Arabic (Egyptian), Comprehensive: Learn to Speak and Understand Egyptian Arabic with Pimsleur Language Programs Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy Arabic (Egyptian), Comprehensive: Learn to Speak and Understand Egyptian Arabic with Pimsleur Language Programs? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Arabic (Egyptian), Comprehensive: Learn to Speak and Understand Egyptian Arabic with Pimsleur Language Programs. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Arabic (Egyptian), Comprehensive: Learn to Speak and Understand Egyptian Arabic with Pimsleur Language Programs ReviewFirst, a brief description of this reviewer. I took two semesters of elementary Arabic at a university one year ago. I was fortunate to have very good professors, who went beyond the textbook to teach a lot of stuff that wouldn't be covered until later (for example, verb conjugations and negation). However, all this was in modern standard Arabic. This dialect is used in the Quran and in writing, but generally not in speaking. I was a little disillusioned of the lack of conversational Arabic in the university courses available to me. A reviewer of a modern standard textbook wrote on Amazon that others said he sounded like the Quran or an ancient author. While I do not know whether it is that extreme, I think it is important to learn a conversation dialect for speaking with native speakers.
I was serious about learning conversational Arabic, and the Pimsleur comprehensive courses seem to have a good reputation and methodology, so I bought the Egyptian Arabic I comprehensive course. I chose Egyptian because Egypt is the most populous Arabic country, and the Egyptian dialect (each country or region has a dialect with its own twist on vocabulary) is widely understood in the Arab world due to the prevalence of Egyptian films.
It certainly made it easier that I had already studied Arabic for two semesters. I was used to the sounds and some of the basic vocabulary. Note however that much of the vocabulary is different from modern standard. While "street" is the same, for instance, "car" and "this" are different. So a person who has studied modern standard will have an easier time with the phonetics than the complete beginner, but one is not immune from learning new vocabulary--and lots of it.
I was afraid that a self-guided, completely audio course would use repetition as its main weapon, and repetition doesn't work great with me as my brain just fills up to the brim quickly, leaving me unable to recall anything quickly. However, Pimsleur uses a totally different methodology. Instead of a linear process, ("learn these words and their conjugations"), Pimsleur takes a more random approach. You might learn "you understand" for a lady in lesson 1 and "you understand" for a man in lesson 3. For each new word or phrase, especially in the first few lessons, each syllable is sounded out in reverse order. The Pimsleur program uses anticipation rather than repetition throughout the course. You are prompted in English to say something in Arabic, then there is a pause to allow you to answer out loud. Then the Arabic speakers say it, and your brain can compare the two, correcting if necessary. At the beginning of each lesson there is a conversation to listen to, I think to soften up your ears for Arabic. It also serves as a review to recall previous lessons' vocabulary. For the bulk of the lesson, the prompt-pause-answer format is used. At the end of some lessons, one participates in a mock conversation.
Each lesson has both review of previous material and new material in good measure. The Pimsleur program does not teach grammar rules at all. But it does teach words, phrases, and then asks you to string them together to make whole, useful sentences. From these you infer the grammar rules. Instead of learning rules by wrote, the program lets you build a gradual intuitive understanding of how the puzzle pieces of nouns, verbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and phrases fit together in grammatically correct sentences. The Pimsleur program is based on 15 lesson CD's, each with two 30-minute lessons. There is an additional CD which, along with a small booklet, introduces you to Arabic writing.
I have gone through the 30 lessons, and am now in the process of going through them again. The result is that I have a basic knowledge of Egyptian Arabic. I find that I can really impress my new Arabic instructor. Just last class she asked whether I had been to Egypt, which I have not.
I only can think of three negative things to say about this program. First, there should be a level II course like Pimsleur has with other languages. Second, due to the random structure of the course, you don't learn all the verb conjugations. There is virtually no third-person verb conjugations introduced, for instance, you learn "I go", "you go", but not "she goes". This is why a level II course is so needed. Third, some people may be turned off by the price. Clearly the Pimsleur comprehensive programs are for serious learners. But really one gets what one pays for. I would encourage those who are interested in this product to shop around on price comparison sites or on popular auction sites (wink, wink), as shopping around will yield significant savings.
In conclusion, this was money well-spent.Arabic (Egyptian), Comprehensive: Learn to Speak and Understand Egyptian Arabic with Pimsleur Language Programs OverviewEgyptian Arabic is mainly spoken in urban Egypt. Egyptian Arabic has also gained a high degree of acceptance throughout the Arabic-speaking world because of its use in films. Pimsleur's Egyptian Arabic teaches the Careen dialect, the dialect of the Egyptian capital. Comprehensive Arabic (Egyptian) includes 30 lessons of essential grammar and vocabulary -- 16 hours of real-life spoken practice sessions -- plus an introduction to reading. Upon completion of this program, you will have functional spoken proficiency with the most-frequently-used vocabulary and grammatical structures. In the first 10 lessons, you'll cover the basics: saying hello, asking for or giving information, scheduling a meal or a meeting, asking for or giving basic directions, and much more. You'll be able to handle minimum courtesy requirements, understand much of what you hear, and be understood at a beginning level, but with near-native pronunciation skills. In the next 10 lessons, you'll build on what you've learned. Expand your menu, increase your scheduling abilities from general to specific, start to deal with currency and exchanging money, refine your conversations and add over a hundred new vocabulary items. You'll understand more of what you hear, and be able to participate with speech that is smoother and more confident. In the final 10 lessons, you'll be speaking and understanding at an intermediate level.More directions are given in the target language, which moves your learning to a whole new plane. Lessons include shopping, visiting friends, going to a restaurant, plans for the evening, car trips, and talking about family. Reading Lessons are included at the end of Unit 30 to provide you with an introduction to reading the Arabic alphabet. These lessons, which total about one hour, are designed to teach you to sound out words with correct pronunciation and accent. A Reading Booklet to be used with the audio lessons is also included in PDF format.

Want to learn more information about Arabic (Egyptian), Comprehensive: Learn to Speak and Understand Egyptian Arabic with Pimsleur Language Programs?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now