Sahlawayhi 1: Graded Stories for Beginners (Arabic Edition) Paperback – January 1, 2009

I have been trying to learn Arabic for a while. I have a couple of different books that I use to learn. I completely agree with another reviewer that this book is the perfect companion to textbooks because it has more than the small paragraphs in textbooks. I also agree with another reviewer who said the word list could be better organized. I sit at the computer and look up words I don't know. I am having no problem looking up words and following the story, but I know undoubtedly I am mispronouncing many of the words since there are no vowel marks on the words nor any accompanying audio to help with pronunciation.I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is seriously trying to learn Arabic, but I also wish that the publisher would release CD's of the stories we could purchase if we needed to. The CD's would also help reinforce listening skills which is so important whenever anyone learns a new language.

After searching hi and low, I finally found the reader I've been looking for. This book is designed for someone who has finished about a year of Arabic study or who has completed an introductory course book through self-study. The case endings show up from time to time (usually only the extra "alif" of the accusative case, or a marking to show when the pronunciation of the masculine/singular object pronoun vowel assimilates in the genitive), but other than that it's mostly words/grammar that a first year student would know at the beginning. This book has been a great help, as the vocab is useful and progresses at a nice slow pace, with 10-15 pages of reading and recap for each vocab list. Also, each vocab list (besides the first which includes every word they think you should already know) introduces around 20-30 new words (with short vowels written in), which didn't seem to fast because you see these words repeated across so many pages before progressing to the next section. But best of all, this book is part of series, which I fully intend to complete. And it doesn't stop at 3 books! Mr. Khorshid is planning on releasing level 4 this summer. However, there are two things worth noting.First, there are no English translations for the stories. I do not see this as a detriment, but some might. Personally I found that I already knew most of the words and the grammar structures in the first section so I didn't need one. If I got to a word I didn't know, I tried to guess and kept on reading. After words I went and double checked in the vocab list at the end of the chapter (which, incidentally, is translated into English, Spanish, German, and French). Using this method becomes a bit more tedious as you progress through the book, as each unit increases in vocabulary, but after the fist unit the new vocab is marked within the story, so I still found it useful to read through and try to guess the meanings of each word before going through the vocab list and memorizing the new words so that I could reread the stories in that section for full understanding.The second thing to note about this book is that there is no English anywhere (other than in the vocab lists). All headings, instructions, questions, and the answers in the back are written in Arabic. Once again, I did not see this as a detriment. In fact, I found it to be really helpful as it moved me out of my comfort zone and has helped me to become much more confident in handling text that are strictly in Arabic (without having my English crutch to assure me). Consequently, this book can be used by learners from any of the languages previously mentioned.Otherwise (and really because of these things), this is a great series for reading practice and vocab acquisition!

If you are studying Arabic, these are the very best supplements to your textbooks that you may ever find.I've been studying Arabic for 4+ years and found this series a couple of years of ago. These stories are logically arranged with a vocabulary list for each story, plus exercises to test your comprehension of the grammar and vocabulary.My training has been with the Al-Kitaab books from Georgetown University, and any and every other text I've been able to find online or in a used bookstore.The Sah.la.way.hi stories are funny, happy, hopeful, sad, serious, modern, and universally human. They are strategically designed to build your familiarity with words and grammar while you are engrossed in the story: what happens next??You'll find that you learn much about plurals and verb use, possessives, and declination of verbs, as well as learn to "figure out the language for yourself", because the stories are interesting and fun.This series is the most fun, and the least frustrating, of all the texts I've seen--assuming that you have some background training in reading the language, and some amount of vocabulary. Newbies can use this too, just a bit more of an undertaking for a complete novice.Mid-Novice: ENJOY! Had a year or more: You'll LOVE the ease and enjoyment of reading comfortably.Also, the vocabulary list is in English, German, French and Spanish! And you'll laugh yourself silly with happiness when you discover that one of the stories requires that you recognize some German words--which you will once you sound them out in Arabic!There are many Arabic readers available today, Alhamdulah, but this series is so friendly to people approaching Arabic from different cultural backgrounds that it stands out in its' excellence. Some of the readers I've used are so serious and historical; this series is friendlier to cultures who have less knowledge of historic events and cultural differences, but a comfortable familiarity with the immigrants in their world, or The Middle East, or being one themselves in a strange land. The stories are heart warming and culture building. The stories are just universally good, period.Serious students of Arabic: You will love this resource.Tamara

I totally agree with the previous review that these books definitely fill a gap in the market. I have bought so many Arabic story books in the hope to be able to enjoy the fruits of studying and be able to read and enjoy the stories, putting into practise the small amount of Arabic I had already learnt. However, every time I was very disappointed. I found them all either too difficult or having been written for children, not really useful for me. Since I bought this book I find myself picking it up to read none stop, wanting to get to the end ready to move on to the next book in the series. I thoroughly enjoy the fact that these are aimed at adults learning Arabic as a second language and that they are at the correct level for me, having a reasonably good vocabulary but still being a beginner. His stories are easy to read, enjoyable, varied and boost your confidence no end. For the first time I really can see how much progress I have made since beginning to study Arabic and I found this very motivating. By reading through each story a couple of times you can definitely improve your sentence structure and see put into practise basic grammar rules you have learnt. Also by repeating several words throughout the story the author enriches your vocabulary without you even noticing it. I also love the way in which the vocabulary list often gives similar words with their meanings, which helps you to learn these as well and avoid any possible confusion. The short exercises at the end of the stories are useful too. All in all, interesting varied stories, easy to read and with a good wide vocabulary, for me these books are perfect for anyone looking to improve their Arabic. I can't wait to read the whole series. I just hope I don't go through them all too fast!

Having self-studied the language I had arrived at a level where I really needed some longer texts and to see the vocabulary used in context.Also, to see if I had really learnt anything!What a pleasure it was to discover that I was able to read the first story and understand it straight away, to see how the words are used in "real life", to get more fluency through constant repetition, encouraging me and making me want to read more and more.From struggling on to actually wanting to read ...this is what the book did for me.I also purchased the audio version to help understanding without seeing the writing , and to demonstrate the pronunciation where I was not sure, and both together are a great help to me.Have only just started on level 2 and am already excited about the progress made....So glad there are more books in the series!

This would be much more useful for a non-native Arabic learner (like me) if it had a) English translations and b) the short vowels clearly marked. I bought this book to help me with Arabic reading on the strength of other reviews here, and I'm sorry I did.