Lughatuna Al-Fusha, Book 2 Reviews

While most courses in Egyptian Arabic teach the essentials of syntax, morphology, and vocabulary, this first in a series of three books takes the student a step beyond and focuses on colorful expressions used by native speakers. The learner will advance from knowing how to form a good sentence to being able to express his or her thoughts about the ups and downs of daily life using culturally appropriate phrases. This first volume, Adjectives and Descriptions, focuses on the many expressions used to describe people, their characteristics, their behaviors, and their attitudes. Each entry is given fully voweled followed by its feminine form and plural, and definitions (including connotation) and explanations are given in Egyptian Colloquial Arabic. Organized as a reference work, the book can also be used as a textbook, as it contains a large number of exercises. Volume 2, forthcoming, will focus on proverbs and Volume 3, forthcoming, on idiomatic expressions.

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 coursebook for the study of Egyptian colloquial Arabic—the spoken dialect most frequently studied and most widely understood in the Arab world. Designed according to the ACTFL guidelines for teaching Arabic as a foreign language, Kallimni ‘Arabi trains students through ten highly structured lessons in the crucial skills, with particular emphasis on listening and speaking. The associated audio files carry recordings of the dialogues and exercises in each chapter, made by Egyptian native speakers. Click here to listen to the modules on Soundcloud.
From the basics of communicating (asking directions, the language of shopping) to more advanced conversations (future plans, hobbies, and free time), Kallimni ‘Arabi is structured so that students learn Egyptian Arabic using real-life situations and expressions. The key topics covered gradually lead students to understand, use, and speak Arabic, rather than simply memorize fixed phrases. Kallimni ‘Arabi is aimed at students with some ability to read and write Arabic, who have had the equivalent of 30 hours of a beginner Colloquial Arabic class or 40 hours of a Modern Standard Arabic program.