( 9 reviews )
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Posted: Nov 6 2008
I am studying --for reasons unknown to me-- Turkish, Russian, and Arabic simultaneously. In my reviews of Conversational Turkish and Conversational Russian, I said a bit about what I have found helpful in Pimsleur-based learning. You can read those reviews if you like because the same applies to this set -- with one exception. Turkish has some extra alphabet letters compared to English but they are absurdly easy to learn. Russian combines consonants and words in a frenzied Slavic abandon. You can hear the consonants in the turmoil; you just can't say them at first. Arabic is far more foreign. They have consonants no one else has: ayn and ghayn, that choking thing, glottal stops at the beginning, middle and end of words, double glottal stops, hissing H's. You're going to miss some of these if you don't find some way to learn them because Pimsleur is so gentle that they don't really spell them out. I recommend you get this set and that you also get the Foreign Service Institute's Levantine Arabic Pronunciation course (free mp3s on the web if you look hard enough and pricey from the Government Printing Office). This will give you nine and a half hours of excellent instruction and practice in simply making and discerning Arabic sounds. Then do Pimsleur. Then do Teach Yourself Arabic and Teach Yourself Arabic Conversation and An Introduction to Modern Arabic. That's my plan anyway.
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( 1 of 2 found this review helpful ) Posted: Nov 6 2008
I am studying --for no good reason-- Turkish, Russian, and Arabic simultaneously. In my reviews of Conversational Turkish and Conversational Russian, I said a bit about what I have found helpful in Pimsleur-based learning. You can read those reviews if you like because the same applies to this set -- with one exception. Turkish has a few extra alphabet letters compared to English but they are absurdly easy to learn. Its alphabet is a one-to-one mapping of letter to sound. No problem. Russian has an entire alphabet to learn and then combines consonants and words in frenzied Slavic abandon. You can hear the consonants in the turmoil; you just can't say them at first. But in the end, it isn't too hard. Arabic is far more foreign. You learn a new alphabet, that is written backwards and omits all short vowels. It has consonants no one else has: ayn and ghayn, that choking thing, glottal stops at the beginning, middle and end of words, double glottal stops, hissing H's. You're going to miss some of these letter-sounds if you don't find some way to learn them on your own because Pimsleur is so gentle that they don't really spell them out. I recommend you get this set and that you also get the Foreign Service Institute's Levantine Arabic Pronunciation course (free mp3s on the web if you look hard enough and pricey from the Government Printing Office). This will give you nine and a half hours of excellent instruction and practice in simply making and discerning Arabic sounds. Then do Pimsleur. Then do Teach Yourself Arabic and Teach Yourself Arabic Conversation and An Introduction to Modern Arabic. That's my plan anyway.
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Posted: Sep 8 2008
As most Pimsleur programs this is an excellent one on EASTERN Arabic spoken in Syria and Lebanon.
