Home > Title details

Total Arabic with the Michel Thomas Method

Jane Wightwick and Mahmoud Gaafar

£83.33 + VAT

ISBN: 9781444138023

Published: 30/09/2011

Extent: 10 Hrs

Series: Michel Thomas Series

Send to a friend

Summary:

Speak Arabic - Instantly.
No books. No writing. No memorizing.

- Guaranteed success. Speak and understand perfectly
- Incredible progress. Get what you want, fast
- Absolute confidence. Unleash your natural learning style without trying

The Method:

Stress-free audio learning
Michel Thomas teaches you through your own language, so there's no stress, and no anxiety. He builds it up, step by step, and you don't move on until you've absorbed and understood the previous point. And, as Michel Thomas said, 'What you understand, you know; and what you know, you don't forget.' With parallels to the way you learned your own language, each language is learned in 'real-time' conditions. There is no need to stop for homework, additional exercises or vocabulary memorization.

A 'virtual' classroom
The classroom situation on the recording lets you learn with others. You enjoy their success, and you learn from their mistakes. The students on the recordings are not reading from scripts and they have received no additional instruction or preparation - just the guidance you hear on the recording. You, as the learner, become the third student and participate actively in the class.

There's no such thing as a poor student, only a poor teacher
This is an important part of the Michel Thomas Method. Full responsibility for your learning lies with the teacher, not with you, the pupil. This helps to ensure that you can relax and feel confident, allowing you to learn effectively.

Why it Works:

Learn another language the way you learned your own
You learned your own language naturally and enjoyably: now you can learn Arabic in the same way. You'll stick with it because you'll love it. Use the unique method perfected over fifty years by the celebrated psychologist and linguist Michel Thomas.

This method works with your brain, helping you to build up your Arabic in manageable, enjoyable steps by thinking out the answers for yourself. You learn through listening and speaking without the pressure of writing or memorizing. You pick up the language naturally and unforgettably. Join the millions of people worldwide who have learned a new language with the Michel Thomas Method.

Audio-led course which shows you how Arabic really works so you are fluent and confident in any situation - even if you don't know the exact word you need
Flashcards, workbooks and interactive exercises to test yourself and measure your progress
Certificate of achievement awarded on completion of online self-assessment

Table of Contents:
Introduction; how the course works
History and development of the Arabic language.
Standard Arabic and spoken dialects. Similarities.
Position of Egyptian as most understood dialect.
Instant vocabulary of English / European words adopted into Arabic
English / European words slightly adapted to Arabic speech patterns
Arabic words taken into English
Basic requests using “mumkin - possible”
No words for “a / an” in Arabic. “weh - and”
Pronoun “I - ena”. No word for “am / is / are” in Arabic. Arabic distinguishes masculine and feminine “you - enta / enti”
Use inflexion for questions. “-a” = feminine ending. Adjective (descriptive word) endings
Arabic uses “wanting - cawwiz “ for “I want / you want” etc. Behaves like adjective
Pronouns “he / she - huwwa / heyya”
“the” = “il”. “l” of “il” sometimes absorbed into following consonant
Arabic “going (to) - raayiH”, “coming (to) - gayy”. No word needed for “to”.
Sentences using “alashen - because”
Word order with question words (e.g. “where - fayn”)
Arabic possessive adjectives (“my” etc.) are tagged on to the end of the word they describe
Arabic names
Arabic demonstrative pronoun (“this / that”) changes for masculine “dah” / feminine “dee”
Making sentences negative with “mish” (= “not”)
Arabic objects and ideas all either masculine or feminine (no “it”)
Feminine words add “t” before possessive endings
“iHna - we” and “humma - they”
“-een” plural ending for people and adjectives
Arabic has plural “you” – “entu”
Questions with “leh - why” and “imta - when”
Time phrases
Expressing possession: English uses “I have”; Arabic “at me” with tag for “me” etc.
Indefinite words “someone / something”; “another”; “every”
Arabic consonantal “roots” system
“il” (=“the”) needed with any definite description (e.g. “the large house”, “his large house” = “the house the large”, “his house the large”)
“there is / are - feeh”; “there is / are not - mafeesh”
Ways of forming Arabic plurals (more than one): add “-een” for people; add “-aat” for some things; other plurals change internally (as English “mouse - mice”)
Arabic verbs: in addition to “wanting” for “want”, Arabic also has verbs that change at the beginning according to who is doing the action
Arabic construction “he wants to go” = “he wanting he goes”; “can he go?” = “possible he goes?”

About the Author(s):
Michel Thomas (1914-2005) had an amazing life. Born in Poland, he spent his early years in Germany and then in France, where he studied psychology at the Sorbonne in Paris. When war broke out, he fought with the Resistance and suffered imprisonment in slave labour camps. At the end of the the war he joined the US liberation army and later settled in the US where he established his world-famous language school. For more than 50 years he taught languages to the rich and famous and was the world's most sought-after language teacher.

Readership:
Self-access course for adult beginners

Reviews:

"The nearest thing to painless learning"

The Times

"A unique and perfectly brilliant way of learning languages"

Stephen Fry

"The most extraordinary experience of my life"

Emma Thompson

"Thomas makes it simple"

Sunday Times

"Works like a dream"

Daily Telegraph