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Foreign Language Learning Software for Arabic?
Doc Squidly asks: "In the near future I will be spending a year in the Middle East and feel it
would be in my best interest to learn Arabic. Unfortunately I do not have the time to enroll in a college class and have decided that a computer base earning method would suit my situation best. I've looked at products such as
ArabicNow! V9 Deluxe and
Rosetta Stone Arabic but have not been able to find reviews on these or any other products. English is my first language and was fluent in German and Latin but, haven't used them in many years. I believe that having the right tools can make a difference in learning Arabic. Any advise from multi-lingual Slashdot readers would be helpful. Has anyone ever used software to learn a foreign language?"
I used porno software to learn to speak dirty...
That's a good language to be fluent in.
These guys will discuss the software options rather eagerly
I learned a little Danish and Japanese with Rosetta Stone. I just learned simple "the cat is jumping over the ball" stuff, so I don't know how good it is for advanced learning. But the system is a lot of fun -- essentially a game where you do pattern matching, linking sounds with pictures on the screen. It covers basic nouns at first and then builds more complex phrases and sentences. It's all very natural -- no explicit grammar or rules to memorize, you pick that up unconciously.
Of course, chatting with someone patient is the best way to do it, but Rosetta Stone will get your foot in the door.
While picking up some software to learn the basic vocabulary and grammatical structure of Arabic is probably a good idea, I would suggest another approach.
Poke around on the web and find some online chat groups for Arab-Americans or (Arab-AnyEnglishSpeakingNation) and explain your interest to converse in Arabic with someone. As long as they don't suspect you of working for the CIA (which I suppose they have every reason to) they would probably be glad to see people taking an interest in their culture and would serve as a "language buddy", engaging you in simple conversations to build up your skills. In return, you could help them with their English (or, in your case, German).
Now, there is one problem, writing and reading a language is nothing like speaking it. For this, I can think of one good solution, buy a Mac, an iSight, and use the audio/video features of iChat!
Cloud City Digital: DVD Production at its cheapest/finest
I'm teaching myself Hebrew with Rosetta Stone's software, and it's a lot better than any of the books I've tried before. I haven't tried any other software to compare it to, but on a scale from 1 to awesome it's definitely somewhere past "good enough". (YMMV with Arabic, of course.)
Yeah, that would be a great approach for the CIA to use. Get a huge bullhorn and announce that they are there. There's no other way to learn Arabic and if they wanted to listen in they couldn't just lurk.
For the rossetta stone software0 05APYM/qid=1089252261/sr=8-1/ref=pd_ka_1/103-80593 58-4919026?v=glance&s=software&n=507846 /. in that regards though!
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00
IMO, Amazon is always a great first place to look, if only for the reviews(even if you don't end up buying anything off them)
Search for arabic software/books and see what other people have said.
You always have to take the reviews with a grain of salt, some people provide very insightful reviews, some one sentence, some have an axe to grind, and some haven't even used the product, but feel they need to chime in on it anyway.
Kinda like
Happy hunting!
If you're going to be living in the Middle East and are more interested in conversation than writing, try Pimsleur.
I've used the "Living Language", "Berlitz", and a few others but always found the Pimsluer method to be more effective. Evan for a guy like me who considers himself hopeless at learning languages. I used Pimsleur for German, French, Russian, Spanish, Herbrew, and "Eypptian Arabic" and was quite surprised at how much I'd learned when conversing with native speakers.
The Pimsleur method is based on immediate feedback. Within a about a minute of the first lesson you're asked questions to which you have a few seconds in which to respond. The other methods I found boring, almost like leaning by rote.
You can find plenty of Pimsleur MP3s on the gnutella network. Get the gnutella software here.
tsarkon, shut the fuck up and go away. We dont want to hear any more unenlightened crap!
