The Oxford Picture Dictionary: English/Arabic

Rating:
Summary: Not for Beginning Arabic speakers
Review: As others have noticed, this book seems largely geared toward Arabic speakers seeking to learn English and seems especially great for those trying to get practice reading English. The exercises on the bottom of the pages, for example, seem geared toward practicing English rather than practicing Arabic. The index lists both words in English and Arabic but only gives a pronunciation guide for the English words, not the Arabic words which are not, so far as I can tell, transliterated into English anywhere in this book or even voweled.

If you are English speaker studying Arabic, however, this book is of unique value in one respect. Most written Arabic language methods that I've seen put English transliterations very close to words in Arabic script which means you tend to memorize the transliterated sounds with the definition rather than learning to recognize the word as written in Arabic. This book really allows for the kind of visual memorization that seems central to learning to read Arabic. That makes this book a good addition to Mace's TEACH YOURSELF BEGINNING ARABIC SCRIPT which tries to teach "whole word recognition" Arabic (rather than just sounding out) but doesn't lay out its pages or present its material in a way that really supports that.

Even so, it would have been better in this book if the pronunciations- or even just the voweled versions of the words- were given some place. A simple modification like that would make the book of nearly equal value to English speakers.

Another beef I have with this book is the 4-8 age group recomendation. The book is of limited usefulness to adult English speakers seeking to learn Arabic. English speaking children would just be lost. And unless the Arabic speaking child in question is a little genius with good reading skills in his or her own language and some proficiency in basic English alphabet and phonetics, this is probably better for junior high level practice or perhaps as a guide to parents seeking to tutor their children in English as a second language.

Rating:
Summary: Primarily for Arabs learning English (ESL) NOT FOR KIDS!!!
Review: As others have noticed, this book seems largely geared toward Arabic speakers seeking to learn English and seems especially great for those trying to get practice reading English. The exercises on the bottom of the pages, for example, seem geared toward practicing English rather than practicing Arabic. The index lists both words in English and Arabic but only gives a pronunciation guide for the English words, not the Arabic words which are not, so far as I can tell, transliterated into English anywhere in this book or even voweled.

If you are English speaker studying Arabic, however, this book is of unique value in one respect. Most written Arabic language methods that I've seen put English transliterations very close to words in Arabic script which means you tend to memorize the transliterated sounds with the definition rather than learning to recognize the word as written in Arabic. This book really allows for the kind of visual memorization that seems central to learning to read Arabic. That makes this book a good addition to Mace's TEACH YOURSELF BEGINNING ARABIC SCRIPT which tries to teach "whole word recognition" Arabic (rather than just sounding out) but doesn't lay out its pages or present its material in a way that really supports that.

Even so, it would have been better in this book if the pronunciations- or even just the voweled versions of the words- were given some place. A simple modification like that would make the book of nearly equal value to English speakers.

Another beef I have with this book is the 4-8 age group recomendation. The book is of limited usefulness to adult English speakers seeking to learn Arabic. English speaking children would just be lost. And unless the Arabic speaking child in question is a little genius with good reading skills in his or her own language and some proficiency in basic English alphabet and phonetics, this is probably better for junior high level practice or perhaps as a guide to parents seeking to tutor their children in English as a second language.

Rating:
Summary: Not for Beginning Arabic speakers
Review: For someone who has been studying Arabic for several years now, I find this book extremely useful. It presents indispensable everyday words that I don't think I would have learned as quickly without this book. And I love having an excuse to pore through a book with lots of pictures....they offer a unique visual tool that helps me remember the words even better. The fact that the vowels are absent is a good thing for the intermediate learner because you can test yourself by voweling them and check your work in the Hans Wehr. One caution for the beginning Arabic speaker...if you don't have a good grasp of Arabic grammar and can't recognize when the authors are using the Arabic term as an imperative, present tense, noun, adjective, etc. and don't understand how to change from their tense to the tense you want for speaking or writing, you'll probably be saying a lot of things wrong. But you'll encounter this problem with any Arabic text.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book for Arab speakers
Review: I bought this dictionary when I was trying to learn a little Arabic to get ready to travel to the Middle East for a semester abroad. It was helpful in many ways(because of the pictures), but it lacked the phoenetic spellings of the Arabic words that I needed to use it for conversation. I took the book with me to Jordan, and ended up leaving it there with a friend who is trying to learn English, because he found it more helpful than I did.

