Books

Alif Baa: Introduction to Arabic Letters and Sounds

Average customer rating:

Absolutely essential for the self-study student of Arabic
Great beginner text
This is AWESOME!
Ignore the last guy...
Expensive but the best

Alif Baa: Introduction to Arabic Letters and Sounds
Kristen Brustad , Mahmoud Al-Batal , and Abbas Al-Tonsi
Manufacturer: Georgetown University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

Answer Key To Alif Baa: Introduction To Arabic Letters and Sounds
Al-kitaab fii Ta'allum Al-'Arabiyya with DVD's A Textbok For Begining Arabic
Arabic-English Dictionary: The Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic
Answer Key To Al-Kitaab Fii Ta Callum Al-cArabiyya
Al-kitaab Fii Ta'allum Al-Arabiyya With DVDs: A Textbook for Arabic

ASIN: 1589011023

Book Description

The beauty of the Arabic language, both spoken and written--and the richness of the Arabic-speaking world, its history and culture--has recently become of increasing importance and a matter of revelation for the English-speaking world. It is essential as this new century unfolds, that understanding develops between nations--and language is the magic key.

The Al-Kitaab Arabic language program is among the English-speaking world's most widely used Arabic language learning texts. Alif Baa with DVDs: Introduction to Arabic Letters and Sounds is the first part of the Al-Kitaab program. This revised, second edition contains updated readings, new and revised exercises, and completely new audio/video materials on two DVDs bound into each volume.

In teaching the sounds and letters of Arabic, Alif Baa provides a variety of exercises aimed at developing the crucial nascent skills of reading, listening, writing, speaking, and cultural understanding. In conjunction with learning how to read and write the alphabet, Alif Baa introduces about 150 basic vocabulary words, including conventional forms of politeness and social greetings.

Standard Arabic vocabulary is distributed throughout the book, enhanced by the visual and audio materials on the DVDs and implemented in practical exercises. It introduces a range of Arabic from colloquial to standard in authentic contexts, including social greetings in dialogues that take place in an Egyptian context, the most widely-used and understood Arabic dialect.

Finally, Alif Baa includes capsules on Arab culture as well as an English-Arabic glossary. Alif Baa provides the essential first twenty contact hours of instruction that are the foundation for the rest of the Al-Kitaab language program.

Customer Reviews:

Absolutely essential for the self-study student of Arabic.......2007-05-19

You CANNOT learn Arabic letter sounds from book pronunciation guides. The DVDs allow you to actually hear the sounds from native Arabic speakers. I had no problems with the DVDs. It even shows you how to write the letters as demonstrated by master calligraphers. I'd say this book is an absolutely essential resource for the self-learner. Well worth the money.

Great beginner text.......2007-05-15

This book is easy to follow and offers an elementary introduction to Arabic. The focus is primarily on the alphabet, written structure, and pronounciation. It is not, however, designed to teach the student to speak conversational Arabic quickly.

This is AWESOME!.......2007-04-09

This product is AWESOME! The explanations are very clear. The listening exercises give students exposure to colloquial Egyptian Arabic. The listening exercises also help the learner to distinguish between letter sounds and reinforce their letter sound pronunciation.

You really should buy this if you are learning Arabic. It is that useful!

I highly recomend that you also purchase the answer key for this set (it comes as a seperate product).

Ignore the last guy..........2007-02-16

If you'll notice the book comes with 2 DVDs which have the videos on them; They came with mine as well. People should post a review on the proper item instead of ruining the reputation of something that you have not even tried out. In addition, the answer key only cost me $4 extra when ordering from Amazon which is hardly an inconvenience.

This book had me reading, writing, and prounouncing Arabic properly within one month, so I would have to say that it is an excellent book. If you follow the exercises and make sure to get the pronunciation down pat then you will be fooling Arab people into thinking that you speak their language like I did!

This book series is so good that UC Berkeley uses it for all of their beginning and intermediate Arabic classes; check it out for yourself and go to their online textbook ordering site and search for the books for Arabic 1A, 1B, etc...

Lastly, this book is not intended to be a COMPLETE self-guided course on Arabic, as Arabic is a very deep and rich language that takes many years to fully master and understand but that is why they released the three volumes of Al-Kitaab which build upon what you have learned in this book and teach you grammar, morphology, and much vocabulary; again people, do a little research first and make sure you are reviewing the proper item instead of ruining the reputation of something unrelated.

Expensive but the best.......2007-01-11

This book is the best of its kind for learning the Arabic script, but is expensive.

Al-kitaab fii Ta'allum Al-'Arabiyya with DVD's A Textbok For Begining Arabic

Average customer rating:

Good, but not great
Good classroom book
Terrible
Not a systematic approach to language-learning. . .
There are no outstanding Arabic instruction books!

