The Arabic Alphabet: How to Read & Write It

I had tried several Arabic classes , but ususally, something would happen, for one reason or another, I couldn't finish the class, or the class would discontinue.

Then I stumbled upon this book, and within a month I was reading and writing and working on my vocabulary and grammar. I learned in my spare time at my own pace, with excellent results.

I highly recommend it.


Excellent for all levels.   May 17, 1999
 5 out of 5 found this review helpful

I found this book to be exactly what I needed to get a leg up in learning the basics of reading and writing Arabic. The author is clear to point out what is really important and the material is clear and really clear to comprehend.


Well written,easy to follow   March 6, 1999
 5 out of 6 found this review helpful

This book is a great introduction to the written Arabic. With a little study I easily learned how to read and recognize some basic Arabic. The structure of the language is fascinating. Highly reccomended for the curious.


Great Starter Book   February 23, 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.


Superb on several accounts   October 5, 1998
 35 out of 35 found this review helpful

First, the Arabic text is large and the print quality good, making it easy to distinguish double dots from dashes, loops from blips and so forth. Also, all the Arabic is vowelled, which should be obvious for a beginners' book but is frequently omitted. The authors show you the direction the pen should trace in forming the letters and do it on a horizontal line. The pronunciation tips are extremely helpful, particularly for several of the letters without an English equivalent. I found that the first chapter, a brief introduction to the structure of Arabic, did indeed help "reduce the sense of strangeness" about the language. The style of the writing and overall presentation of the book have the knack of making it all seem easy. Clearly, this book was written by experienced and masterful teachers.

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.