Instant Immersion Arabic - Eastern Colloquial

8 Audio CDs - play in your car - portable CD player - or at home - (they are not computer software)

Get Other Arabic language learning Audio click here

 Instant Immersion Arabic - Eastern Colloquial - 8 Audio CDs

Brand New : .    8 CDs 

We at TOPICS Entertainment are confident that these Instant Immersion™ audio recordings provide the fastest, easiest way to conversational fluency. With its focus on spoken language instruction, the listen to learn approach of Instant Immersion™ English Grammar & Pronunciation yields results fast!

• Developed by a respected Arabic translator and university instructor
• Designed for all non-native speakers of Eastern Colloquial Arabic

Developed especially for all non-native speakers of the language, Instant Immersion™ Arabic is the painless, practical path to correct Eastern Colloquial Arabic. With its emphasis on the building blocks of proper speech, this 8-audio-CD collection provides comprehensive, self-paced instruction in basic grammar, sentence formation, and conversational skill-building, from directions to doctor visits. Perfect for business, touring, or government service, Instant Immersion™ Arabic is designed to increase your language conÞdence, loud and clear!

Lesson Plan includes:

CD 1: Grammar introduction, Asking questions

CD 2: Meeting people, Getting acquainted

CD 3: Around town, Street directions

CD 4: Accommodations, Dining out

CD 5: Clothing, Parts of the body, Shopping

CD 6: Visiting the doctor, Weather, Travel

CD 7: Tourism, Family, Schooling

CD 8: Higher education, Employment

About the Arabic Language

Arabic rabī) is the largest living member of the Semitic language family in terms of speakers. Classified as Central Semitic, it is closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic, and has its roots in a Proto-Semitic common ancestor. Modern Arabic is classified as a macrolanguage with 27 sub-languages in ISO 639-3. These varieties are spoken throughout the Arab world, and Standard Arabic is widely studied and known throughout the Islamic world.

Modern Standard Arabic derives from Classical Arabic, the only surviving member of the Old North Arabian dialect group, attested epigraphically since the 6th century, which has been a literary language and the liturgical language of Islam since the 7th century.

Arabic has lent many words to other languages of the Islamic world, as Latin has contributed to most European languages. And in turn, it has also borrowed from those languages, as well as Persian and Sanskrit from early contacts with their affiliated regions. During the Middle Ages, Arabic was a major vehicle of culture, especially in science, mathematics and philosophy, with the result that many European languages have also borrowed numerous words from it especially Spanish and Portuguese, countries it ruled for 700 years (see Al-Andalus).

"Colloquial Arabic" is a collective term for the spoken varieties of Arabic used throughout the Arab world, which, as mentioned, differ radically from the literary language. The main dialectal division is between the North African dialects and those of the Middle East, followed by that between sedentary dialects and the much more conservative Bedouin dialects. Speakers of some of these dialects are unable to converse with speakers of another dialect of Arabic; in particular, while Middle Easterners can generally understand one another, they often have trouble understanding North Africans (although the converse is not true, due to the popularity of Middle Eastern—especially Egyptian—films and other media).

One factor in the differentiation of the dialects is influence from the languages previously spoken in the areas, which have typically provided a significant number of new words, and have sometimes also influenced pronunciation or word order; however, a much more significant factor for most dialects is, as among Romance languages, retention (or change of meaning) of different classical forms. Thus Iraqi aku, Levantine fīh, and North African kayən all mean "there is", and all come from classical Arabic forms (yakūn, fīhi, kā'in respectively), but now sound very different.

 Instant Immersion Arabic - Eastern Colloquial - 8 Audio CDs

Pimsleur Basic Arabic

Audio Only 5 Audio CDs

5 CDs

BRAND NEW - LATEST PIMSLEUR PROGRAM

Get Other Arabic language learning Audio click here

Pimsleur Basic Arabic - 5 Audio CDs

Brand New : .    5 CDs 

This Basic program contains 5 hours of audio-only, effective language learning with real-life spoken practice sessions.

HEAR IT, LEARN IT, SPEAK IT

The Pimsleur Method provides the most effective language-learning program ever developed. The Pimsleur Method gives you quick command of Arabic structure without tedious drills. Learning to speak Arabic can actually be enjoyable and rewarding.

The key reason most people struggle with new languages is that they aren't given proper instruction, only bits and pieces of a language. Other language programs sell only pieces -- dictionaries; grammar books and instructions; lists of hundreds or thousands of words and definitions; audios containing useless drills. They leave it to you to assemble these pieces as you try to speak. Pimsleur enables you to spend your time learning to speak the language rather than just studying its parts.

When you were learning English, could you speak before you knew how to conjugate verbs? Of course you could. That same learning process is what Pimsleur replicates. Pimsleur presents the whole language as one integrated piece so you can succeed.

