Re: Books

Luca Mangiat wrote:
     "It could sound strange, but I have some money in my wallet (my grandma
insisted on tipping me for my results at school...)."
     Lucky you...
     I assume that you wish to learn Classical Arabic.  If that is the case,
and you already know German, then the world is your oyster!  More work has
been done about Arabic in the German tongue than just about any other
language.
     You'll probably want a good Arabic dictionary.  Hans Wehr's dictionary
is the standard; it was originally composed in German but was translated
into English by J. Cowan (!).  It is generally quite expensive, but you can
find used copies on the Internet for less than thirty bucks.  Try
www.bookfinder.com and look for "Wehr, Hans."
     Looking at my own bibliographic notes, I see a couple of good reference
grammars in German.  Recently, Wolfdietrich Fischer wrote a "Grammatik des
Klassischen Arabischen," which I have yet to read.  Generally, we in America
use Wright's grammar, which is very old-fashioned but very thorough (as the
old-fashioned grammars tend to be).  Wright originally translated this
grammar from (what else) a German edition written by a fellow named Caspari,
so I wouldn't be surprised if there was an Italian version as well.  On
Advanced Book Exchange, I see a copy (in Latin) for 50 bucks.
     If, on the other hand, you wish to learn spoken Arabic, the book I used
was entitled "al-kitaab fii Ta'allum al-'Arabiyya (a Textbook for Beginning
Arabic)" which was published by Georgetown.  It's used in many American
universities and has been recommended for private study, although I have
never seen it used outside of a classroom.  The authors are K. Brustad, M.
Al-Batal, and A. Al-Tonsi.  Another reference is J.R. Smart's book on Arabic
in the "Teach Yourself" series.  This will be much cheaper than the rest,
but you will get what you pay for.  This book is wonderful for introducing
oneself to Arabic grammar, but don't expect to be able to
speak/write/understand Arabic after reading it.
      As far as Italian references go, I'm afraid that I don't know of any
off hand.  Italy produced many great Semitists, however, so try looking for
books written by Levi della Vida (an Arabist), Garbini (a NW Semitist),
Moscati (ditto), etc.
      Good luck - and, a word of warning - books in Semitics tend to be
overpriced when they first come out.  It's always best to shop for
second-hand books in this field because the book inevitably drops in value.
Actually, it plummets.
-Chollie

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