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Rating: Summary: best there is, but lacking... Review: i don't think you'll be striking up many conversations with moroccans unless you are a truly devoted student AND you have an excellent imagination... what do i mean by this? well, you will have to imagine how all of the words in the book are pronounced since it does not come with audio (tapes, CDs, anything please!) and ordering the audio material means writing to washington, d.c. and sending a check, etc. to me the book is completely useless without these valuable materials since the pronunciation of any form of arabic is virtually impossible without examples...despite this, the information is all there... i don't think the author's transliteration system is any worse or better than any other system... in fact, i found it pretty straightforward... i think the format of the book could be updated however, to make it a little more user-friendly and didactic and provide more everyday situations, like how to greet people and ask for things in a store or restaurant.... as well as the famous phrase missing in every language book in the universe: "where's the bathroom?" (!!!) the grammar explanations are clear if you are a linguistics student, but otherwise you will be quite lost since verbs, for instance, are never presented in easy-to-understand formats like tables and charts... vocabulary words are rarely grouped into any sort of categories either, making them more difficult to memorize (for instance, in the same vocabulary list you will find gold, silver, French, today, with you, factory, hunting, her brother and arithmetic) so you ask yourself, "what is the topic of this lesson?" and "when will i use words like hunting and factory?" so you won't find typical foreign language book helpers like a chapter with labeled fruits and vegetables, or a drawing of a living room with the names of the different pieces of furniture shown... that kind of "spoon-feeding" is entirely lacking... but having said all this, it is probably the most thorough book written on moroccan arabic and will give you a good knowledge of the language if you study diligently
Rating: Summary: The best I have found Review: This book is very useful. Although it uses linguistic signs for pronunciation instead of Arabic signs it is still accessible. Being a teacher, I was really able to evaluate the ods used in this book. I have found the exercices easy to follow. The level of difficulty is progressive allowing you to master what you have learned previously before learning more. Being French Canadian, I would have preferred to have a Moroccan-French book. But this is the best one I have found in North America.
Rating: Summary: On my way to fluency Review: This is the only complete Moroccan Arabic book (in English at least) that I have found out there. I am about half way through the book and CD's. I know I am on my way to fluency because everything that I have learned thus far I am able to both speak and understand. The other small Moroccan Arabic books out there are useless if you truly want to become fluent. I guess they may be useful if you are planning a trip to Morocco and need to learn a few phrases to find the toilets, etc. If you are in a touristy area in Morocco then you could just use French. I highly recommend the book and CDs if you are serious about learning Moroccan. I am grateful that this is available. Otherwise, I believe that learning Moroccan Arabic would be nearly impossible.
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