I used to study Arabic and want to pick it up again sometime soon. Has anyone any experience with Arabic courses on CD/Tape/Web/Whatever?

7/14/2006 7:45:15 PM

i hear al-q offers a great crash course

7/14/2006 7:58:18 PM

I may be a newbie with only 1801 posts, but isn't Chit Chat were people are supposed to make stupid sarcastic comments?

7/14/2006 8:10:15 PM

terminate

7/14/2006 8:11:12 PM

If you want to get back into Arabic... I think the best way to do so would be to buy the textbook the school offers. Alif Baa is basic, so you could probably just skip over that, but Al Kitaab covers several years of study, and each chapter comes with a comprehensive CD. Yes, it will be expensive (about $75) but it's worth it if you really want to learn again.

7/14/2006 8:12:32 PM

^^How about you terminate on deez nutz?

Thanks... wonder if I can find it online... maybe put that Amazon prime membership to use?

[Edited on July 14, 2006 at 8:20 PM. Reason : .]

7/14/2006 8:19:44 PM

Al Kitaab is a sin to me.

I was tutored on Elementary Modern Standard Arabic, and this has surpassed all other courses/textbooks I have seen. My tutor, who has a doctorate in Linguistics and a Masters in Arabic, agrees with me. It's simple, logically organized, and is ideal for independent study.

You'll need someone to converse with you using the texts and vocabulary, naturally.

7/14/2006 10:30:18 PM

the library in KANSAS has arabic language CDs in the audio book section

i'm sure you can find something in wisconsin

[Edited on July 14, 2006 at 10:39 PM. Reason : more specific]

7/14/2006 10:35:10 PM

dude I was in Madison the other day

7/15/2006 1:26:34 AM

Al Kitaab was the WORST textbook I've ever seen. Use something, ANYTHING, else.

You know how most language textbooks will have each chapter on some theme, like family, "at the airport", "meeting new people"? Well, Al Kitaab's method seemed to be to write a random paragraph and put that at the front of the chapter. Then, you'd learn all the random words in that random paragraph.

Terrible.

7/15/2006 7:51:06 AM

I have loved using Al Kitaab. The chapters are set up based on subject... the subject also centers around a family member. I guess it really depends on your style of learning as to what suits you best.

7/15/2006 8:21:30 AM

I can't remember exactly what Dr. Talhami's beef was with Al Kitaab but he talked until he was blue in the face, concluding with "Jast put eet on de bookshelf and keep eet der." I trusted him and went with the link I provided above. I does depend on the person, I suppose.

BTW if you click around on that site there's audio that goes with the book, but I just used Dr. Talhami when he was in the States. Definately get the audio if you can't find an Arab who is fluent in Standard Arabic.

7/15/2006 10:45:37 AM

I think I just need to move to Dearborn, Michigan - I hear it's 80% Arabic-speakers...

^^^^^Is the library flat?

7/16/2006 8:51:30 PM