dead in the water. This is a simple point, I know, but one which frustrated 95% of the students. The book offered them no definition on what imperfect is, and without others telling them it is just a fancy word for the present tense, they would have never guessed that from the book. Such difficulties become more and more pronounced as the book progresses through the lessons.
My biggest complaint is with the vocab. I can talk for hours about politics and school in Arabic, but if I try and discuss a topic of a nonacademic nature, I'm fnished before I start. Example: the word for walk does not appear until lesson 32, a lesson not even in the first volume.
And one more note: if you are trying to learn Arabic without the help of a native speaker, then do not buy this book. Pronunciation of certain letters in Arabic is markedly different from that of English, and there is absolutely no way you will speak correctly if you try and learn it from reading a book.
Rating: 
Summary: EMSA 1
Review: If you would rather learn how to "I transferred from the American University of Beirut to the University of Michigan" than how to say and write the days of the week, then this book is for you. Although this book is probably on of the best for english speakers, it is still not very good for those trying to learn arabic to actually use it. My professor hates this book, but is still waiting for someone to update it or write a better book. If you know EMSA, please write a new textbook. My Arabic 102 class begs you!
Rating: 
Summary: this book is horrible
Review: My instructor thinks this text is great. He is wrong.
Even with the arabic cassettes to accompany this text
the lessons are dull and difficult to comprehend from
the examples. The explanations are insufficient to
fully appreciate the drills that one has to finish
in each lesson. You find yourself flipping back
through the text to complete the lesson. If you
want to be confused buy this book. The students
in my class that speak Arabic, but don't know
how to read or write complain about this text.
Rating:
Summary: this book is horrible
Review: My instructor thinks this text is great. He is wrong.
Even with the arabic cassettes to accompany this text
the lessons are dull and difficult to comprehend from
the examples. The explanations are insufficient to
fully appreciate the drills that one has to finish
in each lesson. You find yourself flipping back
through the text to complete the lesson. If you
want to be confused buy this book. The students
in my class that speak Arabic, but don't know
how to read or write complain about this text.
Rating: 
Summary: Learing One of the Hardest Languages
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive, but visually poor
Review: This book covers grammar reasonably well, better than other books I've used; however, its layout and design are terrible. Without bold lettering separating sections or even chapter headers/footers on any of the pages, it is quite difficult to see where one section ends and another begins or to find something quickly when you don't know, if opening the book anywhere, which chapter you are in. Use a highlighter pen, and you'll do alright. Could be a great book with some editing and graphic design work!
Rating:
Summary: A monumental work that desparately needs updating
Review: This book is a very old standard bearer for teaching of Arabic. It is very detailed and has very extensive support tapes, which are essential for rigorous and effective language study. However, why oh why has the type in this book not been updated? The text appears much as it must have looked when originally published during the Eisenhower administration? This is an excellent text book that should have been revised several times, using more up-to-date fonts, pictures and graphics. I cannot understand why this excellent tool for teaching Arabic has remained mummified for so long. This work is solid and a testimony to some very hard work, but it could be so much better. When there is STILL an absence of thorough Arabic texts out there, this one demands improvement.
Rating:
Summary: A frustrating book to learn from
Review: This book is awful. My professors despise it and are switching next year. I skipped a year of Arabic and came into a class that was in the middle of this book. What a headache trying to figure out the format of the book. As far as the vocab, it is pretty irrelevant to someone who wants to learn to have an actual conversation in Arabic. I know all kinds of words for business and can tell you about Egypt's economic independence upon the Nile, but I have no idea how to ask where the restroom is. The dual for any form of verb is simply not listed. You don't even learn the numbers until half way through the book!
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent book for the serious student
Review: This book is for serious students of Arabic, not for the casual tourist who needs to learn how to ask for the restroom in Beirut or where the local nightspots are in Cairo. The emphasis is on *Standard* Arabic, which is closer to the formal language found in the Qur'an, not on spoken, informal use. By the time you finish this book, not only will you be well on your way to diagramming Arabic sentences in your sleep (I'm dreaming in Arabic now and correcting my homework when I wake up), but you'll learn more about English grammar than you ever knew existed. The book does have a few minor flaws in its layout, such as introducing an occasional grammatical concept several chapters ahead of its explanation, but the rewards far outweigh the little inconvenience when you realize you know *why* a sentence is constructed a certain way.
Rating:
Summary: Cutting edge in the 1970's
Review: This book was first published in the late 1970's. Since then it hasn't been updated much at all--mostly because until recently there was the only Arabic text book. There are several typos in it and the excercises are so boring that you will begin to dread studying this potentially exciting language. These days there are many better books for learning Arabic. Georgetown and Ohio publish much better books. The problem with EMSA is that it doesn't include many of the new techniques of studying the language. I suppose it is effective enough if you see Arabic as a language that exists only in literature, but anyone who wants to experience Arabic as a living language will be greatly disappointed with EMSA. Example sentences from EMSA include: "The Arabs respect the Orientalists." It's far better to find an Arabic text book printed in the post-Edward Said Orientalism era. There is a great book published in Tunisia (purple cover), which can be found at the United Nations bookstore in NYC.
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