Berlitz Arabic Picture Dictionary Reviews

Drawing on her years of experience as an Arabic instructor and course developer, Samia Louis has used a functional approach to create a bright, innovative set of coursebooks for the study of Egyptian colloquial Arabic—the spoken dialect most frequently studied and most widely understood in the Arab world. Now three new books, for beginner, early advanced, and higher advanced students, have been added to the series. Designed according to the ACTFL guidelines for teaching Arabic as a foreign language, each book of Kallimni ‘Arabi trains students through highly structured lessons in the crucial skills, with particular emphasis on listening and speaking, using real-life situations and expressions.

For the accompanying video films of real-life situations covered in the chapters, click here. The book is further supported by interactive reading, writing, and grammar drills accessible through the Internet. Click here to listen to the audio tracks on Soundcloud.

“The books in the [Kallimni ‘Arabi] series altogether present the best Arabic textbooks available . . . miles ahead of most others.”—David Wilmsen, American University of Beirut

Whether you are newly arrived in Egypt and need to know the words for ‘bread’ and ‘apartment,’ or a long-term resident who suddenly needs to know how to ask for a picture frame or complain of a sore throat, this dictionary is for you. Fully revised and expanded, the third edition of this unique and invaluable dictionary presents 6,500 words commonly needed by foreigners speaking Arabic in Egypt. Arabic words are written in a clear and consistent transcription system, plurals are given for all nouns, plurals and feminine forms are provided for all adjectives, and past tenses are given for all verbs. The dictionary also provides stress rules and basic charts of verb endings, negation of verbs, form and use of numbers, pronominal suffixes, and comparatives and superlatives.