African Books

The Arabic Alphabet: How to Read & Write It

Nicholas Awde, Putros Samano

Amazon Price: $8.76 List Price: $10.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Lyle Stuart Amazon Marketplace: 60 new & used starting at $4.75

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Reference -> Dictionaries & Thesauruses -> Foreign Language -> Arabic
Subjects -> Reference -> Foreign Languages -> Instruction -> African
Subjects -> Reference -> Foreign Languages -> Instruction -> Arabic

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 86 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

an intelligent and humane approach 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

By humane, I mean that the authors' humanity and humility make this more than an intelligent book. They convey their understanding of Arabic and their appreciation of its beauty.

I am currently working my way through this book, filling up about a third of a page of college-lined notebook paper each night with Arabic. I have been doing this for two weeks and expect to make it through the entire book in about eight more weeks of this hour an evening, five day a week approach. It is a testament to the authors' approach that I can already take the romanized Arabic and turn it into 90% correct Arabic script for those letters I have already learned.

I agree with Mr. Awde that we should learn to read and write Arabic as a PRECURSOR to studying its grammar. So I am studying this book concurrently with Pimsleur's Conversational Arabic. And when I finish these two, I will progress into an actual Arabic textbook.

I enjoy and appreciate this book and so I highly recommend it to anyone wishing to learn Arabic.

Editorial Review:

Ever greater numbers of people are learning Arabic and/or coming into some kind of contact with the Arab world. Anyone who wishes to learn the language faces a hitherto formidable initial challenge: the alphabet.

This book proceeds, step by step, through all the letters of the Arabic alphabet, showing the sounds they stand for and how they are combined into words. Nothing essential is left out, and no unnecessary complications added. Readers will make rapid progress and will be surprised at the relative ease with which they master the first steps towards command of this increasingly important world language.

The Arabic Alphabet: How to Read and Write It belongs on the desk of every student of the language; in the luggage of every visitor to the Middle East; in the briefcase of business people with Arab clients; and in the back pocket of every employee of British or American companies working in Arab countries.

Swahili Phrasebook

Martin Benjamin

Amazon Price: $8.99 List Price: $8.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Lonely Planet Amazon Marketplace: 35 new & used starting at $3.78

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Reference -> Dictionaries & Thesauruses -> Foreign Language -> Swahili
Subjects -> Reference -> Foreign Languages -> Instruction -> Phrasebooks - General
Subjects -> Reference -> Foreign Languages -> Instruction -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Great comprehensive resource 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 5 people found this review helpful.

This small hand-sized book is an excellent resource. Sections are seperated by practical categories (like food, social, and practical). Very easy to read, and really has everything you would need to get around.

Swahili: Lonely Planet Phrasebook 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

For a compact book on Swahili this is the best I've seen. The contents of this little gem were easily divided into useful and practical sections, covering a broader use of the language than I've come across in other similar type books. Each section was uniquely and clearly identifiable allowing faster access to put your fingertips on the words or phrases you need. This book also succeeds in helping the reader obtain a basic yet concrete understanding of the Swahili language where other similar books have attempted but failed.

Editorial Review:

To pack for East Africa:
binoculars for spotting zebu
down jacket for the climb up Kilimanjaro
mosquito net for camping on the multi-day safari
this phrasebook for everything else

Our phrasebooks give you a comprehensive mix of practical and social words and phrases in more than 120 languages. Chat with the locals and discover their culture - a guaranteed way to enrich your travel experience.

The First Hebrew Primer: The Adult Beginner's Path to Biblical Hebrew, Third Edition

Ethelyn & Stahl. Simon

Amazon Price: $34.25 List Price: $34.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Eks Amazon Marketplace: 20 new & used starting at $32.51

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Reference -> Foreign Languages -> Instruction -> African
Subjects -> Reference -> Foreign Languages -> Instruction -> Hebrew
Subjects -> Reference -> Foreign Languages -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 27 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The best teachable book for Hebrew beginners 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

I am very enthusiastic about this book. Until now, I have bought many Hebrew Grammars as the Weingreen, Pratico, Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar and others in the Greek language. None is so teachable as this one for Biblical Hebrew. The beginning is very soft and easy. There are not many grammar details or exceptions of the general rules, only the main rules. But the teaching is not simplistic; there are also endnotes, where you can read more details or exceptions.

The pronunciation is the same as in modern Hebrew. So you learn to spell ancient Hebrew as modern Israelis speak now. This is easier and useful. Other Grammars teach another way of pronunciation that could be more accurate regarding the ancient pronunciation, but Israelis don't speak now like that. So in the future, if you want, you could learn much easier the modern Hebrew.

