Media Arabic: A Coursebook for Reading Arabic News (Arabic Edition)

Great textbook for students studying MSA for the purpose of understanding media. The vocabulary is extremely relevant, the readings are numerous and kept to a useful length, and they build on previously learned vocabulary meaning you constantly see your new words within their common context. This makes for much more effective and easier retention of vocabulary, in my opinion. I would strongly suggest working with this textbook (alone is possible, although a teacher or language partner could help with discussion) first before jumping into translating direct from newspapers. Unless you are able to retain vocabulary after only seeing a word once, the structure is essential for building a strong foundation. Do not buy this book expecting grammar explanations, you can find that elsewhere. Also, the words do not come with vowel markings, but neither do the newspapers.

For students who have already attained a good level of proficiency reading modern standard Arabic texts, this is a very helpful book. It's structure is unique in that it presents words and concepts in short bursts and then shows them using example paragraphs - not essays. As you work your way through, you learn 6 words, then see them in a paragraph. Learn six more words, then read them in another paragraph. Then you practice using 6 of those words in a paragraph. Unlike other textbooks where you learn 30-40 words at a time and then look for them in a 3 page essay, this allows for easy digestion, repetition, and memorization. The words that it presents are very useful. Also, at the end there is a very useful glossary of terms organized by topics.

I agree 100% with the reviewer that complained about lack of voweling in the WORD LISTS provided for every reading. Any NEW WORD should be voweled at least initially. This is a serious flaw in so many of the new textbooks coming out for students of Arabic, not just this book. This can be remedied, of course, if the readings were taped or if you use this book with a teacher, but for those who want to continue their Arabic on their own, well, it's a flaw. I don't see how a student coming across a word for the first time cannot see this as an issue. Seems to me if you "already know" or "should know" how to vowel a word, as some reviewers seem to imply, then it's not the first time you've seen it. If this is the case, then you've attained an advanced reading level and this book really isn't for you - you already know everything in it. There's nothing for you to learn. The argument that "in real life", Arabic isn't voweled is without merit. The crucial need for voweling FOR STUDENTS is obvious: if you can already read a newspaper or other advanced text without voweling, then you can hardly call yourself a "student"...you've attained an advanced reading proficiency level and again, this book (or other similar text) isn't for you. You'd just be repeating what you already know and are capable of, so what's the point of buying this book? Just go directly to a newspaper. Even the now ancient but still highly useful "Michigan" books recognized this very difficult aspect of written Arabic for students. I recall that in their "Newspaper Arabic" text, every new word was voweled the first time it was presented. Why this practice has been discontinued industry-wide is a mystery. I assume it's because of costs and volume. To vowel texts is very time consuming, I imagine, expensive and would increase the size of the book. These are good reasons to avoid voweling, of course, but that doesn't do away with the flawed aspect of the text. Another "issue" (not really a problem) is that the authors rely heavily on modern jargon and methods in their exercises. Do I really need to be told to "think" about the pictures? Or to "notice" how the information is presented? Of to "skim" a text first? (You can "skim" an English text.....I'm not so sure you can do that with Arabic). I personally just totally ignore the exercises. They're really counterproductive in my estimation and are more "filler" material than anything else. They're "infantile" in my opinion, more suited for kindergarten type learning than for intermediate students. Languages cannot be taught, learned or described by using a system of arrows and lines. A much more useful presentation would be to discuss the structure of a text.....why a thing is said this way instead of that.....why something is said in English a certain way but it must be said in Arabic another way and so on. Like voweling, this kind of approach involves a lot of work on the part of the author which is why it's seldom done. Gathering a bunch of "texts" for publication is no problem at all.....that's the easy part. Anyone can do it. Explaining it is something else. Nevertheless, I still give this text 4 stars on the basis that ANY book purporting to teach Arabic is welcome. But I don't think this text (like so many others) really "teaches" Arabic. It basically just provides new authentic reading material with very useful and contemporary vocabulary. But teaching? Nope, I don't think so.

I bought this book on the recommendation of one of my teachers, and it has been well worth the price. Each chapter is divided into individual topics, such as Meetings and Conferences, or Demonstrations. It introduces important vocabulary prior alongside a news article using the vocab. At the back of the book is additional vocabulary by topic. It's definitely helped me out so far, as I can now scan the headlines of BBC Arabic and don't feel as stupid.

This book is an essential supplement for intermediate / advanced students of Arabic as a second language. The book focuses on vocabulary commonly found in the media (eg. summits, elections, health and science, protests, social unrest, terrorism etc)

I was really excited for this book to come out -- and now I'm disappointed. The book is beautifully put together, has good vocabulary lists and a nice selection of readings -- but all of this was already available in Kendall's 1000 Words for Media Arabic and Rowland's Let's Read the Arabic Newspapers (unfortunately out of print). In other words, there are very few sections elucidating sentence structure, or how the articles themselves are put together, or comparing articles with different biases, or teaching you how to skim. I'm sure a good teacher could bring it all out for you, but for self-teaching, there's simply to added value. Get Al-ahram or Al-hayat online for free.

If you're a DLI-FLC expatriate and are a no stranger to the MSA DLPT, get this book! It's very helpful with the everyday used MSA words from Al-Jazeera, BBC Arabic, etc. Highly recommended book to increase your media-related vocabulary for the DLPT. Great self study-aid.

This book can only be useful if done with a teacher. If you do not need a teacher for this book then your Arabic is so advanced and almost fluent that there is no point in buying the book. This is really only a study aid for in-class teaching.

Super Lehrbuch für Medienarabisch. Kann ich auf jeden Fall weiter empfehlen. Sehr gute Vorbereitung für die Sprachpraxis und für den Wortschatz.

Missing Audio, otherwise would be perfect.