Customer Reviews

Rosetta Stone Arabic Level 1 & 2 Win/Mac Personal Edition [Old Version]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am actually reviewing the online version from Rosetta Stone Online, which makes the full Level I and II versions available by subscription.

Each section consists of a series of Listening, Reading/Listening, Speaking, and Reading exercises. The full version of this software consists of 19 units of 10-12 sections each.

In each exercise, you are given a series of activities consisting of a choice of four pictures and/or pieces of text and/or spoken dialogues (depending on which type of activity it is), and you must choose the correct picture/text/dialogue from the cues.

The exercises are very simple, suitable for children or for quick reviews. If you are new to Arabic, or refreshing your skills after a long period of disuse, the repetition will be useful in building your vocabulary (back) up. You are fed bits of grammar incrementally with each new unit. You start with simply identifying various people and objects, and then add a few adjectives, and then add a few verbs so you are recognizing simple sentences such as "The boy drinks some milk" or "The bird flies" or "This car is not red, it is white," etc. Each unit adds more pieces of grammar and more vocabulary, building up to more complex sentences, different verb tenses, and so on.

However, that is as far as it can take you. Diligently practicing all the exercises should expand your vocabulary and give you basic grammatical skills in Arabic. It will not bring you to the point of being able to carry on a meaningful conversation (unless your conversations are confined to describing objects and pointing at various people and animals and stating what they are doing), nor will it enable you to, say, read a newspaper.

For self-study, this software makes a good supplement to more robust texts and tapes. Don't expect it to bring you up to full proficiency. If you want to do more than recognize simple sentences and learn a lot of "everyday vocabulary," Rosetta Stone is insufficient. However, I do recommend it for the crucial repetition and "training your ear" that every language student needs, especially those doing self-study, if you are at a low to moderate proficiency level.

It is important to note that the text is entirely in Arabic script. You must be able to read Arabic before you can practice anything but the listening exercises. (Get a good book on Arabic script and learn it -- it's not that difficult, a serious student should be able to read the script fairly proficiently within a week.) Also, there are no English translations at all. This is not a bad thing -- the way the information is presented, you are expected to pick up the meaning as you go along, and if you practice the exercises seriously, you will. Just be aware that this software is based on the Audio-Lingual method, so you will find no glossaries or explanations of grammar.

I've been using a number of different language software programs as research for a thesis. I've enjoyed using the Rosetta Stone software to study German, Arabic and Japanese. I have lived in Japan and I had studied Japanese for a number of years before I came across this software. It was my first time studying German and Arabic.

My biggest problem with Rosetta Stone software comes from the complete lack of any explanation of the basics of the target language. The theory here is that you will learn the language as a child does by seeing pictures, hearing the words and making the connection. This idea in practice can be a lot of fun and you should be able to pick up some vocabulary and sentence structures in a very short time (as long as the language uses an English alphabet). However, without a few basic pointers on the writing systems of languages like Japanese and Arabic, good luck figuring anything out. For example, if you did not know that Arabic is written and read from right to left with the letters joined together as in cursive English, you stand little hope of ever being able to break words and phrases down into the 28 Arabic alphabet's characters. It wasn't until I went to another source outside the Rosetta Stone software that I realised my massive error in trying to decipher the most basic script. This could have easily been avoided had the software offered a few pages of explanation, or even just the alphabet itself spelled out with English letter approximate equivalents and an arrow pointing from right to left. And Japanese? The same problem times 3 (the number of written character styles in Japanese) and just as confusing.

Final review then? The Rosetta Stone software by itself can be quite useful as long as you are after listening and speaking skills only AND you don't think you'll ever need to see and read the word as you hear it. However, if you were hoping to learn reading and writing in a target language that uses a writing system other than the English alphabet, be prepared to go hunting for additional resources as a primer before you start banging your head against this Stone. After an hour or so of basic tutorial from an Arabic alphabet website, I got back on track with Rosetta, but I was quite annoyed that I ever had to make that extra journey in the first place. A company should not try to claim that its software is an all encompassing program if it falls so far short of just that from the get go.

I bought the Rosetta Stone Explorer Arabic course and got through it with some difficulty (but it was fun for the most part).

I have lived and worked in Saudi Arabia and have studied the language and writing so I knew a little bit already. I found that several times it was difficult to determine the gender or ages of the people in the pictures. I also found that the small display (at least half the size of my laptop screen made it more difficult to see the pictures especially if the arabic script is on top of it. It would be helpful also if the Arabic script were larger. I would have liked to see a translation of the Arabic words into English as a way to clear up any confusion that does arise often. It would have been ok to rely primarily on the method that Rosetta Stone uses as long as you can look up the words in question. It would have been really super to be able to point and click on the Arabic script or on the specific images in the picture to get a translation.

