Customer Reviews

Rosetta Stone V3: Arabic Level 1 [OLD VERSION]

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

 

 

This program has its strengths and weaknesses, but I would be hesitant to purchase this software for other languages in the future based on my experience thus far. I use Rosetta Stone for about 1 to 3 hours, 5-7 days a week, and I've owned the software for one month.

--Visually Pleasing--
I do like the way the program is designed in some respects. With great photos and a variety of different approaches to teaching language, Rosetta Stone does hold my interest for long periods of time. I can easily sit for three hours at a time with this software. (By the way, be sure to look at the customer photos I uploaded to this product page.)

--Excellent Instruction in Reading and Writing--
The program is excellent for teaching reading and writing. I wouldn't change anything with respect to how these modules are presented. I knew I was truly learning when I saw canned food in the corner store and could read that it said "Halal."

--Difficulties Generating Speech on My Own--
After one month of use, I know a handful of words and cannot yet generate a sentence on my own. For the most part, one can deduce what is happening in the photos during the exercises. For example, there is a series of photos with a woman posing with other people who look related to her. I can guess that she is saying, "This is my mother;" "This is my brother;" "This is my family;" and so forth, but if someone asked me, "How do you say, 'This is my family,'?" I wouldn't know how to answer. I would, however, be able to pick the correct photo of the four options.

--Speech Recognition Feature Leaves Much to Be Desired--
This program comes with a headset to be used during the speech recognition aspect of the program, which isn't stellar either. When asked to repeat single terms and short phrases, the speech recognition component of Rosetta Stone is useful. When you start getting into longer sentences in Arabic and have to recall how to pronounce a long string of words you have never heard or read before, the exercise proves to be quite frustrating. If you mispronounce something, you have to repeat it again. If you can't remember the full sentence, you must play it again and hope you don't stumble or hesitate on any of the terms or the software will decide you are incorrect. Furthermore, even on the most discriminating speech recognition setting (Difficult), the program will sometimes tell you you are correct when you have butchered the pronunciation or said the wrong phrase. This doesn't exactly give me confidence that I'm speaking correctly or with a good accent. As I continue through the program, my frustration with speech recognition is increasing.

--Drawbacks of Full Immersion--
The program is designed to be a full-immersion learning environment. This means that no one explains word endings, and I am left to try and notice a pattern of word ending changes depending on whether one is speaking to a man or woman. This is where a textbook or some instruction in English by Rosetta Stone or a professor would be helpful. During the Speaking lessons, I almost never generate the correct sentence because I haven't yet grasped and memorized how words change based on gender and the number of people being spoken to. I was hoping I wouldn't have to rely much on other resources to learn Arabic, but I realize they are essential for making progress with Rosetta Stone.

--Other Language Programs Have Been More Effective for Me--
I'm not new to language learning as I am conversational in Spanish and studied Portuguese and ASL for a year each. I've used Pimsleur and Behind the Wheel language CDs for Spanish and Portuguese and found these resources to be quite effective. I'm just not blown away by Rosetta Stone and feel this product isn't as good as it could be given the hype, its convincing demo through its website, and its extensive use by the Department of State.

--The Bottom Line--
I am learning a great deal in the Rosetta Stone world--I know which answers to select from the choices, however I know I won't stand a chance of being able to understand much at all in real world situations. I'm hoping this will change as I continue with the program, but I'm not convinced.

I will have to sign up for a course in Arabic if I hope to get anywhere, but will continue to work with this software as it does have some value and provides a fun, interactive way of learning.

Having studied arabic in college for over three years, I was disappointed in the highly acclaimed rosetta stone. The technique used is truly ingenius - if I ever want to learn another language, rosetta will be my first stop. However, this arabic course does NOT offer normal conversational arabic; not one arabic speaker in the world pronounces words the way they are presented here. The arabic in this course is unabridged fuS-ha, which is ONLY used (even then only in certain areas) when reciting the Quran. I cannot undertand why they chose to offer arabic in this way, but it was clearly a choice made by someone with no knowledge of the language. Using FuS-ha anywhere in the Mid East is like using King James english in the deep South, only much more so. Why, Rosetta Stone, why? Is your focus audience comprised only of novice Imams?

I'm learning a lot and it seems to be doing very well on teaching the alphabet, which is one of the hardest parts. I do have a "How to Write Arabic" book that is a great companion that I refer to during the Rosetta Stone sessions. Right now I'm 30% into the Rosetta Stone level 1. I've had it for 3 weeks and work on it about 3 hours/day. I would think by the end of Level 1 it will equate to a semester of college level Arabic. I've done the Pimseleur Audio CD's, which was the Syrian dialect and sounds different, so be very specific with other adjuncts you buy depending on where you're going.

Purchased this for a deployed Soldier in Iraq (yes, I know they have access to Rosetta Stone for free now.) According to several of their interpreters, a lot of these teachings were incorrect, and it was difficult to progress in the language training because no matter how they attempted to pronunciation the words, it would say they were pronouncing it incorrectly. I 'would' say the Soldier just wasn't pronouncing it correctly, but when the interpreters are being told they are pronouncing it wrong, I find it more a fault of the software than the user. I wouldn't waste my money on this in the future.

there has been alot of rave about rossetta stone software. but its very overrated. it jumps into secound semester language skills which doesnt help a begginer. it sould start out with basic word matching but it starts out with phrases and leaves you clueless what each world means.

I needed something more conversational. This is a good, basic Arabic program, but not strong for conversation.

The Arabic Rosetta Stone is a wonderful language program that really does work. It is fun and challenging. The new edition of the Rosseta Stone is more interactive and more user friendly. I would recommend this product to all students interested in learning standard Arabic. The item arrived promptly and in pristine condition.
Cheers.

This product, which does have a wonderful format, is not for those new to the Arabic Language... You need to have a full understanding of the alphabet, and be very familiar with common Arabic dialogue.