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Basic Arabic: Learn to Speak and Understand Arabic with Pimsleur Language Programs (Simon & Schuster's Pimsleur)

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Basic Arabic: Learn to Speak and Understand Arabic with Pimsleur Language Programs (Simon & Schuster's Pimsleur)

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"Pimsleur programs provide plenty of positive reinforcement that will keep learners on track, and we found that Pimsleur gave us more proficiency and confidence in speaking the new language than any of the other language programs we reviewed."-- AudioFile Magazine

"EXTREMELY ACCESSIBLE...each section within the lessons is short enough to hold our attention, and there is enough repetition to teach even those who consider themselves slow learners...Pimsleur [programs] are extremely thorough and easy to use -- quite lively!"-- Boston Herald

"Learn French while commuting, German while jogging, Spanish (or Russian, Italian, and Japanese) while cooking all with NO WRITTEN MATERIALS!"-- New York Daily News

"Designed for the ear and not the eye...the lessons provide PERFECT 30-minute bites of work."-- St Louis Post-Dispatch

"Learn to habla español or parlez français before your next trip aboard. The interactive LESSONS CHALLENGE STUDENTS to use new words in conversation instead of memorize them."-- American Way (American Airlines inflight magazine)

"I tried other language programs with little success...This is the best by far!"-- Pamela A. Mitchell, Pilot, International Society of Women Airline Pilots

 
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Product Details
Author:Pimsleur
Publisher:Pimsleur
Publication Date:October 03, 2005
ISBN:0743550749
Package Length:8.7 inches
Package Width:6.4 inches
Package Height:2.1 inches
Package Weight:0.65 pounds
Average Customer Rating: based on 2 reviews

Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:5.0
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.

3 of 3 found the following review helpful:

5Get what you pay for  Mar 19, 2008
This is a great find, inexpensive and easy to follow. You definitely get your money's worth out of this. Only thing that would make this better would be if it came with written instruction as well, but like I said, considering the price, I can see why it's not included.
Would definitely recommend this product to others learning how to pronounce commeon words and phrases.

38 of 38 found the following review helpful:

54 1/2 stars  Mar 19, 2007
This is a 10-lesson set on 5 CD's, 1/2 hour per lesson. The lessons have an English-speaking narrator with two native speakers, a man and a woman.

I bought this set because I had used Pimsleur to learn Russian several years ago, and I found the Russian set effective. Like the Russian lessons, these Arabic CD's are good too.

The Pimsleur philosophy involves repetition, and starts out with practical words to learn. Often when I encounter foreign-language educational media, the words being taught are not the most important to be learned first. Also, often I encounter rote memorization. But not with the Pimsleur CD's, everything is built around sentences and phrases and conversation. When you first come to a country, you want to know how to say, "excuse me" or "can you speak English," etc. I only wish the Pimsleur CD's included things like "How much does this cost" or numbers.

One thing which would also be nice is an accompanying booklet, just to see what the words look like in print. Arabic uses a different script as you may know, so this is difficult, since many Arabic consonants are not found in English, (making it difficult to write in Latin script) or there might be two different consonants which represent the same sound, only one is given more emphasis; for example there is "seen," soft "s" like "sit" and "Saud," a louder "S" like in "Snake." And then there is "ayn" and "ghayn" etc. which have no equivalent but sometimes show up in words in the Pimsleur CDs.

But it is part of the Pimsleur philosophy that you learn the language like the native speakers do: by speaking first. But I think it is a good idea to have some printed material as well, because the speakers are not always 100% clear. Plus I think they use vernacular: for example, they will say "kif ek" for "how are you" to a lady, but elsewhere I see "kif halak." Also "nayn" instead of "ithnayn" for "two."

At some points there is a steep learning curve; probably the first one you encounter is where you have to pronounce "good morning;" "sabaH al-khayr" which needs lots of work to get right, and I don't think enough time is spent in the lesson. Although there is plenty of repetition in the CD's, I recommend going through each lesson 4 or 5 times before proceeding to the next. Or, as I do, stagger the lessons so it doesn't become too boring; for example in the following order: 1,1,1,2,1,2,1,2,1,2,3,2,3,2,3, etc.

A small annoyance you might find with these CD's, if you're female, is that in some cases, the narrator asks for a response from you and then when the native speaker repeats the correct answer, it is given in masculine form only. So if you are a female, it is not the correct response. In many cases, the CD's will offer both responses, but not always.

One last small annoyance is that the package does not make clear what dialect of Arabic is taught on the CD's. It is the Syrian/Lebanese dialect. They should make this clear on the package.

But overall, I was pleased with this product.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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