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Learning the language before you go travelling is a sensible option--even if you do find that many people at your destination speak impeccable English.

Studying Linguaphone Arabic in Action 2 CD-ROM is packed with enhanced video content. The first port of call for most students will probably be the basics of the language that are imparted through the grammar guides and example dialogues. This is not a package for advanced students--the vocabulary of 5000 words, while enough for most purposes, is not tailored to unusual situations and the best place to begin is with the basic phrases in Arabic which show the contexts of various words and parts of speech through sentence examples and then role-plays. The phrases are emphasised with colour-highlighting of key parts and boxes below explaining their meanings in English and to which part of grammar they belong. There is also a separate grammar section in the package which will break down the points arising from these set-piece dialogues.

As with every good language-learning software package, the Linguaphone Arabic in Action 2 comes with the facility to compare your pronunciation with that of a native speaker, and so will help with speaking and listening as well as with grammar and sentence-construction; on the downside, however, the test of pronunciation is inevitably somewhat standardised, and does not cater for the large variation of accents. That aside, this is a good package for anyone who wants to learn or improve upon their Arabic before embarking on their next trip abroad. --Toby Green