Al-kitaab fii Ta'allum Al-'Arabiyya with DVD's A Textbok For Begining Arabic
Kristen Brustad , Mahmoud Al-Batal , and Abbas Al-Tonsi
Manufacturer: Georgetown University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

Alif Baa: Introduction to Arabic Letters and Sounds
Answer Key To Al-Kitaab Fii Ta Callum Al-cArabiyya
Answer Key To Alif Baa: Introduction To Arabic Letters and Sounds
Arabic-English Dictionary: The Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic
Al-kitaab Fii Ta'allum Al-Arabiyya With DVDs: A Textbook for Arabic

ASIN: 158901104X

Book Description

The beauty and richness of the history and cultures of the Middle East are matters of increasing interest to the English-speaking world. As nations make their way into this new century, there must be dialogue and understanding--and language is the doorway into that new understanding.

This revised and updated second edition of Al-Kitaab contains new video and audio material on three DVDs, along with revised and updated texts and exercises. Following naturally on the introductory text, Alif Baa, for the Al-Kitaab Arabic language program, this initial Part One text further develops skills in standard Arabic while providing additional material in colloquial as well as classical Arabic.

The audio vocabulary portion of the DVDs allow learners to hear a new word followed by a sentence using it in context along with previously acquired vocabulary and grammatical structures, enabling students to build new vocabulary skills while reviewing previously exercised material. The video portion offers the option of seeing and hearing the video of each lesson in both Modern Standard Arabic and Egyptian Colloquial Arabic. The DVDs also contain substantial material exposing the learner to Egyptian Arabic (the most widely used and understood Arabic dialect), a short dialogue in Egyptian Colloquial Arabic appears at the end of each lesson. New video materials also feature subtitled interviews with Egyptians about various aspects of Arab culture, such as gender issues, fasting in the Muslim and Christian traditions, social clubs and their significance, and more.

Customer Reviews:

Good, but not great.......2007-06-12

As a student entering second year with the al-kitaab series, i can truthfully say that you MUST have alif baa completed before even attempting this book. Yes it does have a lot of flaws, namely expressing complex grammatical concepts in script, but if one has a teacher willing to push hard, i.e. alif baa in two weeks then a chapter a week for the rest of the (university) year (if you have a life and see that a professor's only teaching experience was the Defense Lang. Institute RUN!!). Unlike some of the other books, it enters with an expectation of knowledge of the Alphabet, unlike some other books that try to teach it with vocab and grammar. As far as the colloquial goes AVOID IT. I spent a year in Iraq and what I learned actually put me at a disadvantage because I had to unlearn, then learn some words, letters and especially grammar (i.e. il vs al). Just remember that when you buy a dictionary also buy a grammar book as both will help immensely.

Good classroom book.......2006-11-23

This book I believe is best for college classroom learning. While you could conceivably buy this and learn Arabic as the DVD's include conversations, you won't learn as well without the native speaker there to help translate. Supplemented with other sources, ie Arabic news from Al Jazeera, the grammar and lessons are logically done to teach you how to speak and read MSA. Note you won't learn a colloquial (save for the few Egyptian lessons), but you will learn MSA. One note I've seen elsewhere is this is not a first book, Alif Baa is the first book in the series. You must go through Alif Baa to learn the alphabet or you'll be lost from the get go. Bottom line as I said with Alif Baa, if you can't take a college course using it, get the solutions manual. It will still be a challenge, but taken seriously I think anyone can learn from Alif Baa and Al Kitaab.

Terrible.......2006-10-03

Like someone else said, I agree THERE ARE NO REALLY GOOD ARABIC TEXTBOOKS - (I haven't seen Elementary Modern Standard Arabic but a lot of users complained about it), incosistencies start from page one with this particular one, even with some basic lessons from other textbook I am not able to use this book on my own. I appreciate the efforts put into making this book, though (otherwise I would rate it with one star) - lots of DVD recordings, pictures but the author might want to look at how other languages are taught.

Out of all books I have attempted, I recommend Mastering Arabic (Jane Wightwick and Mahmoud Gaafar), it has some flaws but at least it's usable if you learn Arabic on your own.

May I make some recommendations?

Every text should have a vocabulary, all questions should have answers in the same book, not a separate one. Exercises based on recognising familiar words where 95% of words are unknown are a waste of time! How can you make translation exercises if most words were not introduced yet?

