The Arabic Alphabet: How to Read & Write It

My only complaint is that there is no accompanying tape, which means the only practice the book gives you is to copy out the few sample words provided for each letter and the short Koran verse at the end. A tape and workbook would make this complete.


Excellent introduction to the Arabic alphabet....   April 23, 2007
 24 out of 24 found this review helpful

This book is exactly what its name implies, a good introduction to the Arabic alphabet. It does a good job of introducing the letters as they occur in different positions, introduces some basic vocabulary and gives you a good grounding for further study. It accomplishes this goal in less than 100 pages in a very accessible, non-intimidating way.

I say this is a good start because to actually read and write Arabic one would need to know more grammar and some of the nuances of the script which are not covered. However, for an introduction this is very thorough and some of the shortcomings are discussed in the spotlight reviews, so I won't repeat them here.

As a Westerner who has a casual interest in learning Arabic and Arabic script, I found this book to be ideal. A good accompaniment to it is Read and Speak Arabic for Beginners which for about $12.00 gives you some basic vocabulary, a 1 hour CD to help with pronunication and a set of flashcards to review recognizing words. This book and the one I'm reviewing make an excellent, inexpensive and fun introduction to a very difficult language.


Great Starter Book   February 22, 1999
 23 out of 26 found this review helpful

What a great little book. I am totally new to the Arabic language aside from knowing a few words here and there (only how to say them, not read or write them). I cannot afford to take classes right now so I decided to at least attempt to learn the alphabet on my own. Into my first few hours of study I was able to write down the phonetic spelling of the first few simple words and write them in Arabic without looking up the letters until after I was done. I mean -very- simple four or five letter words (without dipthongs or too many vowel marks) but I was very impressed considering I had no prior knowledge of the language. Now mind you, this is not an instant arabic book by any means.. and the script and rules of the language are detailed and oftentimes a little confusing. You will have to read it and re-read it and practice and memorize. But I think that this book puts it in straightforward, easy to understand terms that will help get you well on your way to further study. I'm glad I bought it. The text is large and the book is detailed enough without being too overwhelming. The explanations of how the language works and the patterns within it are very helpful. It has made some sense out of things that were, well, completely foreign to me. ;)

The only unfortunate things I can see is that, as another reviewer said, there is no accompanying tape. It would be nice to hear the sounds of the letters and the simple words and phrases they have included in the text. Especially since my High School Spanish seems to be getting in the way of my voicing the proper vowel sounds in Arabic. One can get a general idea though if one has a good vocabulary tape to work with. Also, I've noticed that in their examples of certain letters written -by themselves-, sometimes dots or loops are placed in a certain way. -Then- when you see the same letter used -in- one of the simple end-of-chapter words, it's just EVER so slightly different. It's not too terribly confusing and it's probably just a printing/font issue but it's worth noting.

Other than that I'm having a great time practicing my script and memorizing the characters and I can't wait to move forward.