Manfred Woidichkullu tamam!: An Introduction to Egyptian Colloquial Arabic (Arabic Edition)

This course, which actually is translated into English from Dutch, is so much better than any of its competitors in the field of introductory Egyptian Arabic that it is hard to see them as serious alternatives to it.The Routledge 'Colloquial Arabic of Egypt' has a good-looking cover, but it doesn't offer a broad-based vocabulary, and the 'Kallimni Arabi' books (also published by American University in Cairo Press), while offering much more substantive vocabulary, are poorly organized and have next to nothing to offer in the way of grammar.The lessons in this book progress very logically and a beginning student can make fairly rapid progress. The explanations of grammar, while not extensive, don't omit anything that could come back and surprise a student at a more advanced level of the language. The CDs are excellent, and wonder of wonders- they come with the book. My one criticism would be that the Arabic alphabet is not introduced earlier- it would certainly be helpful for a native speaker teaching from the book.

I like this book a lot, it helped my Egyptian Colloquial tremendously. But it is difficult for learners without prior background in MSA or Egyptian because it covers a lot of material in one book. I recommend using the Michel Thomas Arabic (which actually teaches Egyptian Colloquial) to build some foundation first.

Just what I needed.

I love the philosophy of this book. You can find a wealth of material out there to learn Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). This is an artificial language that people use in everyday life only in a rather limited way. They never speak it if they can avoid it and only a small minority can speak it comfortably even when pressed. If you begin studying Arabic with MSA then you will have no one to really practice with. That makes learning any language extremely difficult!This product focuses on the Egyptian "dialect." More than 88 million Egyptians speak this "dialect" and virtually all Arabs understand it. You can use what you learn immediately with any Egyptian and he/she will respond very similarly to the way people talk in your book (if not exactly the same). If you are diligent in your studies, you should be able to speak Egyptian Arabic pretty functionally by the end of this book. Afterwards, you will be in a very good position to learn MSA and have access to the news and Arabic writing. This is the way Arabs do it: dialect first THEN Modern Standard Arabic.There is indeed an answer key, it's just in the back of the book instead of right after the exercises. Lots of language courses are like this. The one warning I have is that it is evident that this course was originally conceived for Dutch people. I don't mean the translation is bad, I mean that it was conceived for people who are rather experienced language learners. Most Dutch people are proficient in English and another language like French, Spanish or German. The course throws out some technical terms and moves a little fast at times. Don't be afraid to ignore the technical terms and study some of the chapters twice if you need to.

After I was at a fairly advanced level of MSA, I was introduced to this book to improve my ECA. The transliteration was a bit odd considering that most people first start with MSA and then move on to ECA, but it helps those who do it the other way around. The vocab in the book, the transition between lessons and the audio files make this book one of the best resources for learning Egyptian Arabic! I highly recommend it!

I received the book today and there are loose pages!!! It’s a brand new book, I haven’t even started studying and the pages are just falling out the blue??? I’m not happy!!!

Every third or fourth page of this book falls out. I asked for a replacement and it had the same problem. Buy a copy in person somewhere so you can check the quality of the print / binding.

Good but the pages literally came out when I opened the book. It's not binded well at all. Looks like I won't be able to use this very long unless I glue the pages back myself.

I learned Classical and Modern Standard Arabic (using the mighty Hans Wehr, of course) during my university years, and for fun I decided to revive my Arabic with a twist to learn a colloquial variety. I've bought a number of books: Colloquial Arabic of Egypt by J.Wightwick, Kalaam Gamil, Kallimni Arabi Bishwees and Kullu Tamam by M.Woidich, The Big Fat Book of Egyptian Arabic Verbs by M.Aldrich, along with a number of additional e-books from the brilliant Lingualism (M. Aldrich).For text book, audio (Soundcloud hosted) and grammar the clear winner is Kullu Tamam, no competition. The audio transcripts are phonetically precise. The glossary is far the most complete of these books. Grammar is a very strong point of Kullu Tamam. The exercises are enough and great. It is even better than the T.F.Mitchel book. It has Index and solution to the exercises at the end of the book. Some people are complaining that the book is only transcript, and very few Arabic scripts. Yes, the book has a very strong concept to learn the spoken Egyptian: listen to the audio recording on Soundcloud and use the phonetically precise transcript. Still, if you are interested Lesson 17 teaches reading Arabic script, but it is not the main focus. The explanation of the delicate pronunciation rules of Egyptian Arabic is excellent in this book, and the transcripts for the audio dialogs are precise, this is a major plus of the book.The Aldrich (Lingualism) books are all brilliant, too, phonetically precise transcript, Arabic script included, very high quality presentation and contetnt, but they are not textbooks they cannot replace a textbook, and Kullu Tamam the best textbook in Egyptian Arabix.The J.Wightwick book is fun and great, too. Its grammar sections are fine, but not as complete as Kullu Tamam's excellent grammar sections. Unlike the phonetically precise transcripts in Kullu Tamam, the Wigthwick transcripts are more like a transcript of the Arabic script itself and phonetically not precise at all. Nevertheless, I love the Wighwick book, too, sure, but Kullu Tamam is superior.As for Kallimni Arabi Bishweesh and Kalaam Gamil: forget about them, just go for the Woidich or Wightwick book for text book, and the Lingualism books for additional material.

It's a very useful book with an impressive and clear vocabulary. There are other books like this written by prestigious universities which ignore the need to provide a fully comprehensive glossary. This book really teaches you to communicate in a proper way and in a variety of situations.

Libro semplice e ben spiegato (bisogna essere fluent in inglese)Gli esempi dei dialoghi, rapportati alla vita reale, sono molto utili

Im Gegensatz zu anderen Arabischen Textbüchern, findet man in Kullu Tamam eine gute Lehrmethode mit einfachen und praktischen Alltagsdialogen. Nützlicher Wortschatz und viele Übungen. Dazu gibt es eine CD.

no arabic writing, that does not help very much if you go to that country. It is too difficult only with the phonicwords with this you do not learn real arabic.