Colloquial Palestinian Arabic: An Introduction to the Spoken Dialect (Arabic and English Edition)

The book is of high quality, surpassing many other similar works published in the last few years. I focus in my assessment on the lesson texts rather than the exercises (which I usually ignore), but I should note that students of MSA will indeed be pleased to see that this book presupposes that they can build off their existing knowledge instead of pretending that they are starting from zero. Accordingly, even the first lesson presents new vocabulary and expressions, being invigorating rather than overwhelming.The only way that a person could learn more about the dialect than from this book would be to consult the volumes from the Semitica Viva series on colloquial Arabic, published by the German-based Harrassowitz and usually more anthropological in content, but also much pricier and harder to acquire.Accordingly, you can trust the positive reviews -- this book is helpful, provided you already have the equivalent of six months to a year of MSA classes.My main reason for writing this review is my interaction with Alucen Learning. Contrary to the negative experience of one of the reviewers, I received prompt attention and assistance. I placed an order with them to download the audio for this book at a very reasonable price of about 9 dollars. Unfortunately, the download was interrupted because my connection failed. I contacted Alucen to resume my download, and they responded very promptly and professionally. I don't know if the other reviewer was impatient, or if there was something else at stake, but I have nothing but praise for Alucen Learning, and I hope that they will keep publishing valuable books.

There are several Eastern Arabic books which are well planned and easy to use-Mary-Jane Liddicoat's Syrian Colloquial Arabic comes to mind. Liddicoat's book can be downloaded and comes with mp3 audio files. The book is massive and has everything a student needs-glossary, Arabic script, transliterated dialogues, English passages and most of all, it builds your knowledge systematically.As soon as I opened this book I was disappointed-it was of no use to me.

Best book on a dialect of Arabic I have seen yet. I do not have the cd but have friends who speak this dialect. Everything I read to them they know and can give a direct translation while correcting my pronunciation. I love especially that this book is written in Arabic script. I will say that I've only been working on the first lesson. I have learned a lot so far and can't wait to learn more and use it. I've studied MSA for three semesters in college and feel silly when I speak it with a native speaker of Arabic since they don't use it. I wish the book was set up a little differently though. They reserve explanations of words and phrases for the end of the chapter which is annoying if you've already tried to understand the dialogue thoroughly and attempted the exercises. If you have access to native speakers or a tutor this book is perfect. It would be difficult to use by oneself though.

This book is amazing for those with already a good grasp of written Arabic. These are actual sayings that will take you far in the day to day life in Palestine.

Book itself is a fantastic resource for Levantine Arabic students.Biggest problem is that I had no idea it was lacking the audio CD until I received it yesterday. Apparently, you need to order it directly from the publisher to get it (can't get audio from Amazon) so now I'm trying to find out how to get it.

Excellant

Did not get a cd audio companion with the book

I really don't like the way this book is setup and there are many things in the book that are not Palenstinian but Gaza dialect. Go with the Olive Tree dictionary as it explains how to pronounce words and is way more accurate.