With Pimsleur you get:

* Grammar and vocabulary taught together in everyday conversation,
* Interactive audio-only instruction that teaches spoken language organically,
* The flexibility to learn anytime, anywhere,
* 30-minute lessons designed to optimize the amount of language you can learn in one sitting.

Millions of people have used Pimsleur to gain real conversational skills in new languages quickly and easily, wherever and whenever -- without textbooks, written exercises, or drills.

About the Arabic Language

Arabic rabī) is the largest living member of the Semitic language family in terms of speakers. Classified as Central Semitic, it is closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic, and has its roots in a Proto-Semitic common ancestor. Modern Arabic is classified as a macrolanguage with 27 sub-languages in ISO 639-3. These varieties are spoken throughout the Arab world, and Standard Arabic is widely studied and known throughout the Islamic world.

Modern Standard Arabic derives from Classical Arabic, the only surviving member of the Old North Arabian dialect group, attested epigraphically since the 6th century, which has been a literary language and the liturgical language of Islam since the 7th century.

Arabic has lent many words to other languages of the Islamic world, as Latin has contributed to most European languages. And in turn, it has also borrowed from those languages, as well as Persian and Sanskrit from early contacts with their affiliated regions. During the Middle Ages, Arabic was a major vehicle of culture, especially in science, mathematics and philosophy, with the result that many European languages have also borrowed numerous words from it especially Spanish and Portuguese, countries it ruled for 700 years (see Al-Andalus).

"Colloquial Arabic" is a collective term for the spoken varieties of Arabic used throughout the Arab world, which, as mentioned, differ radically from the literary language. The main dialectal division is between the North African dialects and those of the Middle East, followed by that between sedentary dialects and the much more conservative Bedouin dialects. Speakers of some of these dialects are unable to converse with speakers of another dialect of Arabic; in particular, while Middle Easterners can generally understand one another, they often have trouble understanding North Africans (although the converse is not true, due to the popularity of Middle Eastern—especially Egyptian—films and other media).

One factor in the differentiation of the dialects is influence from the languages previously spoken in the areas, which have typically provided a significant number of new words, and have sometimes also influenced pronunciation or word order; however, a much more significant factor for most dialects is, as among Romance languages, retention (or change of meaning) of different classical forms. Thus Iraqi aku, Levantine fīh, and North African kayən all mean "there is", and all come from classical Arabic forms (yakūn, fīhi, kā'in respectively), but now sound very different.

 Pimsleur Basic Arabic - 5 Audio CDs

Teach Yourself Gulf Arabic

2 CDs and BOOK

Get Other Arabic language learning Audio click here

Teach Yourself Gulf Arabic - Book and 2 Audio CDs

Brand New 2 CDs and Book

all-round confidence category
language

This book will teach you how to speak and understand the spoken Arabic of the Gulf region. It is not a manual of standard, or literary, Arabic, which is not a spoken language -. However, so that you will be able to read road signs, shop names etc, there is a simple guide to the Arabic alphabet.

In the first ten units of the book you will find all the important information that you will need for good communication in Gulf Arabic. The last four units refer to specific situations in which you might find yourself if you are visiting or living in the region, and build on the words and grammar you have already learned.

Each unit contains several dialogues which introduce the new language in a realistic context. The new words and phrases are given in both Arabic script and English transliteration. There are plenty of exercises to check your progress and the answers for these are at the back of the book or on the recording. The final section of each unit contains the Arabic script which gradually takes you through the Arabic alphabet so that by the end you will be able to recognise simple road signs and so on.

About the Authors

Jack Smart, co-author, was Lecturer in Arabic and Islamic studies at the University of Exeter before retirement.

Frances Altorfer, co-author, was a modern languages teacher in secondary education.

About Gulf Arabic Language

Gulf Arabic is a variety of the Arabic language spoken around both shores of the Persian Gulf, mainly in Kuwait, eastern Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and parts of Oman. Some notable characteristics that set it apart from other Bedouin dialects is the small number of Persian loanwords, and a pronunciation of k as ch ("kalb" dog, read as "chalb"); and, in some instances, the pronunciation j as y (jannah "paradise", read as "yennah").

About the Arabic Language

Arabic rabī) is the largest living member of the Semitic language family in terms of speakers. Classified as Central Semitic, it is closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic, and has its roots in a Proto-Semitic common ancestor. Modern Arabic is classified as a macrolanguage with 27 sub-languages in ISO 639-3. These varieties are spoken throughout the Arab world, and Standard Arabic is widely studied and known throughout the Islamic world.

Modern Standard Arabic derives from Classical Arabic, the only surviving member of the Old North Arabian dialect group, attested epigraphically since the 6th century, which has been a literary language and the liturgical language of Islam since the 7th century.

