Briston Arabic Vocabulary 300 Flash Cards - Beginner Vocab with Pictures - Memory & Sight Words - Educational Language Learning - Game Like Play - Kids, Grade School, Classroom, Homeschool - Brand

High quality cards. Very conversation easy to read. Highly recommended. Great value.

My husband is a native Arabic speaker and I've picked up some very basic vocabulary here and there, but in general I'm a terrible language learner and don't know as much as I should after 12+ years of marriage. I saw these cards and thought it was worth trying to expand my vocabulary just a bit.They certainly are lovely, with a nice storage box that holds colorful, glossy cards. One side shows the category of the word and the word itself, both in English, and a photo representation of the word. The other side shows the word spelled in both English and Arabic, the pronunciation in both English and Arabic, and the word in a sentence in both English and Arabic. Here is my observation: All of the information you need to learn the word is actually on this side of the card. The other side is really just for aesthetics unless you don't know either English or Arabic and need a visual representation.I chose the photo of this card (and there are many others with the same format) because of the formatting of the Arabic pronunciation. This card shows "(QAWS/QA-zah)" When I see a "/" it signals to me that I have an option or an alternative. For example if I am writing the word for a young male child I might write "boy/lad" to show that you can call him a boy or you can call him a lad and it means the same thing. In the case of the Arabic pronunciation for his word, rainbow, it is pronounced QAWS QA-zah. There are two words, which traditionally is signaled simply by a space, as I just wrote it. At first I really did think it was an option of two different words with the same meaning, but when I showed my Arabic-speaking husband, he confirmed that to say rainbow you need both words. He also confirmed that the "/" threw him off also and he interpreted the symbol in the same way that I did. Here is my suggestion: I think in future editions that the makers would omit the "/" and just use a space. People will know what that means. But, if you've taken the time to read this review and are learning, just know that the second word is not an option and is necessary to complete the meaning of the word.These are still 5 stars and fun to use.

But not the dialect I wanted. I was looking for Levantine Palestinian colloquial Arabic… great cards, well made

When you learn a language, you start from scratch--including your first language, which is an incredible achievement. Learning a language follows a general pattern of association with pictures or items and the sounds you hear and how to pronounce it.I speak a few languages, and when I start a new one, I like to use the initial products that are meant for children because they teach the most common words and concepts like these flashcards do. These cards are excellent because:1. It categorizes things: Weather, action verbs, foods, feelings, personal hygiene, etc.2. There are pictures associated with the word.3. There is an English/Arabic word/pronunciation, and there is a useful sentence to go with the word. For example, "I bought a cake at the bakery."4. There is a QR code where you can link the card with a native Arabic speaker on how to pronounce the word and sentence. This might be a little annoying because it brings up all 300 cards, and you need to find the number associated with the card.One of the complaints about these cards is the type of Arabic that you learn, but let's be honest: Are all English speakers the same? Do you have water or a bubbler? Is it a biscuit or a scone? Hood or bonnet? I could say the same about Spanish (maìz or elote), French (une voiture or un char), or any other language that is spoken throughout the world. Don't get me started on regional dialects as well. This is a good basic set of cards that will get you in the right direction with base information.

Nice starting place to familiarize yourself, or a young one, with the Arabic language. It will not teach you conversational Arabic, but you should be able to identify many words by sound and sight, much in the way a young preschooler would.The cards are nice, standard playing card size. They show you the English word, pronunciation, and the Arabic word and pronunciation, and then use it in a sentence for each language. While I do like the sentences, you likely wont be able to read them, but it's good to see as a visual but not specifically useful as a beginner. The other thing is this is *just* vocabulary. You have to already be familiar with the basic system, how to read and write the letters, the way to read vowels.Also, I think "double sided" is slightly misleading, as the other side doesn't have anything educational, it's either got pictures or a graphic design of some sort and then it lists which card it is across the bottom (ex: the first card has a picture of a woman with hands together in prayer pose in front of her, fingers just below her mouth, head tilted slightly with a closed mouth smile. a large white question mark off to the right of her, and across the bottom it says 1 - Action Verbs - Ask) so it's not like there's additional learning information on the back side for double sided to be specified in the description.