The prerequisite to understanding this letter is to have encountered some of Lame Slashdot Sheeple Who Are All Mobthinking Civil Rights Destryoing Morons' taradiddles and to have realized how haughty they are. The rest of this letter is focused exclusively on Lame Slashdot Sheeple Who Are All Mobthinking Civil Rights Destryoing Morons, not because I harbor any ill-will towards him, but because he is unwilling to stand up for what is true and right if there is no personal advantage to him in doing so. Am I being too harsh for writing that? Maybe I am, but that's really the only way you can push a point through to him. I would like to digress here. The fact that it's time to step things up a notch and do what needs to be done is distressing, to say the least.
What is Lame Slashdot Sheeple Who Are All Mobthinking Civil Rights Destryoing Morons' current objective? As usual, there are multiple objectives:
to distort the facts,
to subject us to the putrid yapping of piteous nonentities, and
to galvanize a snivelling hysteria, a large-scale version of the unreasonable mentality that can promote, foster, and institute chauvinism.
Let me be clear. Lame Slashdot Sheeple Who Are All Mobthinking Civil Rights Destryoing Morons is the picture of the insane person on the street, babbling to a tree, a wall, or a cloud, which cannot and does not respond to his protests.
Is that such a difficult concept? I can't help but wonder: Why does everyone hate him? Is it because of his business practices, exclusivity, disloyalty, disrespect, or because he keeps trying to preach hatred? I once asked Lame Slashdot Sheeple Who Are All Mobthinking Civil Rights Destryoing Morons that question -- I am still waiting for an answer. In the meantime, let me point out that we must overcome the fears that beset us every day of our lives. We must overcome the fear that Lame Slashdot Sheeple Who Are All Mobthinking Civil Rights Destryoing Morons will tear down all theoretical frameworks for addressing the issue. And to overcome these fears, we must address the continued social injustice shown by bloody-minded, indelicate bozos. Here's an idea: Instead of giving him the ability to rifle, pillage, plunder, and loot, why don't we prevent the production of a new crop of unconscionable whiners? If we do, we'll then be able to lead him out of a dream world and back to hard reality.
People like him make me sick. The same holds true for vicious, vitriolic hellions. Given the range and unpredictability of human behavior, it is quite possible that last summer, I attempted what I knew would be a hopeless task. I tried to convince Lame Slashdot Sheeple Who Are All Mobthinking Civil Rights Destryoing Morons that even the most rigorous theoretical framework he could put forward would not leave him in the position of generalizing with the certainty to which he is prone in his vituperations. As I expected, Lame Slashdot Sheeple Who Are All Mobthinking Civil Rights Destryoing Morons was completely unconvinced. He has, at times, called me "inconsiderate" or "misinformed". Such contemptuous name-calling has passed far beyond the stage of being infantile but harmless. It has the capacity to prevent the real problems from being solved.
From what I understand, some of us have an opportunity to come in contact with presumptuous hucksters on a regular basis at work or in school. We, therefore, may be able to gain some insight into the way they think, into their values; we may be able to understand why they want to lead us into an age of shoddiness -- shoddy goods, shoddy services, shoddy morals, and shoddy people. I do not propose a supernatural solution to the problems we're having with Lame Slashdot Sheeple Who Are All Mobthinking Civil Rights Destryoing Morons. Instead, I propose a practical, realistic, down-to-earth approach that requires only that I change the world for the better. I need your help if I'm ever to stand as a witness in the divine court of the eternal judge and proclaim that his reinterpretations of historic events,
things that US troops never do that Saddam used to do.
Good job fucker, the only murderes in Iraq are Ismamist murderers now who are murdering civillians on scale which rivals Saddams former murderous regime and trying to undermine the new Iraqi government.
I want to cut your leg off an eat it in front of you and then shit your leg down your throat and then drop you off in Lahore pakistan where the villagers will finish you off.
mod parent up, the satanic verses were removed because mohammed was satan's minion, mohammed didnt know god from satan!