Arabic has lent many words to other languages of the Islamic world, as Latin has contributed to most European languages. And in turn, it has also borrowed from those languages, as well as Persian and Sanskrit from early contacts with their affiliated regions. During the Middle Ages, Arabic was a major vehicle of culture, especially in science, mathematics and philosophy, with the result that many European languages have also borrowed numerous words from it especially Spanish and Portuguese, countries it ruled for 700 years (see Al-Andalus).

"Colloquial Arabic" is a collective term for the spoken varieties of Arabic used throughout the Arab world, which, as mentioned, differ radically from the literary language. The main dialectal division is between the North African dialects and those of the Middle East, followed by that between sedentary dialects and the much more conservative Bedouin dialects. Speakers of some of these dialects are unable to converse with speakers of another dialect of Arabic; in particular, while Middle Easterners can generally understand one another, they often have trouble understanding North Africans (although the converse is not true, due to the popularity of Middle Eastern—especially Egyptian—films and other media).

One factor in the differentiation of the dialects is influence from the languages previously spoken in the areas, which have typically provided a significant number of new words, and have sometimes also influenced pronunciation or word order; however, a much more significant factor for most dialects is, as among Romance languages, retention (or change of meaning) of different classical forms. Thus Iraqi aku, Levantine fīh, and North African kayən all mean "there is", and all come from classical Arabic forms (yakūn, fīhi, kā'in respectively), but now sound very different.

 Teach Yourself Gulf Arabic - Book and 2 Audio CDs

Pimsleur Basic Farsi (Persian)

Audio Only 5 Audio CDs

5 CDs

BRAND NEW - LATEST PIMSLEUR PROGRAM

Get Other Arabic language learning Audio click here

Pimsleur Basic Farsi (Persian) - 5 Audio CDs

Brand New : .    5 CDs 

This Basic program contains 5 hours of audio-only, effective language learning with real-life spoken practice sessions.

HEAR IT, LEARN IT, SPEAK IT

The Pimsleur Method provides the most effective language-learning program ever developed. The Pimsleur Method gives you quick command of Farsi structure without tedious drills. Learning to speak Farsi can actually be enjoyable and rewarding.

The key reason most people struggle with new languages is that they aren't given proper instruction, only bits and pieces of a language. Other language programs sell only pieces -- dictionaries; grammar books and instructions; lists of hundreds or thousands of words and definitions; audios containing useless drills. They leave it to you to assemble these pieces as you try to speak. Pimsleur enables you to spend your time learning to speak the language rather than just studying its parts.

When you were learning English, could you speak before you knew how to conjugate verbs? Of course you could. That same learning process is what Pimsleur replicates. Pimsleur presents the whole language as one integrated piece so you can succeed.

With Pimsleur you get:

* Grammar and vocabulary taught together in everyday conversation,
* Interactive audio-only instruction that teaches spoken language organically,
* The flexibility to learn anytime, anywhere,
* 30-minute lessons designed to optimize the amount of language you can learn in one sitting.

Millions of people have used Pimsleur to gain real conversational skills in new languages quickly and easily, wherever and whenever -- without textbooks, written exercises, or drills.

About the Farsi (Persian) Language

Persian (Farsi) is an Indo-European language spoken in Iran (Persia), Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. It is derived from the language of the ancient Persian people. Persian belongs to the Western group of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family, and is of the Subject Object Verb type. Contrary to common belief, it is not a Semitic language. The Western Indo-Iranian group contains other related languages such as Kurdish and Balochi. The language is in the Southwestern Indo-Iranian group, along with the Tat and Luri languages.

Persian and its varieties have official-language status in Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan. According to CIA World Factbook, there are approximately 64 million native speakers of Persian in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and about the same number of people in other parts of the world speak Persian. UNESCO was asked to select Persian as one of its languages in 2006.

Persian has been a medium for literary and scientific contributions to the Islamic world as well as the Western. It has had an influence on certain neighbouring languages, particularly the Turkic languages of Central Asia, Caucasus, and Anatolia. It has had a lesser influence on Arabic and other languages of Mesopotamia.

For five centuries prior to the British colonization, Persian was widely used as a second language in the Indian subcontinent; it took prominence as the language of culture and education in several Muslim courts in India and became the "official language" under the Mughal emperors. Only in 1843 did the subcontinent begin conducting business in English. Evidence of Persian's historical influence in the region can be seen in the extent of its influence on the languages of Hindustani (resulting in Urdu), Kashmiri, Punjabi, Sindhi, Gujarati, Bengali and even Telugu, as well as the popularity that Persian literature still enjoys in the region.

Persian, the more widely used name of the language in English, is an Anglicized form derived from Latin *Persianus < Latin Persia < Greek Πέρσις Pérsis, a Hellenized form of Old Persian Parsa. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term Persian seems to have been first used in English in the mid-16th century. Native Persian speakers call it "Fārsi" (local name) or Parsi. Farsi is the arabicized form of Parsi, due to a lack of the /p/ phoneme in Standard Arabic.

