Arabic Stories for Language Learners: Traditional Middle-Eastern Tales In Arabic and English (Audio CD Included) by Mansur, Lutfi, Brosh Ph.D., Hezi (2013) Paperback

Some of the stories in this book really made me chuckle. A fantastic book for intermediate to higher intermediate students of Arabic language. Grammatical structures used are pretty basic e.g verb, subject, object etc (so far!). Good exposure to vocabulary, very easy to use as it has the english translation of each story on the opposite page. Stories get longer towards the end of the book. Great book to have considering I have found it difficult to find decent arabic story books in the past. Also great that it's all in one volume so enthusiasts of the language can carry it around with them where ever they go! Comes with a CD though I am not really using this much at this stage. Has minimal diacritical voweling signs on letters so CD may be useful for pronounciation.

I found this really useful as a guide to my language learning, particularly using both the audio and the text versions. It uses a variety of tales, mostly quite old-fashioned and set in the past to teach quite a wide vocabulary. It may be quite useful to those learners who learned their first Arabic through the medium of current affairs and who now wish to expand their vocabulary into more social settings and learn the words that can occur often in daily life but are rare in media Arabic. This is particularly true for those whose Arabic is modern standard, rather than dialectical. None of the texts is long, running to a few pages at most. The audio is quite slow, but not so slow it feels awkward, so is very good for the learner. It is usually quite easy to work out the meaning of unknown words from context, so might be handy for those who want a change from learning lists of vocabulary. Recommended for learners of Arabic who have already got to grips with the basics and wish to broaden their skills. It is probably not a suitable vehicle for learning for absolute novices - they should probably wait to acquire this until they have a good grounding in the basic grammar and vocabulary of Arabic.

The typesetting is clear, as is the reading on the CD. Neither the vocabulary, the grammar nor the stories are complex, which makes them accessible to intermediate students. I am struggling a little with Arabic but this book is giving me confidence; proving to me that I can understand it when it is printed as well as when it is spoken. Obviously I look at the translations, but I do try to avoid looking at them whilst reading the story, instead using them to prepare me for reading or for checking my understanding. I suppose my only criticism would be that it would have been a good idea to have put the translations on the following page so that it would not be so easy to refer to them - but this is a minor criticism and also personal preference. I have been told it is a good idea to read children's books and so forth, but I have found difficulty engaging with the stories in them, whereas I find the stories in this engaging enough not to be tedious. I dithered a little before buying this as I wasn't sure whether it would be any use - I have bought plenty of other books which are either too advanced, too simplistic, or in other ways unsuitable, however this book is just right as far as I am concerned.

Arabic and english. The print is very good and there is also an audio CD. The only downside is that the stories arent longer than two pages which is a little dissapointing as i would like the challenge. There is no vowling u less it's needed on the particular letter. So beginners may struggle with this.

I'm really enjoying this book, which came without a CD, but the sound recordings are readily available online at a provided link. It's above my vocab content level, but I'm keeping up with the shorter easier stories. The script is a well chosen font, and the readers are crystal clear. The arab natives I work with are delighted with the choice of stories, which they see as 'the right stuff' to be reading and learning from.

This is the best Arabic Story book that I have found because it comes complete with a CD with mp3 tracks of the stories in the arabic language. The CD tracks of the stories are read by a man and a woman. It's good to hear in different tones as it helps with learning pronunciation. The stories range from the simple to the complex but are always fun. I saw this on Amazon US before looking on Amazon UK but purchased it as soon as it was released here. It's a fantastic book for any student of languages or anyone seeking to learn arabic. I would completely recommend it!

This book is for those that have done a grammar course, read children's books and need something of I'd say, intermediate level and want to push themselves. It's very funny in parts and enlightening in others. The stories are definitely interesting and capture your imagination. A great book written in modern standard arabic with an accompanying CD with narrators reading the stories to help with pronunciation. Recommended for learners! Great price, great stories, great format that includes the English as well to help along.

Excellent. Size of stories is short (1-2 pages). Vocabulary and expressions useful. Exactly matching Arabic English texts on each side of the page. Big enough book to be worth it (some other editions of bilingual texts are tiny). This is a useful book for any Arabic student who probably is at the level of finished level Alkitaab 3.

Veru useful for extending your Arabic vocabulary.

Excellent book for learners. It also helps that the stories are available in YouTube to read along.

I bought this book for myself as I am taking Arabic lessons but wanted some extra help for reading outside class. The book is set out like a classic bilingual book, with the Arabic text on the left-hand page and the English translation on the right. The translation is fairly literal which is a great help when comparing vocabulary and structures. The stories range from half a page to several pages, and are very varied in terms of language level and vocabulary. The only downsides to this book are that there are very few written short vowels, but the audio CD included makes up for this; and the fact that the stories are not numbered - I had to write numbers in to match the stories with the audio track. These are very minor issues, however, and I would highly recommend this book for language learners! This book would also be suitable for children.

Leute die Arabisch lernen wie ich, ist das Buch sehr hilfreich. Auf der linken Seite steht das Englische und auf der rechten das arabische aber auf Druckschrift.

This book is the most helpful I have ever encountered to gain fluency in Arabic reading and listening comprehension. The CD is the absolute best because the producers were smart enough to have the readers speak clearly and slowly enough for an intermediate learner to understand. The CD is professional quality with excellent readers and no background noise to interfere. Play it every day and you will soon be thinking in Arabic. Plus the stories are interesting, often with a profound message from the ancient Arab world. In addition, the written text is clear and large. The Islamic art dispersed throughout the book is a bonus. The vocabulary involves words that are commonly used in everyday language, which is a great advantage. If you started learning Arabic using the famous Modern Standard orange books from the University of Michigan, you will appreciate Arabic Stories for its lack of technical language and complications of sophisticated texts which are too specialized for use in normal conversation. This delightful book uses vocabulary that is practical and much of it is repeated in various ways to allow you to really learn it. With Arabic's vast vocabulary, it is so nice to have an entertaining book that selects verbs and nouns that can be used in conversation with native speakers. The selection of stories goes far in helping Western students appreciate traditional cultural values of Arabs. If you have invested time in learning Arabic to the intermediate level (to the point where you can fill in most short vowels by your knowledge of Arabic Grammar), you must get this book. It will take you closer to the easy facility with Arabic that you always wanted. And the price is modest. Buy it! You won't regret it.