Colloquial Arabic of the Gulf and Saudi Arabia (Colloquial Series)

Rating:
Summary: A very comprehensive introduction for the serious learner
Review: I started this book with no knowledge of Arabic whatsoever. It is set up somewhat like a class in that there are lessons and assignments (with answers in the back) but it is at your own pace. After about a month or so of studying, I really began to grasp it. I shocked myself one day when I went into a local Middle Eastern grocery store and was able to understand the conversation between a woman customer and the counter clerk. It was amazing. I disagree with the previous review putting the book down for not teaching us the alphabet. Learning another language is complicated, especially when the alphabet is COMPLETELY different from our own. We learn to speak our native language long before we know how to read or write it-that's part of learning as we grow up. I think it's a natural progression to do the same with another language. If you do want to learn to write it, an excellent companion would be The Arabic Alphabet : How to Read and Write It. But this book was very comprehensive and detailed. I definately would only get this book if you are serious about learning it, because otherwise you will be overwhelmed with information. I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: A very good book...
Review: This book is very very good.
Arabic is a extremely difficult language to learn, let alone the written version of it, this book really does let one grasp spoken gulf arabic, which is the closest to classical and the written that there is.

Holes wasnt implying that the books readers are stupid because he didnt include the written, but it was actually a smart decision, its hard enough learning a new language but double the frustration not only trying to learn the spoken BUT also the written! honestly, its much more useful to learn the spoken, as what u can do with this course and then move on the written and reading.

An important note though is that arabic tends to vary depending on which region of the ME/NA you are in so learning Gulf version can be useful but will ultimatly hinder u in some ways if you say, go to Lebanon or Algeria and try to use this dialect.

another thing i liked about this book was that he explained the grammer really really well, which can be infinitly confusing and confounding but its fairly basic and laid out well.

Rating:
Summary: Potentially useful
Review: This is an introductory text for studying colloquial Gulf Arabic. Arabic is an extremely difficult language to study, not because the grammatical structures are particularly difficult, but because of the particular circumstances of the language. Modern Standard Arabic is a language that was developed from the language of the Holy Qur'an. Books and news broadcasts are in Modern Standard Arabic, but nobody really speaks the language- -it's a theoretical rather than actual standard. Many Arabic textbooks and courses focus on Modern Standard Arabic. If you learn Modern Standard Arabic, you will be able to read books, and educated people from all over the Arabic world will be able to understand you. But most likely, you probably won't be able to understand what ordinary Arabic speakers are saying because they all speak colloquial dialects. People don't actually converse in Modern Standard Arabic; instead, Moroccans speak Moroccan Arabic, Egyptians speak Egyptian Arabic, and Saudis speak Gulf Arabic. The pronunciation, vocabulary, and even grammar of each of these dialects is different, and many native Arabic speakers have trouble understanding other Arabic dialects. If you manage to find a course in colloquial or conversational Arabic, you will learn to speak a local dialect instead of Modern Standard Arabic. That will get you a lot further than Modern Standard Arabic for conversing with friends and neighbors, but then you won't be able to read, since books and newspapers are written in Modern Standard Arabic. So if you learn to read, you won't be able to speak, and speaking classes won't help with your reading. And if you do learn to read, reading newspapers or books won't help you with speaking either. That's why Arabic is so difficult to learn.

That said, this textbook is based on the colloquial Gulf Arabic dialect. The book focuses mainly on the dialect spoken in Saudi Arabia, but most of the vocabulary and structures are relevant throughout the countries of the Gulf, including Kuwait, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman. Since this dialect is only spoken and not written, all Arabic words in the book are written in Latin script, and the Arabic alphabet is not covered. A typical chapter begins with a 2-page discussion of a grammar point, translation exercises, more grammar, more translation exercises, more grammar, more translation exercises, etc., ending with pronunciation exercises, and translation exercises of dialogs. The accompanying tape contains the pronunciation exercises and dialogs. At the end of each chapter is an alphabetical list of new vocabulary words.

I found this book extremely frustrating and difficult to use for self-study because of the incredibly long lists of poorly selected vocabulary for each chapter. Instead of limiting new vocabulary in the early chapters to commonly used or needed words, Holes introduces words like blind, palace, and outer wall already in the 4th chapter. Between the lack of variety in the exercises and the impossibly long lists of vocabulary, I wasn't able to progress beyond chapter 5 in my efforts at self-study. This, combined with the surprisingly few chances to actually use the language during my extended stay in Dubai meant I made little headway. What progress I did make in Arabic was due to actual conversation, and not through using this book. Despite the shortcomings of the book, if you want to learn the basics of the Gulf dialect, this is one of the only resources available. The grammar explanations are, in general, clear and useful. With a talented and patient instructor who is willing to supply more reasonable vocabulary words, the book might prove effective.