According to Pejman Akbarzadeh, "... In English, however, this language has always been known as "Persian" ('Persane' in French and 'Persisch' in German). But many Persians migrating to the West (particularly to the USA) after the 1979 revolution continued to use 'Farsi' to identify their language in English and the word became commonplace in English-speaking countries." "Farsi" is encountered frequently in the linguistic literature as a name for the language, used both by Iranian and by foreign authors, and is preferred by some.However, The Academy of Persian Language and Literature has declared in an official pronouncement that the name "Persian" is more appropriate, as it has the longer tradition in the western languages and better expresses the role of the language as a mark of cultural and national continuity.

 Pimsleur Basic Farsi (Persian) - 5 Audio CDs

 Arabic for Dummies

3 Audio CDs and reference Booklet

Get Other Arabic language learning Audio click here

Arabic for Dummies - 3 Audio CDs plus listening guide

Brand New :  3 Audio CDs and Booklet

The fun and easy way to communicate effectively in a new language!

Want to speak Arabic? Don't have a lot of time? This practical audio set is designed to help you learn quickly and easily at home or on the road. From basic greetings and expressions to grammar and conversations, you'll grasp the essentials and start communicating right away! Plus, you can follow along with the handy, 96-page portable guide — filled with the words and phrases you'll hear on the CDs, plus a mini-dictionary.

Skip around and learn at your own pace

CD1: Get started with basic words and phrases.

CD 2: Form sentences and practice parts of speech.

CD 3: Handle real-world situations.

Discover how to:

* Handle greetings and introductions
* Ask questions and understand answers
* Build your vocabulary
* Talk about numbers, time, and the calendar
* Ask for directions

Includes all Audio Files in mp3 formats as well as CD format - so you can copy them over to your iPOD or mp3 player

About the Arabic Language

Arabic rabī) is the largest living member of the Semitic language family in terms of speakers. Classified as Central Semitic, it is closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic, and has its roots in a Proto-Semitic common ancestor. Modern Arabic is classified as a macrolanguage with 27 sub-languages in ISO 639-3. These varieties are spoken throughout the Arab world, and Standard Arabic is widely studied and known throughout the Islamic world.

Modern Standard Arabic derives from Classical Arabic, the only surviving member of the Old North Arabian dialect group, attested epigraphically since the 6th century, which has been a literary language and the liturgical language of Islam since the 7th century.

Arabic has lent many words to other languages of the Islamic world, as Latin has contributed to most European languages. And in turn, it has also borrowed from those languages, as well as Persian and Sanskrit from early contacts with their affiliated regions. During the Middle Ages, Arabic was a major vehicle of culture, especially in science, mathematics and philosophy, with the result that many European languages have also borrowed numerous words from it especially Spanish and Portuguese, countries it ruled for 700 years (see Al-Andalus).

"Colloquial Arabic" is a collective term for the spoken varieties of Arabic used throughout the Arab world, which, as mentioned, differ radically from the literary language. The main dialectal division is between the North African dialects and those of the Middle East, followed by that between sedentary dialects and the much more conservative Bedouin dialects. Speakers of some of these dialects are unable to converse with speakers of another dialect of Arabic; in particular, while Middle Easterners can generally understand one another, they often have trouble understanding North Africans (although the converse is not true, due to the popularity of Middle Eastern—especially Egyptian—films and other media).

One factor in the differentiation of the dialects is influence from the languages previously spoken in the areas, which have typically provided a significant number of new words, and have sometimes also influenced pronunciation or word order; however, a much more significant factor for most dialects is, as among Romance languages, retention (or change of meaning) of different classical forms. Thus Iraqi aku, Levantine fīh, and North African kayən all mean "there is", and all come from classical Arabic forms (yakūn, fīhi, kā'in respectively), but now sound very different.

Arabic for Dummies - 3 Audio CDs plus listening guide

Teach Yourself Arabic

2 CDs and Book Audio CD

Get Other Arabic Language Learning Audio click here

Teach Yourself Arabic - 2 Audio CDs and Book

Brand New (still shrink wrapped):  2 CDs and Book

The Arabic taught in this book/CD pack is the standard written language of more than 150 million inhabitants of the Arab states, ranging from Morocco in the west to Iraq in the east. The language you will learn is based on the kind of material seen in Arabic newspapers and magazines, or heard on radio and television news broadcasts. In modern everyday life in the Arab countries, so-called vernacular or dialect Arabic has supplanted Standard Arabic for spoken communication, but all these dialects derive from the parent root. If you have a grounding in Standard Arabic it will be easier to learn the modern local dialects which are based on it. Standard Arabic is also the lingua franca of the Arab world and can be understood anywhere in conversation with educated speakers. The course begins with a guide to Arabic script and throughout the book there is an English transliteration (English letters) to help you with reading and pronunciation. The 18 thematically written units are carefully graded and present new language via dialogues, which are also recorded. These are followed by questions and exercises to help you check your progress. The new vocabulary is given in both Arabic script and in transliteration.