This is not a complete Hebrew Grammar. If you want to learn more, you can buy for example the Basics of Biblical Hebrew Grammar by Pratico and Van Pelt.

It contains many exercises which make you learn the language by repetition of the words and the rules. This book doesn't contain detailed terminology. The kind of teaching is modern and pleasant.

If you are a beginner and you want to learn Biblical Hebrew, don't hesitate to buy this book. You will not waste your money. I advise you to buy also the "Primer Answer Book" of the exercises, and the "Audio Companion tape or CD set". So you could learn better the pronunciation by Hebrew teachers.

There is also an excellent digital edition for self study, which contains the Textbook, the Answer book and the Audio Companion together. You can buy the Audio CD set and the Digital Edition only by the EKS Publishing Co. (www.ekspublishing.com). The rest you can buy also by the Amazon.com.

May you enjoy teaching and learning of Biblical Hebrew by this book!

Spyros Karalis

Editorial Review:

THE comprehensive grammar for the beginning student. Systematically teaches Biblical Hebrew in a straightforward style. 30 lessons include: verb, grammar and spelling charts; vocabulary lists; oral reviews; exercises; stories; biblical quotes; Book of Ruth. Introduces 95% of words appearing over 200 times in the Hebrew Bible. Revised edition includes explanatory endnotes. 402 pages.

Learn Hebrew Today: Alef-Bet for Adults

Howard I. Bogot

Amazon Price: $10.36 List Price: $12.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Urj Press Amazon Marketplace: 24 new & used starting at $7.99

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Reference -> Foreign Languages -> Instruction -> African
Subjects -> Reference -> Foreign Languages -> Instruction -> Hebrew
Subjects -> Reference -> Foreign Languages -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 27 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A Very Dumbed-Down Way to the Alef-Bet 1 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

Don't buy this book. Better sources exist for FREE; search for:

1) ancient-hebrew dot org and you'll find a good site. on the left-hand side will be the menu; scroll down till you see "learn hebrew". "alphabet" and more is available--with audio files--for free.

2) "foundationstone" this is a free downloadable program that teaches hebrew.

3) "hebrew4christians" dot com and you'll have another good source.

These sites will not only teach you everything for free that this book instead sells to you but a whole lot more in addition. This book is also over-simplified. It's mostly a waste of time since any adult or child, with the correct motivation, can learn much more than this book offers at a much faster pace. Also, the "script" form of the letters was calligraphed and not practically written for the beginner who wishes to actually write it. "The First Hebrew Primer" gives a much better source with three choices of style available: book print, block print, and script. A student can easily write Hebrew immediately with this book's help.

Editorial Review:

This popular approach to learning Hebrew is designed for adults who want to use Hebrew when celebrating Judaism at home and in the synagogue. Students will learn how to pronounce the Hebrew letters and vowels, enabling them to read more than 30 essential Hebrew blessings and prayers. For classroom and individualized instruction.

Swahili-English, English-Swahili Practical Dictionary (Hippocrene Practical Dictionary)

Nicholas Awde

Amazon Price: $16.47 List Price: $24.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Hippocrene Books Amazon Marketplace: 38 new & used starting at $15.28

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Reference -> Dictionaries & Thesauruses -> Foreign Language -> General AAS
Subjects -> Reference -> Dictionaries & Thesauruses -> General
Subjects -> Reference -> Dictionaries & Thesauruses -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Not worth the money 1 out of 5 stars.
6 of 7 people found this review helpful.

After studying several foreign languages, thus having several dictionaries, I would have to say this is the worst one. There are several common words missing, no noun classes are listed and no help with grammar. You will be in better shape if you type "Swahili Project" in your search engine. This will take you to a free translation website set up by Yale. THIS was very useful.

A Good Basic Dictionary 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

As someone who has studied -- and speaks-- other languages, I was a little skeptical about buying this book. However, after using it to get through my Swahili classes, I would say that this is a good dictionary. Its greatest failing is that you really can't STUDY Swahili with the book (for example, it is crucial that you understand how Swahili noun classes, causative, and relatives function-- and none of this is covered in the book). However, if you really want to go wrong with almost any language, start by using a dictionary as a study tool! If you are trying to learn Swahili on your own, try Joan Russell's Teach Yourself Swahili. If you have a good teacher--which I would highly recommend--then this is a great source to organize and build vocabulary. Bahati nzuri!

