I was contemplating buying Rosetta Stone in order to learn some Arabic. Has anyone had any experience with the system (not Arabic, just any language in the system)?
CS
I have all levels of Japanese …
[quote]spar4tee wrote:
I have all levels of Japanese …[/quote]
And…? How do you like it?
CS
[quote]CSEagles1694 wrote:
[quote]spar4tee wrote:
I have all levels of Japanese …[/quote]
And…? How do you like it?
CS[/quote]
… well … since you asked … it’s okay. The audio recognition would test my patience at times, but aside from that if you don’t care about the expense, get it. It gets kinda boring though tbh.
[quote]spar4tee wrote:
[quote]CSEagles1694 wrote:
[quote]spar4tee wrote:
I have all levels of Japanese …[/quote]
And…? How do you like it?
CS[/quote]
… well … since you asked … it’s okay. The audio recognition would test my patience at times, but aside from that if you don’t care about the expense, get it. It gets kinda boring though tbh.[/quote]
How well have you learned the language?
CS
[quote]CSEagles1694 wrote:
[quote]spar4tee wrote:
[quote]CSEagles1694 wrote:
[quote]spar4tee wrote:
I have all levels of Japanese …[/quote]
And…? How do you like it?
CS[/quote]
… well … since you asked … it’s okay. The audio recognition would test my patience at times, but aside from that if you don’t care about the expense, get it. It gets kinda boring though tbh.[/quote]
How well have you learned the language?
CS[/quote]
I’ve only done the first two lessons for level one I think. Been very lazy with it, but it still sticks in my memory. Application requires practice. If you don’t stick with it, then there’s not much point in buying it (at least for the interim). Gonna get back into it because I want to learn the shit. Just stay consistent, and you’ll learn.
I have levels 1 - 5 for both French and Spanish (Spain).
While I understand the method behind the RS madness, I found the progression to be too slow for my liking and the overall value of the material to fall short of the price tag (making me glad I didn’t pay for it).
It’s heavier on the vocab than grammar, and as far as that goes I ultimately found it easier to just download some vocab books (e.g., Must Know French: 4000 Words That Give You the Power to Communicate… I’m sure there are similar ones for Arabic) and learn more “traditionally” (flashcards and what not).
Some people enjoy the way it presents information, I just found it to be tedious and overly repetitive (within lessons). Flashcards and vocab books were a better experience for me as I could control both the speed and content of my lessons to stave off boredom.
One advantage the RS program will have over printed vocabulary worksheets is that you will be able to hear the word pronounced; this was the main “plus” for the French program (though french.about.com has greater variety and is free… again, I’m sure there are similar sites for Arabic). I never used the audio recognition feature so I can’t speak on that.
While it might be worth taking a look at, it is nowhere near as revolutionary/groundbreaking as the commercials make it seem – it is actually an EXTREMELY simple (albeit slick) program that is, IMO, outrageously overpriced. Some people might find it an enjoyable and effective experience, so I can’t say you definitely SHOULDN’T try it out… but I WILL suggest perhaps looking into finding a cough cough “demo” version or something.
I used these books to get me through elective Russian at uni: http://www.teachyourself.co.uk/
And I first started learning Spanish using a computer programme that simulated real life encounters and asked multiple choice questions. That was enough to get me out and about around the shops.
Why do you want to learn Arabic in particular?
Do you have an Arabic community where you are? Go there and mingle.
Someone is bound to tutor you.
Could even lead to you getting some tail
It’s not that great for learning a language like Arabic. Arabic grammar is very different compared to English, and without some kind of grammar basis, you’ll be lost. In my experience, learning Arabic grammar was far more important than learning most words.
No idea of Arabic but I have French/Greek and my brother has Japanese… it seems like a great way to learn a language and a very clever piece of software. I like it. This thread reminds me to start fitting it into my routine again.
I’ve no experience but heard good things about that software.
With regards to language, nothing beets knowledge and experience. Grammar, grammar, grammar, inclusion, inclusion, inclusion.*
When learning Japanese, especially in the beginning, learning a grammar point directly and immediately lead to greater understanding of the language (I was in country). That understanding lead to greater communication. For me, I generally read/studied the grammar point, heard it in daily conversation, had that “ahhh” moment where the grammar moved from a “translated understanding” to an understanding of how things are used, insert time and more examples, then I could/can use the grammar myself.
*I couldn’t think of a better word than “inclusion” but I mean putting yourself in a position where you “need” to use the language to communicate, be that at a school, classroom, or in-country experience.
my 2 cents. There are a lot better language speakers/learners out there through. Chushin might be a good resource.