In addition to clear and full explanations of new grammar, you will find cultural tips which highlight some of the social and cultural aspects of life in the Arab world and which you will find invaluable on any trip. At the end of the coursebook you will find a Glossary of Grammar Terms, a Grammar Summary of the main structures of the Arabic language, a set of Verb Tables and reference sections of Arabic Numerals and plurals. Finally there are Arabic-English and English-Arabic glossaries so you can look up words alphabetically and a Grammar Index to help you look up specific points.

The accompanying double CD provides approximately 2 hours of listening material.

* Arabic script - there is a comprehensive introduction to reading and writing the script, with lots of practice and help.
* Transliteration - throughout the book there is English transliteration (English spelling) to help with pronunication.
* Accessibility - Frances Altorfer brings her experience of foreign language teaching in secondary schools to the author team, so the grammar explanations are always clear and do not assume any prior grammatical knowledge.
* Illustrations and authentic material - the book is lavishly illustrated to help comprehension and make the book come to life.

About the Author:

Before he retired, Jack Smart was Lecturer in Arabic and Islamic studies at the University of Exeter. Frances Altorfer was a modern languages' teacher for many years.

About the Arabic Language

Arabic is the largest living member of the Semitic language family in terms of speakers. Classified as Central Semitic, it is closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic, and has its roots in a Proto-Semitic common ancestor. Modern Arabic is classified as a macrolanguage with 27 sub-languages in ISO 639-3. These varieties are spoken throughout the Arab world, and Standard Arabic is widely studied and known throughout the Islamic world.

Modern Standard Arabic derives from Classical Arabic, the only surviving member of the Old North Arabian dialect group, attested epigraphically since the 6th century, which has been a literary language and the liturgical language of Islam since the 7th century. Arabic has lent many words to other languages of the Islamic world, as Latin has contributed to most European languages. And in turn, it has also borrowed from those languages, as well as Persian and Sanskrit from early contacts with their affiliated regions. During the Middle Ages, Arabic was a major vehicle of culture, especially in science, mathematics and philosophy, with the result that many European languages have also borrowed numerous words from it especially Spanish and Portuguese, countries it ruled for 700 years (see Al-Andalus).

"Colloquial Arabic" is a collective term for the spoken varieties of Arabic used throughout the Arab world, which, as mentioned, differ radically from the literary language. The main dialectal division is between the North African dialects and those of the Middle East, followed by that between sedentary dialects and the much more conservative Bedouin dialects. Speakers of some of these dialects are unable to converse with speakers of another dialect of Arabic; in particular, while Middle Easterners can generally understand one another, they often have trouble understanding North Africans (although the converse is not true, due to the popularity of Middle Eastern—especially Egyptian—films and other media).

One factor in the differentiation of the dialects is influence from the languages previously spoken in the areas, which have typically provided a significant number of new words, and have sometimes also influenced pronunciation or word order; however, a much more significant factor for most dialects is, as among Romance languages, retention (or change of meaning) of different classical forms. Thus Iraqi aku, Levantine fīh, and North African kayən all mean "there is", and all come from classical Arabic forms (yakūn, fīhi, kā'in respectively), but now sound very different.

Teach Yourself Arabic - 2 Audio CDs and Book

Teach Yourself Arabic Conversation

By Jane Wightwick, Mahmoud Gaafar

Get Other Arabic language learning Audio click here

Teach Yourself Arabic Conversation - Booklet and 3 Audio CDs

Brand New : .    3 CDs 

This stand-alone, all-audio course can be used by those who have little or no knowledge of the language, by those who want to learn or brush up basic conversation skills, and by more advanced learners who require extra audio material to complement their current courses. Egyptian and Iraqi voices are used on the recording, so this course can be used with confidence by visitors to the Levant and Gulf areas. Indications are also given of where North African usage diverges.

The ten units or 'conversations' cover the situations you are most likely to find yourself in while on holiday or on business abroad. They are divided into two parts, with a dialogue in each part. The dialogue in Part 2 reuses the vocabulary and phrases from Part 1 in a slightly different context. Both parts start with an introduction to the words and phrases you'll need, followed by the dialogue. Finally it's 'Over to you': you take part in the same dialogues following the English prompts, playing all the roles in turn. So you get lots of opportunity to practise! Frequent track markers divide the CDs up into short, easy-to-use clips.

Vocabulary and phrases in the first two CDs are kept to the basics and are introduced gradually with lots of opportunity to repeat and practise, to improve your confidence in both speaking and understanding. The third CD concentrates on helping you improve your understanding, so that you will be able to hold two-way conversations with people who speak very fast or use words and phrases you do not know.