Rating:
Summary: FORGET ABOUT IT!
Review: Not one pronounciation given - just Arabic characters, which, if you don't already know them, you will have no idea how to say them. I returned this book. If you don't already speak Arabic, it's useless.

Rating:
Summary: Intended for Arabic speakers learning English
Review: Please note that this book is aimed at Arabic speakers who want a picture dictionary of English words and situations. As such, it is not as useful for beginning Arabic students such as myself. For example, all the Arabic word equivalents are printed in smallish Arabic script, without the phonetic Roman-alphabet equivalents that I've been using in my studies. Another example, the space devoted to verbs and their forms is all about English verbs - not exactly what I was hoping for when I purchased the book.

Rating:
Summary: This is a mere supplement-don't get wrapped around the axle!
Review: This book is primarily for Arabs learning English. Guess what? Many Arabs are taught English and know our alphabet and pronunciation and such, so this does make a good for them.
This is also an excellent SUPPLEMENT for the non-native who is learning Arabic. All illustrations depict Arabic meaning in MSA (Modern Standard Arabic).
You need to know how to read Arabic fairly well to get by with this book, for it does not teach you how to read, write, and speak it-it is not a complete course-it does not advertise itself to be one. Arab dictionaries do not teach one how to read, write, and speak Arabic, so I'm a bit miffed as to why anyone would be bothered by this picture DICTIONARY doing the same. This book can not be used alone by the beginner (either Arabic learning English or the other way around).
The words are accurate.
You're not going to get beat up by an Arab for trying to learn their language.

Rating:
Summary: Good but...
Review: This book is very beautifully illustrated and has a great range of vocabulary. However, like some other reviewers have mentioned, it is definitely not directed towards beginning arabic students. While it is true that most arabic texts do not have the vowel markings (fatha, damma, etc) they are necessary when first learning the word in the absence of hearing someone actually pronounce the word. My suggestion to the company if they want to exclude the vowels would be to include a cd. This book is very useful for everyday vocab however there is always the risk of mispronunciation with the lack of markings. I would recommend the Milet Bilingual Picture dictionary instead or in addition to this one as it has the vowel markings and is more useful for students of Arabic.

Rating:
Summary: Great for the serious Arabic student
Review: While many of the observations of the other reviewers are valid, their conclusions are not. Yes, the print may seem small, but as an old man, all arabic print seems small to me. It is not any smaller than other texts. The words are not fully voweled, but neither is most arabic text. If you are a serious student and have to speak and write arabic, this is a fast and painless reference to keep your conversation or flow of thought moving.

Rating:
Summary: Don't buy this unless you are Arab
Review: While this book was a good attempt at making a picture dictionary, it failed to create a good resource for English-speaking learners of Arabic. If you are Arab and want to learn daily English, buy this book. If you are learning Arabic, forget it.

As for the Arabic, not only is the Arabic difficult for many learners of the language (lacks pronunciation for those who can't read script), but it's not "real" Arabic. After scanning through some of the pages, I started to get a weird feeling about the way the Arabic read; it just didn't sound natural. So, I turned to the front to see who the authors and editors were - NOT ONE SINGLE ARAB!!! There were maybe 20 or 30 contributors, all of whom were non-Arabs. If you used some of the phrases in this dictionary in an Arab country, not only would the Arabs look at you funny, but they'd probably beat you up.

Another problem is that all of the pictures in the book were pictures of daily life in America. Although this helps beginners to relate to the new words, it does not help anyone who is attempting to learn Arabic in an authentic way. Even the map of time zones is of the United States.

Once again, if you are a student of Arabic, avoid this book, unless you have extra money and want a bigger library. If you are an Arab immigrating to the U.S., perhaps you should buy this book.