Thanks, everybody. I decided a while ago that I want to minor in Arabic when I go to college. My dad was saying that I should just wait until I get to college in order to learn since I’ll have a qualified instructor and will have the chance to study abroad in Turkey for a semester.
CS
[quote]CSEagles1694 wrote:
Thanks, everybody. I decided a while ago that I want to minor in Arabic when I go to college. My dad was saying that I should just wait until I get to college in order to learn since I’ll have a qualified instructor and will have the chance to study abroad in Turkey for a semester.
CS[/quote]
Thing with Arabic is, what you will learn you won’t be able to use (kinda)
Learning Arabic is like learning Shakespeare’s English.
Granted you could read the Qu’Ran and the newspaper/listen to the news but conversation wise it would be pretty difficult.
i’m half Egyptian, and i’m learning Arabic through daily life while living here.
Thing is with Egyptian arabic, everyone understands it because films, music etc is all made in it.
An Egyptian would be screwed trying to converse with someone from Algeria, Morocco, Libya etc.
Most people here don’t even know true Arabic (mainly lower class). Really strange actually
The dialects vary immensely.
Eample, In Egypt and greeting is Zyak, whear as in true Arabic it’s Marhaba.
They even just miss letters sometime. especially when a K/Q starts a word.
[quote]Marzouk wrote:
[quote]CSEagles1694 wrote:
Thanks, everybody. I decided a while ago that I want to minor in Arabic when I go to college. My dad was saying that I should just wait until I get to college in order to learn since I’ll have a qualified instructor and will have the chance to study abroad in Turkey for a semester.
CS[/quote]
Thing with Arabic is, what you will learn you won’t be able to use (kinda)
Learning Arabic is like learning Shakespeare’s English.
Granted you could read the Qu’Ran and the newspaper/listen to the news but conversation wise it would be pretty difficult.
i’m half Egyptian, and i’m learning Arabic through daily life while living here.
Thing is with Egyptian arabic, everyone understands it because films, music etc is all made in it.
An Egyptian would be screwed trying to converse with someone from Algeria, Morocco, Libya etc.
Most people here don’t even know true Arabic (mainly lower class). Really strange actually
The dialects vary immensely.
Eample, In Egypt and greeting is Zyak, whear as in true Arabic it’s Marhaba.
They even just miss letters sometime. especially when a K/Q starts a word.
[/quote]
^ Listen to this dude. My wife (Egyptian) can’t talk to somebody from Yemen because the dialects are so different. My sister-in-law has also told me she had to resort to speaking English with a Moroccan guy in order to understand him (she worked at a customer service call center).
I use the Pimsleur Language tapes from my local library. I think it’s pretty similar to Rosetta, but it’s free.
[quote]Marzouk wrote:
[quote]CSEagles1694 wrote:
Thanks, everybody. I decided a while ago that I want to minor in Arabic when I go to college. My dad was saying that I should just wait until I get to college in order to learn since I’ll have a qualified instructor and will have the chance to study abroad in Turkey for a semester.
CS[/quote]
Thing with Arabic is, what you will learn you won’t be able to use (kinda)
Learning Arabic is like learning Shakespeare’s English.
Granted you could read the Qu’Ran and the newspaper/listen to the news but conversation wise it would be pretty difficult.
i’m half Egyptian, and i’m learning Arabic through daily life while living here.
Thing is with Egyptian arabic, everyone understands it because films, music etc is all made in it.
An Egyptian would be screwed trying to converse with someone from Algeria, Morocco, Libya etc.
Most people here don’t even know true Arabic (mainly lower class). Really strange actually
The dialects vary immensely.
Eample, In Egypt and greeting is Zyak, whear as in true Arabic it’s Marhaba.
They even just miss letters sometime. especially when a K/Q starts a word.
[/quote]
Thanks, man. It might be a little different for me since I’m going into the Army. I’d like to learn Arabic, but also the different dialects such as Peshto, Farsi, and Urdu.
CS
Not sure of the process to be selected to attend, but if you are joining the military and are interested in Arabic, you might want to know about the Defense Language Institute as an option.
[quote]Ct. Rockula wrote:
Do you have an Arabic community where you are? Go there and mingle.
Someone is bound to tutor you.
Could even lead to you getting some tail
[/quote]
Persian tail averages on being quite nice from what I have seen…
The only words I know are the shit they say before they pull the pin out…
I learned three years of japanese through my college, I agree with the notion of the absolute best way to learn any language is to immerse yourself fully into their culture… Rosetta stone works great if you combine this with the combination of meeting some people native to the language and going to a community where it is the prominent langauge you will learn much, much, faster!