The course comes on three 75-minute CDs and has an accompanying 48-page booklet which gives the dialogues and the translations of the dialogues, for those who like to see the written word or want additional practice. The Arabic is transliterated into romanized script. The booklet also provides a basic glossary of the words and phrases used.


This is the perfect complement to 'Teach Yourself Arabic', 'Teach Yourself Gulf Arabic' and 'Teach Yourself Beginner's Arabic Script'.

* TEN REALISTIC CONVERSATION SCENARIOS – the words and phrases you'll need
* NO GRAMMAR – make progress fast, without learning boring rules or unnecessary vocabulary
* NO NEW SCRIPT TO LEARN – booklet uses romanized transliteration
* ALL-AUDIO COURSE – use anywhere
* LOTS OF OPPORTUNITY FOR PRACTICE AND REPETITION – improve your confidence
* HELP IN UNDERSTANDING WHAT IS SAID BACK TO YOU - strategies for understanding what you hear, so you can have true, two-way conversations and not be thrown by the replies you get


Table of Contents:
CDs 1 and 2
1. This is my family - Pleased to meet you
2. Taxi! - We've reserved a room
3. Where's the station? - Ordering drinks and snacks
4. Shopping for food - In the souk
5. What is there to see? - Buying tickets
6. Do you like seafood? - In the restaurant
7. My home is your home - What should I wear?
8. Can we hire diving gear? - I don't like boats!
9. What's the matter? - At the chemist's
10. Saying goodbye - Staying in touch
CD3
Skills and strategies for listening and understanding


About the Author(s):
Jane Wightwick and Mahmoud Gaafar are co-founders of g-and-w, publishers and type-setters of materials for the Arab world.

About the Arabic Language

Arabic rabī) is the largest living member of the Semitic language family in terms of speakers. Classified as Central Semitic, it is closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic, and has its roots in a Proto-Semitic common ancestor. Modern Arabic is classified as a macrolanguage with 27 sub-languages in ISO 639-3. These varieties are spoken throughout the Arab world, and Standard Arabic is widely studied and known throughout the Islamic world.

Modern Standard Arabic derives from Classical Arabic, the only surviving member of the Old North Arabian dialect group, attested epigraphically since the 6th century, which has been a literary language and the liturgical language of Islam since the 7th century.

Arabic has lent many words to other languages of the Islamic world, as Latin has contributed to most European languages. And in turn, it has also borrowed from those languages, as well as Persian and Sanskrit from early contacts with their affiliated regions. During the Middle Ages, Arabic was a major vehicle of culture, especially in science, mathematics and philosophy, with the result that many European languages have also borrowed numerous words from it especially Spanish and Portuguese, countries it ruled for 700 years (see Al-Andalus).

"Colloquial Arabic" is a collective term for the spoken varieties of Arabic used throughout the Arab world, which, as mentioned, differ radically from the literary language. The main dialectal division is between the North African dialects and those of the Middle East, followed by that between sedentary dialects and the much more conservative Bedouin dialects. Speakers of some of these dialects are unable to converse with speakers of another dialect of Arabic; in particular, while Middle Easterners can generally understand one another, they often have trouble understanding North Africans (although the converse is not true, due to the popularity of Middle Eastern—especially Egyptian—films and other media).

One factor in the differentiation of the dialects is influence from the languages previously spoken in the areas, which have typically provided a significant number of new words, and have sometimes also influenced pronunciation or word order; however, a much more significant factor for most dialects is, as among Romance languages, retention (or change of meaning) of different classical forms. Thus Iraqi aku, Levantine fīh, and North African kayən all mean "there is", and all come from classical Arabic forms (yakūn, fīhi, kā'in respectively), but now sound very different.

 Teach Yourself Arabic Conversation - Booklet and 3 Audio CDs

Pimsleur Conversational Farsi (Persian) - 8 CD's

Get Other Arabic language learning Audio click here

Pimsleur Conversational Farsi (Persian) - 8 Audio CDs

8 CD's - Brand New

Includes a free CD case

Dr. Pimsleur

About the Pimsleur Method

About Farsi (Persian)

is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan and has official-language status in these three countries. Persian has been a medium for literary and scientific contributions to the Islamic world as well as the Western. It has had an influence on certain neighbouring languages, particularly the Turkic languages of Central Asia, Caucasus, and Anatolia as well as Urdu, Hindi, and other Indian languages. It has had a lesser influence on Arabic and other languages of Mesopotamia. For five centuries prior to the British colonization, Persian was widely used as a second language in the Indian subcontinent; it took prominence as the language of culture and education in several Muslim courts in South Asia and became the "official language" under the Mughal emperors. Only in 1843 did the subcontinent begin conducting business in English. Evidence of Persian's historical influence there can be seen in the extent of its influence on the languages of the Indian subcontinent, as well as the popularity that Persian literature still enjoys in that region.

