Journeyer Triglot Senior Member United States tristan85.blogspot.c Joined 6867 days ago 946 posts - 1110 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German Studies: Sign Language
| Message 1 of 5 04 May 2013 at 5:33am | IP Logged |
I was wondering if anyone has had experience with the Living Language Arabic Courses
I own this edition: Ultimate Arabic Beginner-Intermediate (2006).
At the time of purchase, back when it was still fairly new, most of the reviews of it were good. I thought I'd have time to get to Arabic back then, but then life plans and priorities were changed a bit, as they do sometimes.
I still wish to learn Arabic, and would like to use this course at least as a supplement, but I am wondering if I should also purchase the new edition to it: Living Language Arabic, Complete Edition: Beginner through advanced course, including 3 coursebooks, 9 audio CDs, Arabic script guide, and free online learning (2012); ie if it would be worth the money to get the next course if the errors from the first text were cleaned up.
Is there anyone who has had experiences with either of these two courses?
Thanks!
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Gala Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4549 days ago 229 posts - 421 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Italian
| Message 2 of 5 04 May 2013 at 7:18am | IP Logged |
I have no experience with any LL Arabic courses, but do with a few of their Spanish
courses. Nor do I have experience with the new "Complete" but I remember ruling out
using it for French based on a detailed and convincing Amazon review comparing it
unfavorably with the older "Ultimate" series. The new generation is apparently quite
dumbed down (part of a general trend with language-learning materials), despite its
name. The Ultimate had 2 levels: beginner-intermediate and advanced, but from what I
read about the Complete, it doesn't even reach the level of the end of the first
Ultimate.
I wouldn't think this would vary between languages.
EDIT: It seems to be an entirely new, and rather different, program, rather than an
updating or cleaning-up of errors.
Edited by Gala on 04 May 2013 at 9:28am
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Paco Senior Member Hong Kong Joined 4276 days ago 145 posts - 251 votes Speaks: Cantonese*
| Message 3 of 5 04 May 2013 at 10:03am | IP Logged |
I think the following threads will be valuable to you.
Arabic study advice
Someone is asking for advice for Arabic studies. Living Language Arabic is also mentioned
here.
Arabic overview
A good thread with lots of brilliant advice regarding the language and learning
materials.
Edited by Paco on 04 May 2013 at 10:14am
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langluv Newbie United States twitter.com/ladyling Joined 5883 days ago 24 posts - 37 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Modern Hebrew, French
| Message 4 of 5 04 May 2013 at 12:05pm | IP Logged |
HTLAL poster Rob_Austria has a video here comparing Arabic LL and other LL. He also talks about Assimil. He starts the LL review 9 minutes in.
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Journeyer Triglot Senior Member United States tristan85.blogspot.c Joined 6867 days ago 946 posts - 1110 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German Studies: Sign Language
| Message 5 of 5 05 May 2013 at 1:00am | IP Logged |
Thank you, langluv, for the video link. I guess he pretty much answers my question, unless someone else would like to weigh in.
It's nice to know that LL still produces some good courses, even if they are being dumbed-down, as Gala pointed out.
Thanks for the links, Paco. I have bookmarked them and will read them when my Arabic appetite starts to rumble! :-)
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