Frequently asked questions
Do you have a question not listed here in our FAQs? Send us your question.
I have lost my PDF/MP3 files. Can you send me a free replacement?
When you buy a download from our site, please back up your files. Keep them safe. Print a hard copy. Burn CDs. Do whatever it takes. If you do lose your files, we can replace them and will charge a small admin fee to cover the time it takes us to process your request. Email us here with a copy of your original receipt.
I want to buy a hard copy, what should I do?
For many years we offered a link to "print on demand," but it was not a good deal and so we stopped. Sorry. By far the most cost effective way for you to have a paper copy of our book is to buy the digital version here and print it either at home yourself, or at a local print shop. It's 400 pages so not impossible or cost prohibitive. IF you go to a local shop, show them your paid receipt and this notice, that: we give you permission to either print the material for personal use. Then, ask if they can "spiral bind" the 400 pages, with a plastic front and back cover for protection. Spiral binding (or hole punch and store in a folder) is by far the most user friendly way for a student to use the material. Perfect binding on a book this thick is not ideal for everyday, regular use.
Can I buy the book and audio material at a book shop?
Sadly, no. If you find our book in a bookshop or elsewhere online then it is an illegal pirated copy. We would be grateful if you could let us know.
I am a teacher and I don't want my students to have the answers. Do you have an edition without the answer key?
Yes we do, both digitally (buy here) and in hardcopy (buy here).
I am a teacher and want to buy bulk copies for my class. Do you offer a desk copy or discount?
We do not offer free "desk" copies. We do offer discounts for bulk digital orders as follows:
- 10-19 copies - 10% - or
- 20+ copies - 20%
I have searched and searched for a course to use after yours. Do you know of one? I am beginning to feel that I am searching for something that does not exist.
Sadly, I do not know of a course that follows on after mine. There are a few options you can consider.
- Redo my course. You will be at a higher level and pick up things that may have slipped by the first time.
- Redo my course to go over all the basic forms and vocab AND supplement with additional authentic material (audio, visual, written if you can find it)
- Work only with authentic material (audio, visual, written if you can find it) and use my course as a reference.
When I personally reached an advanced stage (post my course) I worked purely from authentic materials, particularly wonderful classic Syrian films and a weekly radio show 'crime and punishment' which also was published as the first colloquially written book. So find something that you really enjoy listening to/reading/watching and use that.
I found this book is available for free download on several peer-to-peer sites; some say they have the copyright approval to offer the book free. Is this true?
No. Anyone downloading the full text and/or audio files free from any site other than www.syrianarabic.com is breaking the law. We do not charge a lot for our material and all income goes toward running this site. We invite you to honour our work and let us know if you find any other site offering our material either for free or a price.
What is the difference between Syrian and Egyptian Arabic?
Great question! Read our summary here.
Can you recommend any other courses I could use?
Our course is really the only one available when it comes to Syrian Arabic. If you are interested in Arabic more broadly, this site about nothing offers a great selection of reviews.
When will the other modules of your course be available?
Life changes has meant we have chosen to abandon the original, ambitious plan and we will not be able to write any more Integrated Arabic modules. We do, however, encourage other students of Arabic to adopt our method and structure and create their own modules to share.
How long will it take to complete the course?
This is really up to each individual student. You could read the whole book in one day. A normal person who had absolutely no Arabic to start with, could get through the material in about six months, studying everyday. However, if you really want to feel comfortable with Arabic (colloquial or otherwise), you will need two years of full-time, intense study. And then another few years to refine what you have learnt.
I want to study in Syria. Where should I go? Do you run a school?
No, we don't run a school, nor are we able to provide advice on where to study in a school in Syria or anywhere else. Sorry!
Why didn't you publish the material through a traditional publishing house?
When we wrote the material, no publisher was willing to take on our textbook because it was "too big for a niche market". So we decided to self publish and offer the material free to download and charge only for the printed copies, which we did for 10 years (the downloadable files were poor quality and corrupted in places).
During this time, we had several publishers interested, however, they usually asked us to shut down the website and not give any material away for free. In 2008 we significantly upgraded the illustrations and website, corrected the corrupted files and discontinued printing hard copies. In 2011, we re-published the printed version (hardcopy) including a 'student version' (without the script/answer key) at Lulu.com and in 2012 we reformatted the MP3s for easier listening and review.
Some of the fonts appears to be pixelated and hard to read. What's wrong?
We are sorry that the quality of all the fonts is not as high as we'd like. We wrote the book using software that is no longer available (it was the best available at the time). When we upgraded the illustrations in 2008, we were no longer able to access the original fonts. The only option would be to completely re-typeset the whole book, which is currently not an option.
I found some mistakes.
Yes sadly we have errata. All care has gone in to producing this material. Despite our efforts, some diligent readers have discovered one or two mistakes/typos, for which we thank them. So, please note that in the Answers section on page 380, Chapter 3, Function D, Exercise 5, the answer for B should be 1967 (in Arabic 197V) but it reads 1976 (in Arabic 19V7) and Answer C should read 1986 (in Arabic 19/\7) but it repeats B's answer of 1976 (In Arabic 19V7). Found any more? Do let us know.
Some answers are missing.
Yes. We planned it that way. Why? To challenge you. To replicate a real-life situation where you were trying to connect the dots. To make your brain work harder. But hey, this is a textbook for beginners, so for those who have asked for an answer to Chapter 1 Exercise 4, here are they are: (The United States of) America, (The United Kingdom AKA) Britain, Canada, (The People's Republic of) China, Egypt [YES this is a super tricky one, but if you go on to exercise 6 there's a hint :-0), France, Germany, (The Netherlands aka) Holland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, New Zealand, Lebanon, Spain, and Syria. Now you know, how many could you have guessed? And of those you couldn't have guessed, what would it take next time to just take a guess? Contextual guessing ability is a huge part of communication and the more you play with it, the easier it can be :-)
Not all the vocabulary is on the audio track
Yes, not every single item of vocabulary is on the audio track. We chose to record the main conversation and its vocabulary, and key vocab items that we felt would be most useful if everyday life. We knew from experience that most people don't cope very well with being inundated with longs lists of things to memorise. So we kept it tight. And we understand that this will frustrate the elite few who can memorise everything. Sorry. The best thing to do is to reach out and make a Syrian friend to help you hear any word you would like. After all, that was our objective: to help you communicate with real people using this version of Arabic. Once again, the course is not simply designed to help you memorise things, it is designed to make you think in uncomfortable situations. Just like real life.
I'm unhappy. I want my money back.
Our aim was/is to help people communicate. If you are unhappy about the 450 pages of text and 180 minutes of recorded audio material you have received, we will refund your money on the understanding that you will not use our material. We can only trust you to do the right thing. Please trust that we are doing our best also.
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