Persian belongs to the Western group of the Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family, and is of the Subject Object Verb type. The Western Iranian group contains other related languages such as Kurdish and Baluchi. The language is in the Southwestern Iranian group, along with and very similar to the Larestani and Luri languages.

Persian, the more widely used name of the language in English, is an Anglicized form derived from Latin, a Hellenized form of Old Persian Parsa. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term Persian seems to have been first used in English in the mid-16th century. Native Persian speakers call it "Fārsi" (local name) or Parsi. Farsi is the arabicized form of Parsi, due to a lack of the /p/ phoneme in Standard Arabic. In English this language is historically known as "Persian". Some Persian-speakers migrating to the West (particularly to the USA) continued to use "Farsi" to identify their language in English and the word gained some currency in English-speaking countries. "Farsi" is encountered in some linguistic literature as a name for the language, used both by Iranian and by foreign authors. However, The Academy of Persian Language and Literature has declared in an official pronouncement that the name "Persian" is more appropriate, as it has the longer tradition in the western languages and better expresses the role of the language as a mark of cultural and national continuity. Some Persian language scholars also have rejected the usage of "Farsi" in their articles.

The international language encoding standard ISO 639-1 uses the code "fa", as its coding system is based on the local names. The more detailed draft ISO 639-3 uses the name "Persian" (code "fas") for the larger unit ("macrolanguage") spoken across Iran and Afghanistan, but "Eastern Farsi" and "Western Farsi" for two of its subdivisions (roughly coinciding with the varieties in Afghanistan and those in Iran, respectively). Ethnologue, in turn, includes "Farsi, Eastern" and "Farsi, Western" as two separate entries and lists "Persian" and "Parsi" as alternative names for each, besides "Irani" for the western and "Dari" for the eastern form.

Pimsleur Conversational Farsi (Persian)

Travel Talk Egyptian Arabic

Includes Lonely Planet Egyptian Phrase Book and 1 Audio CDs

Get Other Arabic language learning Audio click here

Travel Talk Egyptian Arabic - Phrase Book and Audio CD

Brand New :  Includes 250+ page phrasebook and 1 60 minute Audio CDs

TravelTalk presents a simplified language survival system for travelers. Includes a 60 minute audio CD in both English & target language and a fold out audio guide transcript of the 300 essential words and phrases most frequently needed while traveling, developed by Penton's foreign language specialists. Also included is Lonely Planet's comprehensive phrasebook & 2-way dictionary with thousands of additional words and phrases; this combination will help ensure that travellers will arrive and survive ...and enjoy communicating with native speakers.

About  Egyptian Arabic

Egyptian Arabic is part of the Arabic macrolanguage of the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family. It originated in the Nile Delta in Lower Egypt around the capital Cairo. Descended from the spoken Arabic brought to Egypt during the AD seventh-century Muslim conquest, its development was influenced mainly by the indigenous Copto-Egyptian language of pre-Islamic Egypt, and later by other languages such as Turkish. Today Egyptian Arabic is the national language of Egypt, spoken by more than 76 million people. It is also understood across the Middle East due to the predominance of Egyptian media, making it one of the most widely spoken and most widely studied varieties of Arabic.

The terms Egyptian Arabic and Masri are usually used synonymously with "Cairene Arabic", the dialect of the Egyptian capital. The country's native name, Mar, is used locally to refer to the capital Cairo itself. Similar to the role played by Parisian French and Castillian, Masri is by far the most dominant in all areas of national life. While it is essentially a spoken language, it is encountered in written form in novels, plays, poems (vernacular literature) as well as in comics, advertising, some newspapers and transcriptions of popular songs. In most other written media and in TV news reporting, a standard register of Classical Arabic is used. The Egyptian vernacular is normally written in the Arabic alphabet for local consumption, although it is commonly transcribed into Latin letters or in the International Phonetic Alphabet in linguistics text and textbooks aimed at teaching non-native learners.

About the Arabic Language

Arabic rabī) is the largest living member of the Semitic language family in terms of speakers. Classified as Central Semitic, it is closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic, and has its roots in a Proto-Semitic common ancestor. Modern Arabic is classified as a macrolanguage with 27 sub-languages in ISO 639-3. These varieties are spoken throughout the Arab world, and Standard Arabic is widely studied and known throughout the Islamic world.

Modern Standard Arabic derives from Classical Arabic, the only surviving member of the Old North Arabian dialect group, attested epigraphically since the 6th century, which has been a literary language and the liturgical language of Islam since the 7th century.