Not a systematic approach to language-learning. . ........2006-07-10

Despite being the "new, revised edition", Al-Kitaab 2nd Edition is still lacking. . .
-The majority of vocabulary words are not interrelated, which makes memorizing a list of thirty or forty words rather difficult.
-The grammar concepts are not explained well. In addition to the poor explanation, the book often revises what one has learned in previous lessons later in the book. The order in which grammatical structures are explained is absurd: why would one wait until the 8th lesson to explain word roots? The concept of roots makes memorzing and learning words so much easier -- not to mention the fact that knowing a root allows one to guess new words based on the root.
-The DVDs are a nice feature, but the actors often talk too quickly and there is no script provided so that the student may follow along with the video.

Overall, if you are using Al-Kitaab with a talented instructor, this textbook is tolerable. From sources that I know, the University of Michigan is going to be publishing a much more organized, easy-to-follow introductory level Arabic textbook soon. It might not be a bad idea to wait until that textbook series comes out.

If you are looking to 'teach yourself' Arabic, start with 'Alif-Baa' or some other alphabet book of choice. Even then, I wouldn't recommend 'Al-Kitaab' for self-study. There are simply far too many nuances of the Arabic language that this book fails to address. The poor organization and terrible grammar sections would make self-study with this series torture.

The Arabic language, while difficult for non-native speakers to master, is such a beautiful one: do yourself a favour and find a talented instructor from whom to learn this language (or if you're a self-learner, find a different textbook series).

There are no outstanding Arabic instruction books!.......2006-07-09

Why is this? Why are Arabic instruction books sooooo atrocious? There is sufficient demand for Arabic now and sufficient research in language education to come up with something better. What a sad testament that Al Kitaab is actually the standard in university-level Arabic instruction! It makes me want to rip my hair out. Somebody, anybody, PLEASE publish a decent Arabic instruction text. And, for all you publishers out there doing colloquial Arabic: EGYPTIAN!! A third of all Arabs are Egyptian and it's the only dialect universally understood by other Arabs. So please quit with all the Lebanese, Saudi, Iraqi, Jordnaian colluquial courses until there is a decent Egyptian course available.

Cellular and Molecular Immunology, Updated Edition (Book + Student Consult + Evolve

Average customer rating:

Book explains concepts well
A truly beautiful book
Excellent Intro to the subject
Excellent intro, the way a textbook should be
Primer on the subject

Cellular and Molecular Immunology, Updated Edition (Book + Student Consult + Evolve
Abul K. Abbas , and Andrew Lichtman
Manufacturer: Saunders
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Immunology | Basic Science | Medicine | Subjects | Books

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Similar Items:

Immunobiology
How the Immune System Works (How It Works) (2nd Edition)
Basic Immunology, Updated Edition 2006-2007: with STUDENT CONSULT Access
Robbins & Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease, Seventh Edition
Immunology

ASIN: 1416023895

Book Description

This highly acclaimed text is now more up to date than ever! The Updated 5th Edition features new information and free access to a full-text online edition, images, animations, and much more at the
brand-new STUDENT CONSULT website. Readers will continue to enjoy the current, concise, and straightforward approach to the field that made previous editions so popular. Theyll understand the experimental observations that underlie the science of immunology at the molecular, cellular, and whole organism leveland explore the conclusions that can be drawn from those observations.

The smart way to study!
Elsevier titles with STUDENT CONSULT will help you master difficult concepts and study more efficiently in print and online! Perform rapid searches. Integrate bonus content from other disciplines. Download text to your handheld device. And a lot more. Each STUDENT CONSULT title comes with full text online, a unique image library, case studies, USMLE style questions, and online note-taking to enhance your learning experience.

Customer Reviews:

Book explains concepts well.......2006-12-09

Immunology is not an easy concept to digest at first, but luckily this book explains the difficult topics quite well. With any subject that deals with explaining molecular processes, both the descriptions and diagrams take great importance and I feel that this book for the most part addresses both very efficiently.

A truly beautiful book.......2006-04-03

Few books are illustrated this well, and while the book suffers from the absence of a glossary, it is incredibly well written, with sufficient detail that you are sure you are getting the full story.

The author is not targeting me (a dilettante if ever there was one) but I find I can make my way through 99% of the book without questions or issues, and what I need help with I can find on the internet or by asking doctor friends.

If you are truly interested in how the immune system works, in some detail, this is a wonderful book.

Excellent Intro to the subject.......2003-09-24

For the advanced reader, I like Janeway's text better because of the depth of information presented, but for an introductory class, Abbas is more accessable and understandable in the introductory chapters. I recommend using them in tandem, I do! The figures are good, but interestingly enough, the illustrations in all the major texts on immunology are largely the same! If you need a CD with illustrations (you are an instructor or want to use them for a presentation etc) I recommend the CD accompanying Peter Parham's text book.