I don't know about software, but I was dabbling in learning the Arabic alphabet and language this Summer. In the course of my searching, I found one site called Fun With Arabic that does a pretty good job teaching some things. You can learn the alphabet, some common words, and eventually learn to write Arabic script. A second site which I haven't even checked out yet is Babel Arabic.
I hope these prove useful. I learned a bit just playing around with the sites last week. Good luck - Arabic is a step harder to learn than German or French because you have to learn the alphabet first.
If you're just looking for conversational Arabic, I don't think the sites address that as much. I found a few that do, but if you're planning on being in the Middle East for any period of time, I'd assume you'd like to learn to read and write, as well.
"I will be spending a year in the Middle East."
We have a great package deal:
-- Arabic-language-learning software
-- one-way airfare
-- software for writing your own Last Will & Testament
-- titanium and carbon-fibre high-collar turtle-neck vest
-- discount coupon for a burial-plot & coffin, sized for your current height from your heels to your collar-bone
I'm not CIA but, a Navy Reservist.
Thanks for the input.
I think I think, therefore I think I am.
Your Uncle will teach you
Ecce Europa - Web Design for Business
You are not going to learn Arabic from software. In the U.S. foreign service's ranking system, they rank lanugages from easiest to learn by a native English speaker -- 1 -- to hardest -- 5. Arabic is one of the few languages that is a five. Not only does it use an entirely different character set (duh...Arabic), but it is a very highly inflicted language. Your subtle body motions and intonations can completely change what you mean. If you want to learn Arabic, take a class. A computer program will not help you in any way other than maybe memorizing a few phrases and possibly learning the letters.
Doc Squidly, I'm sorry if I was in any way responsible for the melt-down from that anonymous poster.
It was totally inappropriate.
As for my original post, I plead temporary inability to resist the temptation of scoring some karma points from an all-too-obvious opportunity for a joke.
. . . near here.& cid=963 9378
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=113781
I took two semesters of Arabic in college and I found I didn't actually get much out of the class itself. I learned the most when I sat down with my friend and just tried to have a conversation with her in Arabic. By practicing how to speak and listen to it the writing and reading bit came much more easily (since, after all, writing is supposed to be a graphical representation of a spoken language).
If you don't know anyone who speaks Arabic then I'm sure you could find a college student or something that needs a little money. Pay them to sit down with you for an hour each day and just speak with you. Don't use them as a tutor for the reading and writing except for the odd question or two! You should be able to figure most of it yourself from a textbook or something if you take it seriously.
Not entirely certain on software, but as far as books go The Arabic Alphabet by Awde and Samano got me reading and writing in a jiff! An excellent resource is Audio Forum who sell the kits that the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) uses to train its diplomats. I believe Saudi Arabic is one of the few courses that the FSI has released the material on CD-Rom. Other dialects, such as Iraqi and Palestinian (to name a couple) are also available. But Saudi, far as I know is almost the lingua franca of the middle-east. Could be off base on that point though. But the FSI courses (whether on prehisoric blech *tape* or CDs) have proven extremely useful. Pricey, in some cases. But thorough and useful. Some folks have spoken highly of Transparent Language, at the very least you might find some web links there. The Center for Applied Linguistics might also be of help to you. The The Pimsleur Method is pretty smokin' IMO. Flash cards are EXTREMELY useful to have/make yourse'f - well nigh indespensible in learning the written form of the language IMO. And finally, there are some I've known who've praised the "Talk Now!" approach.
Quod scripsi, scripsi.
JIHAD!!!!!
you can blow yourself up for extra emphises .
In my experience you have to try methods out yourself. Do you like learning things from a computer screen? Do so. Do you like reading grammar books? Do so. Do you like learning long lists of words from phrase books? Do so. Do you have a beautiful girl/boyfriend, who is a native speaker? Use him/her a lot (chatting, reading and writing - romantic staring can be pleasant as well, but that alone will not teach you the language). But whatever combination of activities you choose, do it a lot.