It takes a lot of concentration to look at the pictures and try to associate the spoken or printed arabic words to just what is meant to be conveyed in the pictures. Often you have to go back and forth between two or more different pictures to see what is common to the Arabic words being spoken/written. The words are written only in Arabic script and unless you know that Arabic is written from right to left and know what the characters represent you can forget about associating the printed word to any meaning.

Finally, despite the relatively high price for the more advanced Level 1 and Level 2 courses I did enjoy the "Explorers" course and will probably buy them anyway. But first, I want to buy the Transparent Language Arabic course which is considerably cheaper. I also bought the Transparent Languages "101 Languages of the World" course which is the inexpensive intoduction to Transparent Languages more expensive and more in depth course which is much cheaper than Rosetta Stone. It also has immediate translations and a lot of other teaching methods that I find very good.

I began using this system within the last few weeks. I want to make it clear that I actually OWN Rosetta Stone's Arabic 1 & 2 kit because it is APPARENT that the other two reviewers (who posted before me) do not own the program. I suspect they have only received the sample language CD that you can get free in the mail. Why do some people waste their time giving their opinion about a product that they don't even own?

This program has 2 levels to it, level one has 8 Units to it with 11-12 lessons to each unit. Level 2 has 11 Units with 10-11 lessons for each unit. Each lesson is packed with new nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs...

Rosetta uses an 'Immersion' method in their system. In other words, aside from the 'Getting Started' manual and a page in 'Curriculum Text', there isn't a single word of English in the lessons. After popping in the disk in your hard drive, you're shown a group of pictures along with the Arabic text of a word and the audio plays the pronunciation of the word. The object is to listen, read, repeat, and match the the word to the corresponding picture by clicking on it.

At first, it's a total guess but soon you will be able to figure out what words go with what objects and how to write them, as well as, pronunciating them. As the program advances, you'll also figure out the puctuation and their exact meanings. After several lessons, you'll know the rules as to feminine/masculine pronunciation and punctuation, where verbs and adjectives belong in a sentence, colors & numbers and a lot more! Because you will KNOW the words, meanings, rules, and pronunciation you will easily be able to formulate your own sentences very quickly (opposed to trying to memorize phrases like, 'Do you serve coffee?', 'where is the restroom?', 'where does this train go?').

Other systems require you to listen to a bunch of CDs or cassettes as you try to thumb through a guidebook and dictionary and then they test you with yet another manual. Those are all based on memorization and I have never had any luck with those programs.

The immersion method encourages you to become actively engaged in the lesson by focusing on the language through listening & reading, listening only, reading only, speaking, and writing exercises (in the case of Arabic, you don't write/type because of keyboard limitations--you drag & drop given words in the right order to complete a sentence). By the time your done with a section, you won't be hitting yourself over the head trying to remember a word or a sentence...you'll just know it because you'll of fiqured it out.

There are times when the program will insert a new word or sentence rule that you might not understand by the time the lesson is over with...no problem, by the time your into the next lesson, the rule is clarified because they continue to use those words and rules (then, you'll get one of those aahhh-hhaaa moments).
Using a dictionary or translation manual may seem helpful at the time, but it can hinder your learning experience because your relying on memorization rather than your own actual knowledge. Of course, you could just Google 'Arabic Alphabet' and print a cheat sheet if you have to.

I have tried other systems with little luck, afterall, how can you learn to read and write Arabic when your listening to an audio cd? With just a few weeks with Rosetta Stone, I feel confident identifying object, colors, numbers, and putting sentences together verbally and in writing (reading is a lot easier now too).

Some sections are very difficult, while some are a breeze. I've looked at many of the lessons further ahead and they become progressively complex. I have no doubt whatsoever that by the time I complete Level 1 that I will be able to have a BETTER THAN rudimentary conversation in Arabic and plan on completing Level 2 so that I can be equipt when abroad. Also, I plan on purchasing Level 3 (the final level) when the time comes because I'm sold on this program.

I guess the only downside of the program (more a suggestion to Rosetta) is that the kit should contain a microphone. Each lesson has a set of speech tasks that require a good microphone and I had to buy one seperately because all I had were cheap-oos.

I purchased my Rosetta Stone 1 & 2 kit from Rosetta Stone themselves and paid $100 more than what Amazon is selling theirs for! So, if your serious about learning Arabic, Go For It! This is the best method that I've found on the market and at a great price. Good luck!

Miles
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BTW,
Each Rosetta Stone program comes with a 'Help' button that connects to their online database. If you ever run into a snag and can't find the answer there, you can email them with your issue. They've always emailed my back within 24hours.