Excellent intro, the way a textbook should be.......2003-08-30

My only immunology background was in medical school in the early 80s. I bought this book to try to get a basic grasp on what immunology is about now, 20 years later. This book is excellent for that. As other reviewers have commented, the material is well organized and illustrated. The illustrations are numerous enough and detailed enough to almost form an outline in their own right.
While there is considerable repetition, I consider that this is one of the best features of the book for a newcomer such as I. The repetition is clearly very intentional, not the result of disorganization or sloppy editing. Rather it is enough to let the reader grasp both the forest and the trees. It also lets you, to some extent, read from any section of the book without being totally lost if you don't remember the previous material.

Primer on the subject.......2003-03-21

The title of the book says it all: this book treats the expertise of immunology at the cellular and molecular level. It approaches the subject through a collection of explanations of experimental observations. Neither am I a physician nor a medical student, I find this book very comprehensible and helpful in explaining the principles of molecular biology/biochemistry [along with my expertise in chemistry] pertinent to the HIV virus. The book is abound with illustrations and pictorials though the authors at times drag on repeating concepts. The section on effector mechanisms of the immune responses is done in excellent gory details. Tons of illustrations, graphics making understanding of biochemical and immunological mechanisms a less strenuous task. For example, the HIV virus, the book will cover the abnormal events that occur at the first contact of the HIV virus. Then it talks about the virus mechanisms and the effect on the immune response. This 5th edition has been revised and now includes new info and materials about the lymphoid organs and innate immunity mechanism. I recommend it to medical students, pre-meds, and all health care professionals. 4.0 stars.

Al-kitaab Fii Ta'allum Al-Arabiyya With DVDs: A Textbook for Arabic

Average customer rating:

Wonderful and challenging

Al-kitaab Fii Ta'allum Al-Arabiyya With DVDs: A Textbook for Arabic
Kristen Brustad , Abbas Al-Tonsi , and Mahmoud Al-Batal
Manufacturer: Georgetown University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

English (All) | Dictionaries & Thesauruses | Reference | Subjects | Books

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Study & Teaching | Words & Language | Reference | Subjects | Books

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Similar Items:

Answer Key to Al-kitaab Fii Ta Callum Al-carabiyya: A Textbook for Arabic
Al-kitaab fii Ta'allum Al-'Arabiyya with DVD's A Textbok For Begining Arabic
Alif Baa: Introduction to Arabic Letters and Sounds
Answer Key To Al-Kitaab Fii Ta Callum Al-cArabiyya
Arabic-English Dictionary: The Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic

ASIN: 1589010965

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful and challenging.......2006-08-10

Just as with the first volume, comprehensive completion of the exercises and time (quality time!) spent with the DVD will slather layers of Arabic on your brain like so much hummus.

Concerning the first book, many leveled complaints of incompleteness, obscurity and the like. I think many of these people were not prepared to actually acquire a language, which is the goal of this work (unlike, say, most secondary and post-secondary American curricula). It is not about interpersonal, daily communication. This is not for the busy or casual, this is an information bomb in every chapter.

Though there may be a lack of simple conversation, this can be explained in that standard Arabic is rarely used for conversation of that kind and is best left to dialect courses or phrasebooks. Not to mention that every chapter contains a gentle, progressive introduction to Egyptian colloquial Arabic at the end. In any case, I find criticisms of a grammar of literary Arabic complaining that it is too "literary" to be utterly bizarre.

It *is* deceptively simple, because the detail is spread out through vocab, grammar, reading and listening. Therefore, there aren't countless grammar points, which can make it seem less dense than it is. But the sheer volume of text and exercise is commendable and formidible. A few minor snafus here and there will be worked out over the editions and are absolutely understandable...

It is my feeling that this represents a monumental contribution to Arabic studies and that it will be a universal standard text in no time, if it isn't already. Don't let reviews of the earlier editions throw you off. If you are serious and have the time, this is the best bang for your buck.

