Foreign Language Learning Software for Arabic?

Posted by Cliff on Wednesday July 7, 2004 @01:21PM from the spending-time-with-your-Broca-and-Wernicke-areas dept.

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?"

1 of 80 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

Rosetta Stone is awesome by mmcdouga · 2004-07-07 13:27 · Score: 4, Informative

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.