"Urban Arabic" Books

September 10, 2016 10:45 AM

Hi everyone, This question is a shot in the dark, but I'm trying to find a way to purchase a hard copy or PDF of the Saifi Institute's Urban Arabic books 4 & 5. This would be easy if I was in Lebanon, but I'm in the US.

I contacted the school and haven't received a response. I'm wondering if anyone out there has extra copies or can help me figure out a way to get them (without going back to Lebanon). Thanks!

posted by Penguin48 to Education (10 answers total)

Have you checked some, er, torrenting sites? Or maybe a local university? My university lent books out to the general public, you just had to go through a few hoops and the number of checked out items was limited. What about like, free book websites?

Good luck though, from one linguistics aficionado to another.

http://forum.mobilism.org/
http://en.bookfi.org/
http://gen.lib.rus.ec/
http://www.esnips.com/
www.4shared.com/
http://www.ebooklink.net/
http://wowebook.net/
http://www.pdfchm.net/
http://www.free-ebook-download.net/
http://ebookbrowse.com/
http://www.ebook3000.com/
http://www.ipmart-forum.com/
http://www.mediafire.com/
http://librarypirate.me/
http://textbooknova.com/
http://www.downeu.com/
http://ebookshare.net/
http://www.freebookspot.es/
http://www.demonoid.me/
http://www.kat.ph/
oapen.org
http://www.theeuropeanlibrary.org
http://historyblueprint.org/
posted by erattacorrige at 11:35 AM on September 10, 2016

Response by poster: No luck with any of those links. The textbooks haven't been published by a publishing company as far as I know - they're more like spiral-bound printouts.
posted by Penguin48 at 5:50 PM on September 10, 2016

Best answer: Do you have any friends in Lebanon who would go to the school, pay for a copy and ship it to you?
posted by fritillary at 5:54 PM on September 10, 2016

Ebay? International sellers would likely ship it here for you.
posted by fshgrl at 7:11 PM on September 10, 2016

Maybe try something via interlibrary loan. Gee, I hate it when I can't find the book I like and need. (Cue my obsession with the Pashto language.)
posted by erattacorrige at 8:32 AM on September 11, 2016

You could try phoning the school at the number on their website (Skype or something similar wouldn't be too expensive) to ask a person.
posted by Hal Mumkin at 4:46 PM on September 12, 2016

Response by poster: Not available on eBay or through interlibrary loan where I am. I've checked all the common sense places. The school is still not responsive, and I'm not sure how I would pay them since things like PayPal are blocked in Lebanon. I may have to wire money to a friend to ship them to me if the school doesn't respond soon. These books really should be more widely available than they are!
posted by Penguin48 at 4:20 AM on September 16, 2016

Is there any possible book that could work as a substitute?
posted by erattacorrige at 8:04 AM on September 16, 2016

مرحبا! يمكنك الآن استخدام "باي بال" في لبنان. يجب عليك الاتصال الصيفي مرة أخرى
posted by standardasparagus at 6:07 AM on February 13, 2017

Response by poster: As standardasparagus noted, PayPal can be used in Lebanon now. I did contact Saifi a few more times and was able to get the books shipped to me within about two months.
posted by Penguin48 at 12:12 PM on February 25, 2017