Al-Kitaab fii Ta`allum al-`Arabiyya: A Textbook for Arabic

Average customer rating:

Not for self study
"Constructivist" methodology wastes students' time
Not as much help as I had hoped...
Great readings but not for self-study
Big jump

Al-Kitaab fii Ta`allum al-`Arabiyya: A Textbook for Arabic
Kristen Brustad , Mahmoud Al-Batal , and Abbas Al-Tonsi
Manufacturer: Georgetown University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

English (All) | Dictionaries & Thesauruses | Reference | Subjects | Books

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Similar Items:

Al-Kitaab fii Ta'allum al-'Arabiyya: A Textbook for Arabic, Part Three
Al-kitaab Fii Ta'allum Al-Arabiyya With DVDs: A Textbook for Arabic
Al-kitaab fii Ta'allum Al-'Arabiyya with DVD's A Textbok For Begining Arabic
Answer Key to Al-kitaab Fii Ta Callum Al-carabiyya: A Textbook for Arabic
Arabic-English Dictionary: The Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic

ASIN: 158901149X

Customer Reviews:

Not for self study.......2007-06-19

Perhaps if you are studying with a teacher this book would merit another star. However, it does not help much with learning vocabulary. I also agree with a previous reviewer that the Michigan text, although dated, offers clearer explanations of the grammar and with its accompanying tapes is much more helpful for self-study.

"Constructivist" methodology wastes students' time.......2007-03-30

Much research has recently shown why "constructivist" methodology is inefficient, and this book provides ample empirical evidence. Students are expected to guess the meaning of words, and to help them out, much vocabulary has neither definitions in the text nor in the glossary. The learner can spend endless hours looking up the words rather than learning Arabic. It is certainly not reassuring to just guess the words, the learner ought to have clear definitions. Since so much vocabulary is left up in the air, the book requires a teacher working extra hard, since students cannot do work alone. By the way, amazon is selling a key for exercises, but this is unacceptable. One spends a lot of money on this book and must then buy another book to learn from it. Also, the book assumes the student can figure out fast enough unvoweled Arabic and gives copious texts. Students require hours and hours of tedious reading that ultimately has little to do with live language. Great way to drop out of Arabic!
The revised version has DVDs with visuals aside from readings. But this is no help at all. Watching people recite Arabic in middle-age clothing does not help decipher the missing vocabulary.
Anyone teaching themselves should pick one of the many books available. And Arabic teachers should look at other series. For 20 years, the standard textbook was Michigan Modern Standard Arabic, 3 volumes with tapes. The texts are dated, but the book works very well.

Not as much help as I had hoped..........2005-08-10

I was under the impression that this would be an answer key for more drills than just the listening drills. All that it does is fill in the blanks of the single listening drill per chapter of the second Al-Kitaab fi' Ta'allum al-'Arabiya book. This is only minimally helpful.
Ideally I would have wanted an answer key to the rest of the drills, so that I could make sure that the hours I spend doing drills isn't in vain. (I currently spend hours doing the drills incorrectly).

Great readings but not for self-study.......2002-04-28

The second part of the Al Kitaab series puts an emphasis on the development of reading skills and concentrates on more complex grammatical structures and vocabulary, the type that students are likely to encounter in authentic texts (mainly for academic purposes).
As a whole, this book is a lot more "academic" than the first part and this is probably why there seems to be such a wide gap between the two books. Al Kitaab One is about "learning Arabic and having fun doing it" and Al Kitaab Two seems to leave out the "having fun" part.
Those hoping that Al Kitaab Two will address topics in everyday life communication which were not found in Part One will be disappointed. Part Two teaches you the vocabulary you need to read about the first newspapers in the Arab world but it won't teach you how to say "Could you pass me the bread please".
I believe that one reason for this is the setting for which the Al Kitaab series was initially developed: the Middlebury Summer Immersion Arabic program. Now, in an immersion program this would be the perfect book. It gives you the necessary materials for work in class and skipps over some aspects of everyday communication assuming that you will be exposed to them anyway outside the classroom.
Unfortunately, if you are a student in normal academic setting or someone struggling to learn Arabic on their own, this book needs a lot of supplementary materials and, most of all, a very good teacher/consultant to make up for the defficiencies.
You should also be aware that the audio and video tapes that go with the book make it twice as useful. Good luck finding them :)

Big jump.......2001-10-13

While this book is helpful and one of the most commonly used textbooks for learning Arabic, there is a big gap between it and the first book. The texts are very dense and the grammatical explanations are not that detailed. Also the vocabulary is very strange and leaves a lot to be desired in the everyday sense. I do think that the contextual way of learning vocabulary is very good and the texts are interesting. Probably not a good book for someone who is trying to learn Arabic on their own, but good for someone who has a good base of knowledge and wants to work on their reading skills.

Answer Key to Al-kitaab Fii Ta Callum Al-carabiyya: A Textbook for Arabic

Average customer rating:

Answer Key to Al-kitaab Fii Ta Callum Al-carabiyya: A Textbook for Arabic
Kristen Brustad , Abbas Al-Tonsi , and Mahmoud Al-Batal
Manufacturer: Georgetown University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

Al-kitaab Fii Ta'allum Al-Arabiyya With DVDs: A Textbook for Arabic
Answer Key To Al-Kitaab Fii Ta Callum Al-cArabiyya
Al-kitaab fii Ta'allum Al-'Arabiyya with DVD's A Textbok For Begining Arabic
Answer Key To Alif Baa: Introduction To Arabic Letters and Sounds
Alif Baa: Introduction to Arabic Letters and Sounds

ASIN: 1589010973

Answer Key To Alif Baa: Introduction To Arabic Letters and Sounds

Average customer rating:

This is the answer key to an AWESOME product
Alright for what it is
Middle Aged College Arabic Student
A must!

