Customer Reviews

Talk Now! Learn Amharic - Beginning Level [Old Version]

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

 

 

Eurotalk apparently uses the same vocabulary lists and activities for its entire foreign language series. This Amharic CD-Rom teaches you such essential words as "teddy bear" and "raspberry", neither of which are terribly common in Ethiopia, while neglecting "injeera" and "chick peas" &c. Also, the vocab word comes up in Ge'ez script, but no transliteration is made avaliable. In fact, there are no script lessons at all on this CD-Rom.

Also for the vocabulary, two humans, resembling the most obnoxious of ESL teachers, on the screen act as if they are saying the words, but simply mouth some random muted utterance. It is annoying and distracting (imagine the word "strawberry" articulated while a man mouths "car" while moving around herky-jerky style and uncontrolably blinking). Better to spend the extra money on the Appleyard CD/Book combo. Please believe me.

Let's face it - there aren't many options available for someone wishing to learn basic Amharic. And after using this product for a while, you'll certainly know more Amharic than you started with. It's a worthwhile purchase as long as you aren't expecting too much out of it.

I do think it could be improved, though. In particular I would take issue with some of the choices of vocabulary it teaches - there are words and phrases which would be useful but don't appear, as well as some that just seem unnecessary. This is especially so in the "phrases" section, and it isn't helped by the fact that some of these phrases are so long and complicated that the odds of a basic student memorising them seem remote at best.

And the customer service is TERRIBLE, so you'd better hope you don't get a defective CD.

Until something better comes along though, this will do for the basic traveller.

The program is a fun, interactive way to get a feel for reading and pronouncing Amharic. It definitely would help if you just want to get around Ethiopia for a vacation, but it is not much more than a primer if you actually want to learn the language. That being said, it is a gentle introduction if it's your first time encountering Amharic.