In preparation, I used the ArabicNow series. It helped, a little. I found it much easier to learn from my traveling companion who was fluent--living in Saudi until you're 12 will do that, I suppose. She and I worked on my basic Arabic pretty consistently for a couple months. I found that when I was there, I had a pretty good passive understanding of the language. I picked up as much (if not more) in the few weeks there than I did in the several months of prep.
"Could you please direct me to Ramallah?"
"Into the van? If you insist."
"I triple guarantee you, I am not a member of the CIA."
"No, thanks. I've grown rather attached to my head."
--Chag
Some time ago, I tried to learn a bit of Arabic from some "Saudi Arabic" tapes. One thing I learned is that the written language is the same all over the Middle East, but the pronunciation varies tremendously through the region.
Life must be unbearable for you.
You need professional help before it's too late...
I don't know much about meetup.com, but I know the Arabic group I've been to uses it to organize, as do many other arabic groups. They're evangelists for Arabic (not Islam, usually) and you can find them at http://arabic.meetup.com
maybe you could find a copy of this click here
June 14 issue - Army Special Operations soldiers may soon get a high-tech computer game to teach them Arabic. Now being designed at the University of Southern California, the Tactical Language Training System helps students learn "situational Arabic" by
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
...does anyone have any links to Tagalog-language material?
1) The dialog CDs as mp3-files.
2) The dialog texts as text files.
Upload the mp3-files to the iPod and upload the texts as Notes. Then you can sit and read the texts at the same time as you listen to the voices. In an airplane, in a waiting room, at the dentist's, in the underground. In the car, you should not read the screen obviously, but you can still listen to the mp3-files, and then read the texts once you arrive at your hotel, the boring party you have to be at or wherever.
This may actually not work with Arabic. I'm not sure how good the iPod is at displaying Arabic characters. But I know you can make it work with most European languages, Japanese and Chinese.
Have fun!
My native is Russian and when I had decided to learn English well, I looked around for Linux apps and couldn't find what I wanted. So I wrote a coupe of applications myself.
granule is my indexcard program. It's UTF-8, so you can use and keyboard bindings you want.
gwavmerger is a memory-training program targeted for learing foreign languages. All you need is a microphone and a sound card to make your own lessons for your own level. I tried to explain the process in its manual.
I have been using both programs on a daily basis for several years now and they helped me to make a giant leap towards my goals.
For an on-line dictionary I highly recommend StarDict.
The skeleton of studying any foreign language is, of course, its grammar. Don't overlook it.
Don't believe all the BS teachers say about submerging into the environment and making friends with native-speakers. It is all baloney. Grammar, and daily practice of memorizing words and text senteces will do the trick.
Hope this helps,
--3rdShift
Cut to next scene where you are bound, hanging from your feet, and a grizzly man brandishing a sword is about to cut off your head.
I'm in the middle learning Spanish and it's been working out quite well for the wife and I. I guess that airport kiosk at Regan International has paid off :>
:wq
I sgree to that: I'm learning Japanese. I have used computer software, and it had absolutely no help at all. The best way to learn is to actually talk to an Arabic person. Actually getting feedback on what you're saying is different to comparing strings. Especially in a language where a lot of stuff can mean the same things. The answer to the question "o namae wa nan desu ka" can be "rokuran desu", "boku no namae wa rokuran desu", or "watashi no namae wa rokuran desu". Translation: What's your name, Lachlan, My name is Lachlan (Male), My name is Lachlan (Female). Add to the fact that subtle differences in language can make a huge difference in meaning, especially since in Japan, politeness is everything (for example, when comeone gives you a business card, you NEVER put it in you back pocket). You need to understand culture, there is more to a language than words.
Fluent in Latin?
Another issue you will find is Arabic isn't the same in all countries ... or even in the same country.
From what I've seen Arabic is just a reference to a character set, not the language. It would be like calling all languages that use the Roman / Latin alphabet (German, French, Spanish, Italian, English, &c.) Latin.