Answer Key To Alif Baa: Introduction To Arabic Letters and Sounds
Kristen Brustad , Mahmoud Al-Batal , and Abbas Al-Tonsi
Manufacturer: Georgetown University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

Alif Baa: Introduction to Arabic Letters and Sounds
Answer Key To Al-Kitaab Fii Ta Callum Al-cArabiyya
Al-kitaab fii Ta'allum Al-'Arabiyya with DVD's A Textbok For Begining Arabic
Arabic-English Dictionary: The Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic
Answer Key to Al-kitaab Fii Ta Callum Al-carabiyya: A Textbook for Arabic

ASIN: 1589010361

Customer Reviews:

This is the answer key to an AWESOME product.......2007-04-09

This is the answer key. It is very useful if you want to check your work and it isn't very expensive.

Below is my review for the Alif Baa: Introduction to Letters and Sounds set (just to help you while you are looking).

This is the answer key to a product that is AWESOME! The explanations are very clear. The listening exercises give students exposure to colloquial Egyptian Arabic. The listening exercises also help the learner to distinguish between letter sounds and reinforce their letter sound pronunciation.

You really should buy this if you are learning Arabic. It is that useful!

Alright for what it is.......2007-01-11

Fine answer key. Very Useful but not completely necessary for study in Alif Baa.

Middle Aged College Arabic Student.......2005-10-07

We meet twice a week at night. No contact with the Teacher in between. So the answer key lets me know how I'm doing with the assignments. You could cheat and just write in the answers but you'd pay dearly for it during quizzes, exams or trips to the board during class. Using this has kept me on track and helped identify things I need to do again - and again.

A must!.......2005-05-27

This is a must, particularly if you are learning on your own or using Alif Baa to supplement your studies. The answer key is needed for obvious reason but the DVD is helpful in working on listening comprehension and some culture.

Answer Key To Al-Kitaab Fii Ta Callum Al-cArabiyya

Average customer rating:

Good Answer Key
A must to leanr the Arabic language.
Straight Foward

Answer Key To Al-Kitaab Fii Ta Callum Al-cArabiyya
Kristen Brustad , Mahmound Al-Batal , and Abbas Al-Tonsi
Manufacturer: Georgetown University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

Al-kitaab fii Ta'allum Al-'Arabiyya with DVD's A Textbok For Begining Arabic
Answer Key To Alif Baa: Introduction To Arabic Letters and Sounds
Alif Baa: Introduction to Arabic Letters and Sounds
Answer Key to Al-kitaab Fii Ta Callum Al-carabiyya: A Textbook for Arabic
Arabic-English Dictionary: The Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic

ASIN: 158901037X

Customer Reviews:

Good Answer Key.......2007-03-09

This is a good supplement for the text and definitely helps in learning Arabic.

A must to leanr the Arabic language........2006-03-01

One of the most interesting books teaching the Arabic language. The dvds are an excellent source of pronunciation and make the study much more interesting and pleasant.

Straight Foward.......2005-09-23

I personally liked the layout. This answer key gives the answers in a concise, organized manner. Please take note that this is different from a solutions manual which gives explainations of the answers.

Grid Computing: Practical Guide To Technology & Applications (Programming Series)

Average customer rating:

Good Overview
Fairly good overview

Grid Computing: Practical Guide To Technology & Applications (Programming Series)
Ahmar Abbas
Manufacturer: Charles River Media
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Grid Computing For Developers (Programming Series)
Grid Computing (On Demand Series)
Grid Computing: The Savvy Manager's Guide (The Savvy Manager's Guides) (The Savvy Manager's Guides)
The Grid 2: Blueprint for a New Computing Infrastructure (The Elsevier Series in Grid Computing)
Grid Computing: Making The Global Infrastructure a Reality

ASIN: 1584502762

Book Description

Generally speaking, grid computing seeks to unify geographically dispersed computing systems to create one large, powerful system. Over the past 20 years, grid computing has had a relatively small impact on corporate productivity, due to the substantial investment it required to deploy and maintain it. This has radically changed over the last year due to technological advancements in the industry. Numerous companies, including IBM and Sun, have begun maximizing grid computing to accomplish tasks faster and cheaper, and the productivity gains have been staggering. If the trend continues, all IT professionals will need to have a solid understanding of grid computing technology in order to remain competitive in their field. This book provides IT professionals with a clear, readable, and pragmatic overview to all aspects of grid computing technology, with hands-on guidelines on implementing a workable grid-computing system. Beginning with a thorough history of the technology, the book then delves into the key components including security, Web services, sensor grids, data grids, globus, and much more. The last section of the book is devoted to creating industry-specific grid computing applications. Throughout the book are numerous contributed chapters from grid computing experts.

