Introduction to Arabic Letters and Sounds [With DVD]

While only a beginner attempting to learn the basics of the writing system in a self-taught mode, I am extremely pleased with the quality of this material. The CD is surprisingly crisp and clear, and the text is well-organized and written in a very motivational style.

I'm actually shocked to see how many positive reviews this book has received. I have studied several different languages and used several different styles of textbooks, and this is easily the worst. The alphabet is dragged out over several chapters, and you are provided random piecemeal vocab in the meantime, most of which you'll never have a use for...and certainly not at the beginner level. (I can't think of a single time I've ever wanted to have a conversation about "mulberries" in English, let alone Arabic.) The listening exercises and drills on the DVD are done with an Egyptian accent, even though the book purports to teach MSA, and constantly cause confusion. Oftentimes, there are exercises in the book that are supposed to have a corresponding audio file, but there's no file on the DVD. Everyone in my class -- including our teacher -- is very dissatisfied with this textbook, and it has caused us endless frustration. Unfortunately, it is the series that the language school has chosen to use, and for this reason alone I will be taking Arabic classes elsewhere in the future.

There are still some editorial glitches, not all the video clips work in the cd, and some essential material is only online and I could not sign up because of not being attached to a formal class. But overall it is excellent and if I had a teacher to go with it, there would be no complaints.

I highly recommend this book to anyone trying to pick up Arabic. It was a required textbook for my college class and it was really the driving force in my learning. My professor was not of Arabic descent nor was it her first language. She hardly knew how to teach and subsequently left after her first semester. Without this book, I wouldn't have learned what I know today. I'm not fluent yet; far from it. But after the semester ended I kept up with it and even now I'm taking the next level with the next book, Al-Kitaab. 5/5 starts. !شكراً

The writing exercises and the companion website are very helpful. The companion website allows me to hear how the words sound and it tests my knowledge. The writing exercises in the book makes me practice writing arabic calligraphy, which is not easy.

The product was perfect but it took nearly 3 weeks to get to me. There was no tracking information online so I though that it didn't get shipped. I had already bought another one by the time it had arrived.

Recognize that Alif Baa is a college textbook designed as part of a three-year Arabic program. It is very detailed, but includes a lot of linguistic information that a beginner doesn't want. Al-Batal designed this as the definitive text on the Arabic Alphabet, and it is, but if you just want to learn how to read and pronounce Arabic in order to start studying, then you should go for a simpler text. Awde's "The Arabic Alphabet" is the one to choose.

Alif Baa will tell you all the different regional pronunciations of each letter, different handwriting variations, etc. IMHO, that is too distracting for the beginner who just wants to unscramble the script and distinguish k from m, and so forth. The problem is that this book doesn't identify what is essential and what is nice to know, so people come out confused about three different regional pronunciations of one letter, rather than learning jiim = j, etc. These differences don't become important until you have progressed well into Arabic.

Also, the Al-Batal series seems to guard the answer keys to their textbooks like state secrets, one of the biggest student complaints.

And of course, $40 is a lot to plunk down if you can get what you want out of an $8 book (like Awde's).

this is simply an excellent book for learning how to write the arabic script. progressing through and doing every exercise may feel tedious, so feel free to skip some things if you are getting bogged down; but keep in mind that it takes time, and a lot of practice, to learn a foreign alphabet, and there is no way to get around the practice if you want to be able to write arabic.
this book is a companion to the arabic book/course "al kitaab fii ta:allum al-:arabiyya", which is, in my opinion, an awful book, although some may be enamored of its experimental methods. in my opinion, skip "al kitaab" and instead try a book like "teach yourself arabic".

Best Arabic Language Book you'll find. Even if you want to learn on your own and not for a class this is the book for you. Comes with a computer CD that shows you how to form the letters (in each position) and how to pronounce them. There are also exercises that go with each lesson in the book on the CD that reinforce what you have learned. Book is invaluable. Definitely the best I have seen. Cannot give it more praise.

If you start studying Arabic from the scratch, this book is a GREAT help. It explains everything through texts and graphics and does not leave any questions open (written by someone who understands pretty well the confusion of someone whose native language does not encompass the Arabic alphabet and logic!)

This is probally the best book to start learning the arabic alphabet. For one it comes with 3 CD's that will let you hear how the letters sound. And there is plenty of exercises and drills to help you.
But like another reviewer said you don't get an answer key with it. And there are some parts in the book that direct you to the DVD/VHS. Not that you really need the DVD, its nice to have. But you really need the answer key if you are going to do anything. You can get the answer key and DVD from Georgetown Press. I got the whole set from there.

Absolutely dreadful. My DVD doesn't work and of course I have no access code to online learning. I can't seem to get a replacement and the course is half over. I am as perplexed why people would even think to give this a good review. I wouldn't even give it a mediocre review. Zero stars!

As a nonspeaker learning Arabic for the first time, I found this book VERY easy to follow. This includes 3 CDs to listen to sounds and vocab words. Alif Baa is the first book in a 4 book series, followed by Al-Kitaab Part I, Part II, and Part III. I am taking an Arabic course for the ARMY and this is the book we started off with. There are 10 units all together, with about 5 letters in each unit to learn, along with a cultural video at the end of each unit. In each unit there is space to practice writing your new letters and words containing letters that you already have learned, thus building your vocabulary at the same time. I would have to guess that this book should take the average person approximately 1 month to complete (Completing lessons each day of about 1 hour each day). By the end of the last unit, you will be reading real commercial advertisements and practicing word searches.