Editorial Review:

Containing over 35,000 entries, this comprehensive dictionary is designed to aid speakers of English and Swahili alike in navigating the growing global vocabulary of business, travel, tourism, politics, telecommunications, computers, and the internet. It features up-to-date entries in handy reference form, and includes useful appendices listing English irregular verbs and their translations, Swahili noun classes, and useful phrases and vocabulary.

An Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary : With an Index of English Words, King List, and Geographical List with Indexes, List of Hieroglyphic Characters, Coptic and Semitic Alphabets (Vol 1)

E. A. Wallis Budge

Amazon Price: $16.47 List Price: $24.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Dover Publications Amazon Marketplace: 47 new & used starting at $6.99

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History -> Africa -> Egypt -> General
Subjects -> History -> Africa -> Egypt -> General AAS
Subjects -> History -> Ancient -> Egypt

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 25 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Budge is a GREAT WAY to become FLUENT in this language 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 11 people found this review helpful.

Budge is the best way to go if you are serious about becoming fluent in this beautiful language. The fact is that Budge puts the symbol, the transliteration, and the translation all together so you can know exactly what word you are reading and you can learn the syntax by reading his texts. You can pronounce it as you are learning it while reading the symbol all at the same time. The other wonderful thing about Budge is that he has loads of works out there. If you study one book, then you can easily move into other books and get the same reinforcement without having to learn some different author's other pronunciation key.

I know it is possible to use these books and become fluent. I am in the process of studying this language and a friend who is already fluent recommended these books for me (actually he reviewed Rosemary Clark's book The Sacred Tradition)--but another key point is to understand the essence behind the language. One who follows the Faith of the Gods of Ancient Egypt will be able to relate more to these texts because in order to understand a language such as this one, one must understand the spirit behind the language. Anyone can pick up a hieroglyphics book and learn to write people's names in hieroglyphics. To really understand the deeper aspect of the language, one must study it from the inside and not just as an observer. It is impossible to truly become fluent in a language by being just an observer.

I would recommend reading The Search for Omm Sety about a woman who was a famous Egyptologist and also practiced the Faith of the Gods. She was one of the few people who learned Ancient Egyptian language fluently and was able to understand and communicate its essence. Omm Sety was a personal friend of Budge and actually helped Budge to edit his work and pronunciation. You also may want to read The Sacred Tradition by Rosemary Clark. She was another author who became fluent in this language and she discussses the use of this language in her writings.

I highly recommend this book. Budge has the very best to offer for anyone serious about learning this language.

Editorial Review:

Volume 1 of the monumental work containing about 25,000 words and terms that occur in texts ranging from 3000 B.C. to 600 A.D. Each entry consists of a transliteration of the word, the word in hieroglyphs, and the meaning in English. Indispensable to serious student.

Ethiopian Amharic Phrasebook

Tilahun Kebebe, Daniel Aboye Aberra

Amazon Price: $8.99 List Price: $8.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Lonely Planet Amazon Marketplace: 35 new & used starting at $4.56

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Reference -> Dictionaries & Thesauruses -> Foreign Language -> Amharic
Subjects -> Reference -> Foreign Languages -> Instruction -> African
Subjects -> Reference -> Foreign Languages -> Instruction -> Phrasebooks - General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Would Recommend 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This compact guide is perfect for your purse and travel. It concisely contains enough for some basic language to get around. It is a little pricey, but gets the job done.

Editorial Review:

The only Ethiopian phrasebook on the market. Contains a full guide to body language etiquette of the region. 1,400-word two-way dictionary helps travelers sound like locals. Pocket-sized for convenience

The Concise Oxford English-Arabic Dictionary of Current Usage (Dictionary) (Dictionary)

Safa Khulusi, N. Shamaa, W.K. Davin

Amazon Price: $33.56 List Price: $37.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Oxford University Press, USA Amazon Marketplace: 46 new & used starting at $17.50

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Reference -> Dictionaries & Thesauruses -> English (British)
Subjects -> Reference -> Dictionaries & Thesauruses -> Foreign Language -> Arabic
Subjects -> Reference -> Dictionaries & Thesauruses -> Foreign Language -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 17 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

