marHaba: A Course in Levantine Arabic - Lebanese Dialect

It is worth noting that the book is in two parts - sections on vocabulary for various situations followed by a series of 'lessons'. There is NO audio available for the first part of the book. This was a major disappointment as it is impossible to learn the correct pronunciation from transliteration alone. The audio available to download only covers the lessons in the latter part of the book - there seems no reason why the rest of the vocabulary is not available to the new learner. It is also worth noting that the limited audio that is provided is at normal speaking speed and therefore very difficult for the new learner to follow. There are also various printing and format errors which, at this price, is simply unacceptable.

If you are new to Arabic this book contains the basic grammatical rules but it isn't particularly extensive on the subject. It is definitely a good start though and the layout is easy to comprehend.If you are experienced in Fus-ha and want to branch out into Ashamia, this book is particularly useful for the phrases and vocabulary lists.Not perfect, but overall definitely a good purchase.