Customer Reviews:

Good Overview.......2005-01-21

The newest, highest performance PC's are more powerful than the biggest supercomputers of the early 1990's. But with the higher computational capacity the bigger the tasks assigned to be computed. Note that these are not your typical business applications. The biggest computational tasks today lie in four areas: atomic energy research, weather prediction, cryptography and bioinformatics.

Some of these tasks lend themselves well to being split up amongst a bunch of computers. Cryptography, as an example lends itself well to taking a message and assigning each computer to attack the message with a different key. The processing is independent of the results from other computers attacking the message. What one computer could do eventually, 30,000 or 3 million can do just that much faster.

This book is obviously on using a collection of computers, not necessarily co-located to handle such complex computing tasks. A full time practitioner writes it with collaboration from leaders in the field.

Fairly good overview.......2004-12-14

The interest in grid computing has increased dramatically in scientific circles in the last decade, due in part to the need for high performance scientific computing and the availability of operating systems that make the deployment of distributed computing more painless for the scientific investigator. With the exception of financial firms, grid computing has not made inroads into the business community. Private industry has expressed concerns about the security of grid computing and various psychological barriers have prohibited it from being incorporated even in business LAN environments. This book gives a fairly comprehensive overview of grid computing for those interested in obtaining knowledge as to its efficacy in high performance computing or for those who are investigating whether it can indeed be practical for business. It is readily apparent that the author wants private industry to take grid computing more seriously, and he gives ample discussion of just how this could be done.

Part of this discussion involves the relation between Web services and grid computing. Those readers who deal with Web services would expect a connection between grid computing and Web services, and the `Open Grid Services Architecture', spearheaded by IBM and the Globus team, is an attempt to unify the two. The author points out the main difference between the two architectures, namely that Web services support "persistent" services while grid architectures must also support "transient" services, such as video conferencing. Web services is in place in many different industries at the present time, but it remains to be seen whether it will remain so in years to come, due in part to the conflicts between the different standardization efforts.

The different types of grids that can be configured are also discussed in the book. These include departmental grids, designed for a group of people within an enterprise, enterprise grids which cover all users within an enterprise, and extraprise grids, which can be established within companies. Grid computing has had some reported successes, particular the SETI grid project and the FOLD grid project for calculating protein folding. Both are popular with the public and have GUI interfaces that are very pleasing from an aesthetic point of view.

One of the biggest reasons for not being able to do grid computing in a business environment is the reluctance of management to allow many or all of the machines in the organization to be dedicated to the grid, even if done when the machines are offline. This is true even for the `desktop' grids that are discussed in this book. Subjective factors, such as privacy issues (even if they are not valid) and imagined interference come into play when approaching grid computing in a professional business environment. The presence of distributed software on the various machines in the organization may cause many to believe it is the cause of an outage or other problems when they occur. Trust in grid computing has to develop before it will be used routinely in a business environment. The author does address these concerns in the book.

He also discusses the need for an easier transition to grid computing in a business context, if the decision to deploy it has been made. The time taken to make grid computing a reality in this context must be minimal, considering the great amount of investment that has already been made in designing, implementing, and maintaining existing applications. Such a transition can be handled by using the approach of Web services, or what he calls Grid services. He outlines a few different ways in which the existing code can be wrapped. If the source code is not available, one can wrap the executables for example. If it is, it can wrapped and additional code overlaid on it in order to interface properly with any existing applications. A WSDL (Web Service Description Document) is then generated and placed in a registry service, in order that other applications can make use of the service. The Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) registry is the one that is advocated by the author.

Several applications of grid computing are discussed in the book, each having various degrees of ease in actual deployment. Numerical applications using Monte Carlo are viewed as the easiest ones to be "grid-enabled", and this is born out in experience. Financial and biotechnology firms in particular are heavy users of grid-enabled applications that utilize Monte Carlo simulations. The author discusses a rudimentary test, called the `compute intensity ratio' to check whether an application is suitable for deploying on a grid. If this ratio is greater than one, then the application is deemed to be well suited for distributed processing on a grid. Applications in desktop grid computing such as risk management and financial derivatives, molecular docking for drug discovery, and architectural rendering are briefly discussed.

