krissness's "Useful Books/Materials For Students of Modern Standard Arabic"

These are some of the materials that I have consumed/will consume in my attempts to learn Arabic.

Nos. 1-4 are quite helpful in learning the alphabet. Alif Baa is most helpful for self-learners, because it has a CD for pronounciation. All of these will try to teach some basic vocab.

Nos. 5-6 are the best tools for learning grammar, in my opinion. Some people hate "the orange book" (as it is fondly, or not-so-fondly, called) but I think the explanations of complicated grammatical points are superior.

Nos. 7-11 the famous (or notorious) al-Kitaab series (of which Alif Baa is a part). The advantage of these books is that they supposedly teach you more real-world vocabulary than the orange books. No. 9 is intended for second-year students and will really sharpen your reading and translation skills, but the grammar explanations are confusing or non-existent. The whole al-Kitaab series suffers from this problem. Also, the books are really more of classroom manuals for teachers – there are lots of activities proposed and very few explanations. If you decide to use them on your own, you will need the answer keys. The first and second volumes have been updated and now come with CDs, so there is a lot of listening and viewing that you can do.

Nos. 12-13 are the best dictionaries out there. Hans Wehr is tops for Arabic-to-English and al-Mawrid is the same for English-to-Arabic (most dictionaries don’t contain both aspects, like you would get for French or German).

Nos. 14-15 are grammar and verb reference books. I find that it helps to get an explanation repeated in different ways, so I like these kinds of things. Not neccessary at all though.

Nos. 16-17 are for the Arabic verbs. Arabic verbs are awesome and beautiful, but sometimes confusing. Each Arabic verb falls into some kind of group, based on its pattern. Therefore, if you know the conjugations of a group, you can conjugate any verb in that group. 201 Arabic verbs shows you the models for the various groups. The Verb Clinic CD Rom is only somewhat useful. Not neccessary at all.

Nos. 18-21 are for building vocab, both basic and more advanced. The MSA Vocab Clinic is much better than the Verb Clinic, plus it acts as a little English-Arabic dictionary on your computer.

Nos. 22-end are Arabic books that I will consume in the future.

Send to Printer krissness's "Useful Books/Materials For Students of Modern Standard Arabic" These are some of the materials that I have consumed/will consume in my attempts to learn Arabic. Nos. 1-4 are quite helpful in learning the alphabet. Alif Baa is most helpful for self-learners, because it has a CD for pronounciation. All of these will try to teach some basic vocab. Nos. 5-6 are the best tools for learning grammar, in my opinion. Some people hate "the orange book" (as it is fondly, or not-so-fondly, called) but I think the explanations of complicated grammatical points are superior. Nos. 7-11 the famous (or notorious) al-Kitaab series (of which Alif Baa is a part). The advantage of these books is that they supposedly teach you more real-world vocabulary than the orange books. No. 9 is intended for second-year students and will really sharpen your reading and translation skills, but the grammar explanations are confusing or non-existent. The whole al-Kitaab series suffers from this problem. Also, the books are really more of classroom manuals for teachers – there are lots of activities proposed and very few explanations. If you decide to use them on your own, you will need the answer keys. The first and second volumes have been updated and now come with CDs, so there is a lot of listening and viewing that you can do. Nos. 12-13 are the best dictionaries out there. Hans Wehr is tops for Arabic-to-English and al-Mawrid is the same for English-to-Arabic (most dictionaries don’t contain both aspects, like you would get for French or German). Nos. 14-15 are grammar and verb reference books. I find that it helps to get an explanation repeated in different ways, so I like these kinds of things. Not neccessary at all though. Nos. 16-17 are for the Arabic verbs. Arabic verbs are awesome and beautiful, but sometimes confusing. Each Arabic verb falls into some kind of group, based on its pattern. Therefore, if you know the conjugations of a group, you can conjugate any verb in that group. 201 Arabic verbs shows you the models for the various groups. The Verb Clinic CD Rom is only somewhat useful. Not neccessary at all. Nos. 18-21 are for building vocab, both basic and more advanced. The MSA Vocab Clinic is much better than the Verb Clinic, plus it acts as a little English-Arabic dictionary on your computer. Nos. 22-end are Arabic books that I will consume in the future.
	1.		Alif Baa: Introduction to Arabic Letters and Sounds by Kristen Brustad
	2.		The Arabic Alphabet: How to Read & Write It by Nicholas Awde
	3.		Teach Yourself Beginner's Arabic Script by John Mace
	4.		Your First 100 Words in Arabic : Beginner's Quick & Easy Guide to Demystifying Non-Roman Scripts by Jane Wightwick
	5.		Elementary Modern Standard Arabic (Elementary Modern Standard Arabic, Lessons 1-30)
	6.	?	Elementary Modern Standard Arabic, Part Two by Peter F. Abboud
	7.		Al-kitaab fii Ta'allum Al-'Arabiyya with DVD's A Textbok For Begining Arabic by Kristen Brustad
	8.	?	Answer Key To Al-Kitaab Fii Ta Callum Al-cArabiyya by Kristen Brustad
	9.		Al-kitaab Fii Ta'allum Al-Arabiyya: A Textbook for Arabic by Kristen Brustad
	10.	?	Answer Key to Al-kitaab Fii Ta Callum Al-carabiyya: A Textbook for Arabic by Kristen Brustad
	11.		Al-Kitaab fii Ta'allum al-'Arabiyya: A Textbook for Arabic, Part Three by Kristen Brustad
	12.		Arabic-English Dictionary: The Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic by Hans Wehr
	13.	?	Al-Mawrid: A Modern English-Arabic Dictionary 2006 by Munir Ba`albaki
	14.		A Student Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic by Eckehard Schulz
	15.		Arabic Verbs and Essentials of Grammar: A Practical Guide to the Mastery of Arabic by Jane Wightwick
	16.		Modern Standard Arabic Verb Clinic by American Univerity in Cairo Press
	17.		201 Arabic Verbs (201 Verbs Series) by Raymond P. Scheindlin
	18.		The Top 1,000 Words for Understanding Media Arabic by Elisabeth Kendall
	19.		Hippocrene Children's Illustrated Arabic Dictionary: English-Arabic/Arabic-English (Hippocrene Children's Illustrated Foreign Language Dictionaries)
	20.		Modern Standard Arabic Vocab Clinic by American University in Cairo Press
	21.	?	First Thousand Words in Arabic: With Easy Pronunciation Guide by Heather Amery
	22.		Using Arabic Synonyms by Dilworth Parkinson
	23.	?	The Connectors in Modern Standard Arabic by Nariman Naili Al-Warraki
	24.		Tales from Kalila Wa Dimna: For Students of Arabic by a Munther Younes
This is krissness's list. Only krissness can edit it. You can make your own version of this list. Created by krissness on Aug 15, 2006.