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 Looking forward to Level 2! Oct 12, 2008
I have recently started this program and forced my boyfriend to join me in my Arabic-learning escapades. We've been able to start easy conversations in Arabic and kind of throw a few Arabic-speaking people for a loop because we can start out a conversation fine before the "whoa! that's all I know!"
You're only learning phrases. It's conversational. You could stop here... BUT if you realllly want to LEARN the language, I suggest attempting to learn to read it. I recently picked up Rosetta Stone after struggling with "100 words in Arabic" .. My boyfriend hates Rosetta because you just get thrown into the mix and are supposed to figure everything out blindly. This worked well for me. I liked the alphabet that was available and the ease of use for the program.
He has enjoyed the "100 words in Arabic" book because he's great at memorizing word and associate them with the images.
As for writing, my has sloppy handwriting in English, so his Arabic scribbles leave much to be desired--- but he has it down. I'm able to write one letter after maybe a minute and a few mistakes. You're writing backwards. But knowing that I can write a word and visualize what I'm hearing in Pimsleur helps*
I know I got off topic, but this program is quick, painless, and highly useful. I hope they continue to focus on EGYPTIAN Arabic in the future. It's hard to find-- and in my particular location in the States, there are a lot of Egyptian people for me to practice my newly acquired speaking skills.
Although Rosetta and 100 words are not in Egyptian Arabic, they're great for learning to read! It's all the same in writing.
 Very Good Course for Beginners and Intermediate Alike Mar 12, 2008
Very nice structure and style of lessons. I was impressed. The course is on the pricey side but it's well worth it.
You may want to download Egyptian Arabic Vocab Clinic from www.egyptianarabic.com with over 3000 words and expressions. It's about $50, but in combination with Pimsleur you got yourself an excellent language course.
There are some ambiguous, not commonly spoken expressions used on the CD's (very few though), so check with other sources, other Egyptians maybe :) before memorizing them.
Again, this is a VERY strong course for the beginners, I highly recommend it. But, like other users mentioned, it lacks vocabulary and verb rules. All of which you can get from Vocab Clinic. I've used both with the great success. Love it!
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
An Excellent Supplement Dec 14, 2007
I'm working my way through the "short course" (5 CDs, 10 lessons ... which I don't see on Amazon). Prior to this I had one semester of Arabic in college, many years ago, and had worked my way up to half a dozen hard chapters of a "Teach Yourself Arabic" book.
Pimsleur is awesome as a supplement to this. I could make very basic sentences in standard Arabic, but it was stilted and formal. As it is, this course is giving me an excellent intro to casually speaking in the actual rhythms of spoken Egyptian Arabic. I'm having a lot of 'a-ha!' moments. It's great for confidence boosting, and I have a sense that my base is much stronger, and that I will be able to speak that much more quickly when I actually land in Cairo.
I'd give it five stars if you use it with a text book, three if you use it as your sole introduction to Arabic. I imagine that I'd be quite lost with Pimsleur if I didn't have any background.
I leave in two weeks ... I'll learn how effective Pimsleur really is soon!
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Speaking Egyptian Arabic Like a Native Nov 05, 2007
I purchased this to use in the car on the way to work. Since I carpool with my wife, I couldn't listen every day so it was around 2-3 days per week. I replayed the CDs like they suggested until I had at least 80% of the covered material down. Since I could only listen for short periods of time, it took me about 4 months to complete all 30 lessons. The conversational style was great and I hoped the pronunciation was correct, but I had no idea if anyone would really understand me.
Well, I just returned from my second mission to Egypt and I am happy to say the program worked flawlessly. The friends I had met on my first trip were shocked to hear I could speak the language. One of my friends commented "you speak Arabic the same way we do". Since I was working in the slums on the outskirts of Cairo, I was speaking with the average Joe on the street. The only problems I had were a few words (maybe 3 or 4) they don't use in the outskirts of town. Our Egyptian leader said most of the locals use slang terms for those words and the ones I had learned were correct in the city.
I need to work on building my vocabulary, but this program is a great start if you want to learn to speak the language and sound like a native.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Very effective method Aug 12, 2007
I know a fair amount of standard Arabic, and I just wanted to learn to communicate with the Egyptian vocabulary. The method is incredibly good, and even beginners would learn a fair amount. The conversations have humor and are very creative while drilling normally boring stuff. I just wish the method had something written about verb conjugations and cost less. The past tense is taught at the very end of the lessons, and not all cases are covered. But after what I heard, I recommend all Pimsleur courses. (The challenge is to find compatible grammars in them.)
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