Alif Baa: Introduction to Arabic Letters and Sounds

The Al-Kitaab Arabic language program is among the English-speaking worlds most widely used Arabic language learning texts. Alif Baa with DVDs: Introduction to Arabic Letters and Sounds is the first part of the Al-Kitaab program. This revised, second edition contains updated readings, new and revised exercises, and completely new audio/video materials on two DVDs bound into each volume.

In teaching the sounds and letters of Arabic, Alif Baa provides a variety of exercises aimed at developing the crucial nascent skills of reading, listening, writing, speaking, and cultural understanding. In conjunction with learning how to read and write the alphabet, Alif Baa introduces about 150 basic vocabulary words, including conventional forms of politeness and social greetings.

Standard Arabic vocabulary is distributed throughout the book, enhanced by the visual and audio materials on the DVDs and implemented in practical exercises. It introduces a range of Arabic from colloquial to standard in authentic contexts, including social greetings in dialogues that take place in an Egyptian context, the most widely-used and understood Arabic dialect.

Finally, Alif Baa includes capsules on Arab culture as well as an English-Arabic glossary. Alif Baa provides the essential first twenty contact hours of instruction that are the foundation for the rest of the Al-Kitaab language program.

Why, then, am I not inclined to recommend this work enthusiastically? Put bluntly, ALIF BAA IS A POOR VALUE FOR ANYONE INTENDING TO UNDERTAKE A COMPLETE SELF-DIRECTED STUDY OF ARABIC. Unless you buy Alif Baa directly from the publisher, the book does NOT come with an answer-key. Purchasing the key separately will require you either to deal with used-book sellers or to deal directly with the publisher. The former course may require you to pay nearly half the price of Alif Baa just for the 12-page key. The latter course will involve either paying a small price for the key (plus shipping, I imagine) or else paying more than the price of Alif Baa in order to obtain the associated videotape, with which comes a free answer-key. That's right: part of each lesson in Alif Baa involves watching items on the video, which must be purchased separately. You could buy the cheap key and avoid the video and still learn the Arabic alphabet; but given how much you've already paid for Alif Baa, isn't it distressing to learn after you've already bought the book that you must then either pay a lot more or else restrict the use to which you put it?

Moreover, you can buy THE ARABIC ALPHABET: HOW TO READ AND WRITE IT (by Awde and Samano) for about a quarter of the cost of Alif Baa. Its lower cost is due largely, no doubt, to its lack of any audio supplement. In spite of this notable deficiency, however, this less expensive book is quite instructive; and its deficiency will ultimately be remedied by the fact that you'll need to supplement whatever grammar / vocabulary text you eventually select with some audio material. With these, you can then hone your pronunciation-skills as you would have done by using Alif Baa. (And if you intend later to study Qur'aanic Arabic, then you'll find this little book superior to Alif Baa, since it treats two features of Qur'aanic notation that Alif Baa completely ignores -- namely the use of letter-fusions known as "ligatures," and the representation of long vowel sounds by joint use of short and long vowel symbols.)

Therefore, if your plan is to teach yourself Arabic (i.e., to carry out a complete course of self-directed study), and you don't want to waste money, then don't get taken in by Alif Baa. There's a less expensive, but no less effective, way to go.


Good book, bad DVDs   September 5, 2005
 17 out of 21 found this review helpful

This was the textbook for a university Arabic class I took. The book is good, but the included DVDs are awful and annoying. I recommend this book, but suggest purchasing the Instant Immersion Arabic 2-cd set to learn some vocabulary and phrases (for about $9.99).


A superior introduction to a potentially daunting task   January 13, 2003
 16 out of 17 found this review helpful

This book is by far the best introduction to the Arabic writing system that I've been able to find. The accompanying CD's do what no other books dedicated to teaching the Arabic alphabet do, which is teach the sounds of Arabic at the very same time it teaches you individual letters. "Teach Yourself Arabic Script" for example only describes the particular sounds, which can be very different from English sounds and which one usually needs to hear in order to produce.

"Alif Baa" is also bound on the left-hand side, so the reader instantly gets used to the feel of a book which starts on what seems like the back page. Also, the size of the letters when they are introduced is fairly large so that the reader can see the shape of each letter and their sometimes confusing details, since Arabic letters are often variations on a particular theme. The page layouts are neat and uncluttered, the typeography on even the smaller-printed text is crisp, and write-on lines for student answers are ample.

Also, it is not necessary to purchase the videotapes to make full use of this text, as one reviewer complained. In each chapter there is a page dedicated to a cultural note which is illustrated through video scenes, but this is only an introduction to basic conversation in the Cairene dialect and not an instrinsic part of the book's main task, which is to teach the shapes and sounds of the Arabic alphabet. Contact information for the publisher is given in the back, and the answer key might be obtained from the press, I haven't tried yet. Once a reader has diligently worked through Alif Baa, she or he will be able to jump right in to any basic Arabic course and indeed have a major advantage, since none offer as thorough an introduction to reading and writing Arabic is this title.


Great beginner book   October 6, 2006
 15 out of 15 found this review helpful

I used Alif Baa (with DVDs) in Arabic 101 at the University of Maryland (Baltimore County) and it's probably the best beginner book I have encountered. The DVDs are great and add a lot to the text and exercises. It even shows a chart with the letters, and you can click on the appropriate character to hear and show someone pronouncing it in several different voices. Great idea. Lots of exercises to listen to and write down. And, for $5, there's an answer key to Alif Baa which will help an awful lot if you want to teach yourself.


Excellent introduction to Arabic letters and sounds.   February 16, 1999
 12 out of 12 found this review helpful

This book is a very well-considered introduction to Arabic letters and sounds. It focuses on the difficulties English speakers have in recognizing and pronouncing letters such as "DHaa" vs "daal". The companion cassettes are absolutely necessary; the book is worthless without them. Exercises consist mainly of differentiating between similar-sounding words, and distinguishing what letter actually appears in a spoken word. No "answers" to the exercises are given, but I found none were needed. The book is intended to take 6 weeks of study to finish.