Arabic has lent many words to other languages of the Islamic world, as Latin has contributed to most European languages. And in turn, it has also borrowed from those languages, as well as Persian and Sanskrit from early contacts with their affiliated regions. During the Middle Ages, Arabic was a major vehicle of culture, especially in science, mathematics and philosophy, with the result that many European languages have also borrowed numerous words from it especially Spanish and Portuguese, countries it ruled for 700 years (see Al-Andalus).

"Colloquial Arabic" is a collective term for the spoken varieties of Arabic used throughout the Arab world, which, as mentioned, differ radically from the literary language. The main dialectal division is between the North African dialects and those of the Middle East, followed by that between sedentary dialects and the much more conservative Bedouin dialects. Speakers of some of these dialects are unable to converse with speakers of another dialect of Arabic; in particular, while Middle Easterners can generally understand one another, they often have trouble understanding North Africans (although the converse is not true, due to the popularity of Middle Eastern—especially Egyptian—films and other media).

One factor in the differentiation of the dialects is influence from the languages previously spoken in the areas, which have typically provided a significant number of new words, and have sometimes also influenced pronunciation or word order; however, a much more significant factor for most dialects is, as among Romance languages, retention (or change of meaning) of different classical forms. Thus Iraqi aku, Levantine fīh, and North African kayən all mean "there is", and all come from classical Arabic forms (yakūn, fīhi, kā'in respectively), but now sound very different.

 Travel Talk Egyptian Arabic - Phrase Book and Audio CD

Teach Yourself Modern Persian (Farsi)

Book and 2 Audio CDs

Get Other Arabic language learning Audio click here

Teach Yourself Modern Persian (Farsi) - Book and 2 Audio CDs

Brand New 2 CD's and Book

learn how to speak, understand and write modern persian
progress quickly beyond the basics
explore the language in depth

Persian is written in the Arabic script but it belongs to the Indo-European family of languages so speakers of European languages should find learning Persian relatively easy to begin with. It is remarkably simple in terms of formal grammar - no gender, no noun inflection and no irregularities in verbal conjugation.

Teach Yourself Persian is designed for the true beginner and self-access learner, starting from the basics of learning the Persian alphabet. By the end of the course you'll be able to build complex sentences and communicate in a wide range of everyday situations. There's plenty of practice of each point as it is introduced and the accompanying CDs will help you to improve your speaking and listening skills.


About the Author

Narguess Farzad, the author, is a lecturer in Persian at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London

About the Farsi (Persian) Language

Persian (Farsi) is an Indo-European language spoken in Iran (Persia), Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. It is derived from the language of the ancient Persian people. Persian belongs to the Western group of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family, and is of the Subject Object Verb type. Contrary to common belief, it is not a Semitic language. The Western Indo-Iranian group contains other related languages such as Kurdish and Balochi. The language is in the Southwestern Indo-Iranian group, along with the Tat and Luri languages.

Persian and its varieties have official-language status in Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan. According to CIA World Factbook, there are approximately 64 million native speakers of Persian in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and about the same number of people in other parts of the world speak Persian. UNESCO was asked to select Persian as one of its languages in 2006.

Persian has been a medium for literary and scientific contributions to the Islamic world as well as the Western. It has had an influence on certain neighbouring languages, particularly the Turkic languages of Central Asia, Caucasus, and Anatolia. It has had a lesser influence on Arabic and other languages of Mesopotamia.

For five centuries prior to the British colonization, Persian was widely used as a second language in the Indian subcontinent; it took prominence as the language of culture and education in several Muslim courts in India and became the "official language" under the Mughal emperors. Only in 1843 did the subcontinent begin conducting business in English. Evidence of Persian's historical influence in the region can be seen in the extent of its influence on the languages of Hindustani (resulting in Urdu), Kashmiri, Punjabi, Sindhi, Gujarati, Bengali and even Telugu, as well as the popularity that Persian literature still enjoys in the region.

Persian, the more widely used name of the language in English, is an Anglicized form derived from Latin *Persianus < Latin Persia < Greek Πέρσις Pérsis, a Hellenized form of Old Persian Parsa. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term Persian seems to have been first used in English in the mid-16th century. Native Persian speakers call it "Fārsi" (local name) or Parsi. Farsi is the arabicized form of Parsi, due to a lack of the /p/ phoneme in Standard Arabic.

According to Pejman Akbarzadeh, "... In English, however, this language has always been known as "Persian" ('Persane' in French and 'Persisch' in German). But many Persians migrating to the West (particularly to the USA) after the 1979 revolution continued to use 'Farsi' to identify their language in English and the word became commonplace in English-speaking countries." "Farsi" is encountered frequently in the linguistic literature as a name for the language, used both by Iranian and by foreign authors, and is preferred by some.However, The Academy of Persian Language and Literature has declared in an official pronouncement that the name "Persian" is more appropriate, as it has the longer tradition in the western languages and better expresses the role of the language as a mark of cultural and national continuity.

 Teach Yourself Modern Persian (Farsi) - Book and 2 Audio CDs