Key Features
Key Features
Media Arabic Vocabulary – Book 1 is a vocabulary-driven Arabic eBook for learners who are ready to read real news.
Designed for intermediate learners who understand Arabic grammar but feel overwhelmed by authentic news articles, this book focuses on how media vocabulary actually functions inside political reporting, crime coverage, and cultural journalism. Rather than memorizing isolated words, you learn how vocabulary operates within real media contexts.
Topics covered
- Politics and government, including domestic politics and diplomacy.
- Crime, with emphasis on legal and investigative language.
- Arts and entertainment, covering both performing and visual arts.
What’s inside
- Topical vocabulary lists with English translations.
- Example sentences for every word.
- Media-style reading texts at the end of each unit.
- Full English translations.
- Fully voweled Arabic to support pronunciation.
- Audio tracks recorded by native speakers.
Who it’s for: Intermediate learners of Modern Standard Arabic who want to transition from study materials to real media.
Detailed Overview
Detailed Overview
One of the most daunting hurdles in language learning is the “intermediate plateau.” You can navigate a classroom or a coffee shop, but the moment you open an Arabic news site, you feel like you’ve hit a wall of native-level complexity. This book is specifically designed to bridge that gap. It is the first in a four-volume series, where each book focuses on three broad thematic units that are further broken down into specific subtopics. This structure allows you to move away from “textbook Arabic” and into the authentic language used by journalists and commentators today.
In this first volume, we focus on the following areas:
- Politics and Government: National Politics and Governance; International Relations and Diplomacy; Conflict Resolution and Peacekeeping; Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief.
- Crime: Violent Crime; Property Crimes; Drug-related Crimes.
- Arts and Entertainment: Performing Arts; Visual Arts.
A Scalable Approach to Reading
Efficiency comes from having the right level of challenge. We’ve organized the material so you aren't overwhelmed. Each section begins with key vocabulary and example sentences, followed by a variety of texts to see those words in action. You can start with “mini-articles,” which are quick, easy wins designed to build your confidence.
As you progress, you will encounter more substantive and diverse texts, such as interviews with politicians or aid workers, historical reports on events like the Oslo Accords, police reports, critic’s reviews of plays, and even TV show overviews. These varied formats ensure you are learning how Arabic is actually used across different media genres.
Built-in Support and Self-Discovery
We’ve designed this book to be a low-stress environment for high-level learning. Every single Arabic text, from the shortest example sentence to the longest article, includes full diacritics (tashkeel) to ensure your pronunciation is accurate. More importantly, every text is accompanied by a full English translation.
This acts as your safety net. If you ever feel stuck on a complex phrase or a nuanced word, the translation is right there to help you get back on track without needing to flip through a separate dictionary.
How to Use This in Your Practice
This book is meant to be used flexibly. You don’t need to follow it from cover to cover. Instead, follow your interests. If you are a fan of the theater, dive into the Arts unit. If you are following global news, start with International Relations.
We’ve moved away from traditional “busy work” like multiple-choice questions. Instead, this book encourages a self-discovery approach. Use the provided audio tracks to tune your ears to the rhythm of the language, then dive into the texts to see how words interact and form collocations.
By actively identifying vocabulary in these varied contexts, you’ll find that you aren't just memorizing lists. You are building the intuition needed to read real Arabic media independently.
PDF Sample
PDF Sample
Take a closer look inside!
Not sure if this book is right for you? Download a free sample for an extended preview and try out the materials before you decide to buy. See how the PDF eBook looks on your screen and how it prints out.
Audio Stream
Audio Stream
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Audio Download
Audio Download
MP3 Files
Download the full accompanying audio for this product as MP3 files—completely free! The files are provided in a compressed ZIP folder for easy access. Simply download, extract the files, and start listening. No purchase of the PDF eBook is required!
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Customer Reviews
Customer Reviews
I´ve been working through the Media Arabic 1 book incl. Anki cards for over half a year now, and I really see progress.
In my opinion the repetition and contents are well chosen, and exactly the language I find in the newspapers and podcast, but at a level I am just able to still cope. So that´s perfect.
The only suggestions for improvement would be giving the plural of the nouns where possible - Anki in general is such a superb resource and is done so very well! I do that every single day, no problems with my Audio at all (only suggestion: Could you order the files in 01/02 instead of 1/2, as some players sort numerically but don´t get single digits right next). The speakers of the book are great, only the congresswoman in the dialog seems artificial... has that been produced with AI? Other than that I love it so far.
I bought lots of resources and I also appreciate the hub you are providing here for me to have all my materials together in one place.
Altogether, highly recommended, 5 stars.
I wanted to express my gratitude to you for creating such an excellent product! I've purchased all four Media Arabic books and anki, and have thoroughly immersed myself in the series. I've found the articles to be very engaging and effective way to learn, making language acquisition truly enjoyable. Your approach has kept my interest piqued, and I'm eager to continue learning.
Hello, I am Anil.
I bought all 4 books of the Media Arabic Vocabulary set. I haven't fully progressed yet. But I can say that it has a full content and can increase our vocabulary. One of the biggest reasons why I prefer these books is that they have audio recordings. Because listening is of course very important in learning a language. Good luck everyone.
Thanks Matthew for your reply, and for all your efforts to provide such valuable materials for avid learners like me. By telling I'd rather have "real life" materials, I actually meant having texts anchored in the context of the Arabic speaking world, its daily life, social, political and cultural issues, but I understand that's another issue altogether. As for the audio, I really find the quality average. The speakers sound professional and read well. I'm just bothered by the hissing sounds prevailing throughout the recordings, as if the speakers were too close to the microphone while recording. Likewise, some sounds aren't that clear. I guess it is a general issue with mp3 and compressed formats in general? Anyway, apart from this, I highly recommend this material and actually love the format (vocabulary lists illustrated by sentences, as in Al-Kitaab, then texts with these vocabs). I think it is the best Media Arabic text available on the market (even better than Lahlali's) and am looking forward for the second instalment. Francois
Overall, this book is good and works a lot on repetition which helps greatly acquire the new vocabulary, that is very aptly introduced through sample sentences illustrating every new vocab. One might regret the fact sentences are not taken from real life media and sound a bit artificial, repetitive and not so interesting. TmHowever, the only real downside is the poor sound quality of the audio recordings. I could probably do a better job with my Phone. How come the audio
is barely audible at times? Hard to understand! This being said, the overall quality of this material is much above average, I just hope my advice will be taken into account for future materials. All the best.
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