Arabic Stories for Language Learners by Hezi Brosh and Lutfi Mansur

Review by: Grace Landsberg

The short
A collection of very traditional Middle Eastern tales in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) on one page with the English on the opposite page. 

The long
The book includes a collection of 66 traditional stories in Arabic and English that all have accompanying audio content online. The book also comes with a physical CD, but places to use those have become increasingly limited lately. The stories are often humorous and reflect a certain moral or parable saying by the end. Through humor and valuable lessons, the book offers a unique insight into cultural values. The book is meant to serve as a compilation of common tales that include characters or situations well known in the Arab world. The Arabic used in the stories is very Fusha/MSA-style Arabic, not at all the kind of Arabic used in everyday conversations.

To read or not to read?
Sometimes the meanings of the stories or the humor can be lost without the help of a native speaker. The vocabulary can be difficult at times because the vowel markers (حركات - harakat) are not included in the text (though the audio recordings are online to assist). Recommended for readers who want to improve their on-sight reading skills, particularly with the proper MSA pronunciation.

Note
Please note that the stories in this book have been criticized for their inaccuracy, which some have found to be an offensive representation of Islamic traditions.