The Rosetta Stone software can be very useful to the learning and study of arabic as long as you use it in conjuction with other materials. Rosetta Stone Arabic teaches Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), which is a more academic and universal form of arabic as it is based on the written language. This differs from colloquial dialects which are rarely written and can differ greatly n different regions. The materials I used, and in fact are still using, are the Rosetta Stone software along with The Arabic Alphabet, by Nicholas Awde and Arabic for Dummies, by Amine Bouchentouf. These materials cover all the general subjects required for the learning of MSA. The Arabic Alphabet covers the alphabet and does an excellent job and should be covered before the use of the Rosetta Stone software. The Rosetta Stone software itself is essential to the building up of a vocabulary. It starts with basic nouns and then building on them and then forming sentences by adding verbs and adjectives.Through this method you begin to understand the structure and grammar of the language, however without further instruction it can be hard to define exactly what the grammatical structure is. The software, however, is weak on the fact that it does not teach the alphabet, it only shows it in conjuction with the media which it is teaching through. It also does not cover conversational abilities. You may be able to say, "The small boy kicked a black and white ball inside a large house and broke a window", but you won't be able to say "Hello, my name is x". Luckily the other two materials cover these apects. Arabic for Dummies provides an excellent introduction to MSA along with having a simple yet informative coverage of arabic grammar. Arabic for Dummies also supplies the converasational aspect as it includes 17 chapters covering most everyday situations. However this book avoids using the arabic alphabet although it gives a brief introduction of it. Because of this I recommend that this book come first as it provides a solid introduction and shows you exactly what your getting into.

I went through Arabic level one with the online version, and I found it fairly useful. After reading other reviews, I would caution shoppers to be realistic about their expectations... Rosetta Stone uses learning techniques similar to those used by a child learning their first language, so it's a good idea to remember how that actually went. It's pretty likely that your first "formal" education in your native language started at about age 5... after you had been immersed in the language EVERY DAY for FIVE YEARS. If you expect to reach a similar level of proficiency in a language with a completely different alphabet and different sentence constructions after taking an entry-level immersion course, you are going to be disappointed.

I was able to pick up the vocalizations of different "letters" in the Arabic alphabet using Rosetta Stone; you just have to look at the words on the screen as the computer reads the sentence, and before long you start to recognize which characters correspond to which sounds.

Rosetta Stone won't make you a grammar expert, but you will pick up certain basic concepts pretty quickly. Don't count it out, but don't count on it for more than it can deliver.

This program is pretty good overall, but cannot stand on its own. If you are learning up for a trip to Egypt, Morrocco or whatever, don't even bother because the Arabic there will be a different dialect. Also, the words in the program are not practical phrases that are used everyday, but strange-sounding descriptions like "the man is on the horse, the woman walks." Nice to know, but it won't help you find the bus stop.

Also, it is crucial to learn how to read (and write) Arabic before tackling this program. If you don't take notes you will be lost in a sea of strange words, and wandering whether the woman said ghain, or khain, or 'ain.

From time to time there are mistakes (such as a guy who falls off a cow which is a horse in the pictures), and in the fully voweled version some of the symbols are offset. This could be pardoned, if they didn't charge so much money for their program.

If you are in the Army, don't buy this! You can access all the rosetta stone programs for free through https://usarmy.skillport.com/

In the end, I would only recomend it to people who already learned some street Arabic over there, and want to standardize their knowledge and widen their vocabulary so that they don't show, say, on a tourist-trip in Algeria speaking business-related Levantine Arabic.

Their presmise is that you "learn like you did as a child", which sounds good in theory, but in practice it isn't efficient for adults who learn better by understanding the rules and patterns of a language and have a vocabulary list to refer to. They give you nothing. You can download the english translation of the sentences but it is very difficult to figure out the mechanics of the language this way. I speak 3 foreign languages, and found this program useless by itself. After learning grammar and vocabulary from other programs I was able to start making sense of this package, so it was somewhat useful for practice but not learning. I recommend Pimsleaur or Linguaphone. The Immersion Methode and "Tell me More" programs are nearly useless as well.

If you don't understand the Arabic alphabet, this will be useless. But if you get a dictionary and learn the alphabet, this is the best software you can get.

The Rosetta Stone application requires that the language CD be present in the harddrive, and it *continuously* spins up the CD disk while the program runs. This unfortunate design will quickly run down your laptop batteries, making this application unsuitable for travel. My repeated requests to Fairfield Technologies, the Rosetta Stone software company, to remedy this problem were declined. Considering the substantial price paid for this software, it should *behave* like software, and not a DVD. If the application could be installed and run like normal software, it would not uselessly drain you laptop batteries.