A printer's error in the August 2005 printing of the Concise Oxford English-Arabic Dictionary of Current Usage led to the majority of the diacritics being deleted, creating errors and rendering the dictionary unusable. These faulty books have all been recalled and are now completely replaced with new, corrected books. This convenient pocket dictionary--an abridged and updated edition of the acclaimed Oxford English-Arabic Dictionary of Current Usage--is designed for both the English speaker learning Arabic and the Arabic speaker learning English. It records the different levels of usage found in newspapers, radio, television, and films, providing major Arabic dialectal equivalents for familiar, colloquial, and slang words. Ideal for the student or traveler, the dictionary includes: * Nearly 40,000 entries providing English headwords with multiple meanings and their nearest Arabic equivalent * For Arabic speakers: phonetic equivalents for headwords, phrases illustrating unexpected and alien idioms, and explanations of headwords denoting concepts new to the Arab world * For English speakers: vowels and diacritics included in the Arabic text, irregular plurals of nouns, and simple verb conjugations in the imperfect tense * Meticulously transcribed Arabic characters for easy reading

Egyptian Hieroglyphics: How to Read and Write Them

Stephane Rossini

Amazon Price: $7.95 List Price: $7.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Dover Publications Amazon Marketplace: 45 new & used starting at $3.75

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History -> Africa -> Egypt -> General
Subjects -> History -> Africa -> Egypt -> General AAS
Subjects -> History -> Ancient -> Egypt

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Egyptian Hieroglyphics : How to Read and Write Them 3 out of 5 stars.
25 of 26 people found this review helpful.

Good graphics, but little on reading, writing, grammar, sythetic or general principles of the language or extracting meaning from actual Egyptian inscriptions which have a string of hieroglyphs. Better for beginners: Karl-Theodor Zauzich. Hieroglyphs without mystery: an introduction to ancient egyptian writing. (translated and adapted for english speaking readers by Ann Macy Roth) University of Texas Press, Austin. 1992. 121 pp. This has actual examples from the Tutankhamun exhibition. After this book, Colier and Manley.

It would help if there were other reviews that indicated the easiest path to mastering other ancient languages with cultural samples as well, e.g. egyptian hieroglyphics, akkadian cuneiform, sanskrit, biblical hebrew, ancient greek. The main question I have is: What is the first book that is easy (but actually gives you some useful information on one or two simple but original inscriptions)? Second book on some, but not all, actual grammar and vocabulary for some brief sample of literature. Third book more complete grammar. Fourth book grammar, more vocabulary, readings, etc. I can do better if I advance in easy, digestible steps, but I am nevertheless willing to commit to the effort required for mastery as my ultimate goal.

Editorial Review:

Clear, easy-to-follow text tells absolute beginners how to transcribe hieroglyphs by presenting and explaining 134 phonetic elements. Included are an explanatory introduction, section on word analysis, newly enlarged pronunciation guide, tables of phonetic and figurative (or determinative) signs, and much more. Unusually large, clear illustrations.

Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs

James P. Allen

Amazon Price: $36.00 List Price: $50.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Cambridge University Press Amazon Marketplace: 30 new & used starting at $19.75

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History -> Africa -> Egypt -> General
Subjects -> History -> Africa -> Egypt -> General AAS
Subjects -> History -> Ancient -> Egypt

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

We want more of the kind... 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.

Probably the most pleasant book you will use, not just to learn about hieroglyphs, but also, to learn about ancient egyptian culture.

Enough of the grammar already!!! 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 3 people found this review helpful.

This is an excellent book, no doubt. Allen is quite obviously an academic when it comes to Egyptian and linguistics. Let me repeat, this is an excellent book: for people with a linguistic background. That said, Joe Blow (read people with the average educational background in grammar) will most likely, as I did, find this approach to Egyptian with its constant, non-stop emphasis on adverbial complement this and noun phrase that approach, overwhelming to say the least. The meanings of the exercise sentences are rather vague and not easy to translate. In 3000 plus years, some Egyptian somewhere must have written a sentence or two more suitable for use in a beginning language learning text. Add to this the fact that each chapter does not have a vocabulary list to prepare the student for the exercises, and doing the chapter-end exercises becomes a futile exercise in page flipping to look up answers in the key in the back of the book. Vocabulary items used in the sample sentences in the texts in the chapters are frequently not included in the dictionary in the back. It doesn't matter how much grammar you know if you don't know what the words mean. As a college text with an instructor, this book is probably excellent, however for the do-it-yourselfer who wants to learn at home, forget it! Like the old saying goes: I just want to know what time it is, I don't need to how to build a watch. Can anybody suggest a book to learn Egyptian, written for educated, interested adults, but who don't have degree in linguistics?

Editorial Review:

This is an introduction to the writing system of ancient Egypt and the language of hieroglyphic texts. It contains twenty-six lessons, exercises (with answers), a list of hieroglyphic signs, and a dictionary, as well as twenty-five essays on the most important aspects of ancient Egyptian history, society, religion and literature. It also offers scholars of linguistics a complete grammatical description of the classical language of ancient Egypt.