As an example of a cluster grid, the famous Beowulf cluster, which is heavily used in scientific computing, is discussed in the book. Scientific computing is the major driver behind grid computing, as is readily apparent throughout the book. Discussion of high performance grid computing occupies an entire chapter of the book in fact. Production High Performance Computing via the use of the Message Passing Interface (MPI) has allowed scientists to develop grid applications more effectively, without having to worry too much about architectural issues.

The author has included several examples of how grid computing is used in the business community, such as in telecommunications and bioinformatics. There are more examples than he discusses, but they are usually not made public because of considerations of propriety. Businesses that have used grid computing to further their success are usually not vocal in their approaches. The book would have been better if the author had included actual benchmarking studies of how businesses have improved their financial positions by using grid computing, with in-depth figures that illustrate quantitatively the power of grid computing. The inclusion of such studies would definitely assist those who are seriously considering grid computing.

The Combined New Persian-English and English-Persian Dictionary

Average customer rating:

Best Farsi English Dictionary I've used.
No Farsi Pronounciations & No verb declination
Not perfect, but the best one out there
Best I've used
needs work

The Combined New Persian-English and English-Persian Dictionary
Abbas Aryanpur-Kashani
Manufacturer: Mazda Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Customer Reviews:

Best Farsi English Dictionary I've used........2007-01-19

This is the best dictionary of the 5 or 6 Farsi to English dictionaries I've come across. Obviously, the more Farsi you know the easier it is to use. What I like about this dictionary the most is that it has Farsi to English and English to Farsi in one volume. Furthermore, each definition is usually followed by synonyms, related words and contextual examples, sometimes sentences utilizing the word being defined, sometimes common phrases. I don't know of any other Farsi dictionary that does that. This is also the dictionary that the U.S. military uses at the Defense Language Institute.

No Farsi Pronounciations & No verb declination.......2006-09-14

Old "French-English"", "German-English", "Italian-English" and "Spanish to English" dictionaries (even back in the 80s) had verb declinations and pronounciations in both languages. This dictionary one has no verb declinations in either language and only English Pronounciations. More helpful for Farsi readers than for English readers trying to learn Farsi. Also, In the English to Farsi section, there can be several words translating into 1 English word but there is no explanation as to the difference and when one word should be used over another.

Not perfect, but the best one out there.......2005-08-04

If you're looking to buy a Persian dictionary, and don't already know it, there's a reality you have to face. Persian-English dictionaries are a lot worse than dictionaries for most other languages.

That said, Aryanpour is the best one out there, at least for MODERN Persian. If you're dealing with medieval texts, there is no better book than Steingass.

In every Persian class I've taken, people have started out with an assortment of dictionaries, and by the end of the course most, if not all the students decided to buy Aryanpour. I think that speaks volumes for its thoroughness and ease of use.

Copies of Aryanpour that I've seen were not very well printed-- the inking is uneven, sometimes the text becomes crooked --but far from illegible.

As for organization, I'd say the Persian-English section is much better than the English-Persian. The English-Persian section gives direct translations without context (for instance, if you're looking up the word "sentence," the author does not give you any way to distinguish between the word for "prison sentence," and that meaning "a group of words"). However, whenever there are multiple meanings in the Persian-English section, the author provides generally solid context.

Two more strenghts of this book: it includes prefixes and suffixes, explains how to use them, and gives definitions for a good number of words which take them; and it includes a lot of the Arabic words commonly found in the Persian language.

My main complaint about the book, besides its weaker English-Persian section, is that it does not always include diacritical marks on Persian text, which is particularly annoying if you're looking up an English word and have to guess on the pronunciation.

One complaint I've heard about this books is that it doesn't include transliterations, like some other dictionaries. I can only agree with this insofar as I have a problem with those words where the authors decided not to include the diacritical. Otherwise, it's really the reader's responsibility to learn to read the Persian script.

The bottom line is, this is book is worth having. I wish I could say the same for the rest of the ones currently on the market.

Best I've used.......2004-04-21

This dictionary is very useful. It has thousands of entries and is written by two men, one of whom is Iranian and studied in England for years. One may have to cross-reference some words, because it is a foreign language and meanings do not exactly correspond sometimes, until you find the one that fits best.
It even gives example uses, and derivatives of usage. I challenge you to find a better one, even in Iran...

needs work.......2003-08-16

I have been using this dictionary for over a year and I hate it!A good many of the definitions don't match from one language to another. This dictionary is so very poorly organized that it is not even worth the paper it is printed on. Avoid this dictionary if you can.

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