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Rosetta Stone, V3 Levels 1-3 | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| Aineko Triglot Senior Member New Zealand Joined 5258 days ago 238 posts - 442 votes  Speaks: Serbian*, EnglishC2, Spanish Studies: Russian, Arabic (Written), Mandarin | Message 25 of 29 19 November 2010 at 8:14pm | IP Logged | ||
Then I must be having an 'artificial' brain, as none of the listed techniques appeal to me (to be more correct, I would run away screaming from such course). That's probably the reason why I ditched RS German few years ago. Just a tiring activity that made no real sense to me (I was able to score good on tests without any real understanding). If you are going to try Arabic I would honestly recommend to use RS just as a side tool and get your self one or two more courses and good textbooks (or you might find yourself very frustrated and disappointed). I think Linguaphone course receives good reviews from the users here. Edited by Aineko on 19 November 2010 at 8:15pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| slymie Tetraglot Groupie China Joined 5038 days ago 81 posts - 154 votes Speaks: English, Macedonian Studies: French, Mandarin, Greek Studies: Shanghainese, Uyghur, Russian | Message 26 of 29 30 November 2010 at 10:58am | IP Logged | ||
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What I hate about RS is that it just expects you to pick up the grammar without any explaination whatsoever. It's quite intimidating when you feel great you can now point out the "bike" in Russian but then next slide its asking you which is correct.
зеленый велосипед Green Bike зеленая велосипед Green Bike зеленых велосипед Green Bike You pretty much have to stop the program right there and pull out a grammar book and start cramming just to get on with the program... really ruins the 'natural learning method' 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Juаn Senior Member Colombia Joined 5155 days ago 727 posts - 1830 votes Speaks: Spanish* | Message 27 of 29 30 November 2010 at 8:46pm | IP Logged | ||
With a little experience with language learning the above really doesn't become a problem. I played a little with the Hindi program and was able to quickly deduce grammatical gender and how verbs conjugate according to gender as well. I can't wait until I get my Hindi textbook and am able to uncover the whole story. The more I think about it, the more terrific I find Rosetta Stone as reinforcement and supplement. And for very foreign languages such as Japanese or Arabic, it can be downright invaluable. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 5821 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 28 of 29 02 December 2010 at 8:46pm | IP Logged | ||
... and that is why RS is bad. RS is supposed to be about not needing experience to learn a language. You're not supposed to have to sit down and work it out, but you did. It's supposed to be unconscious learning, which just isn't possible or practical. If it's actually conscious learning, then they should be designing it to support conscious learning, because there are much better ways to do conscious learning than this.... 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| strikingstar Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 4983 days ago 292 posts - 444 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin*, Cantonese, Swahili Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written) | Message 29 of 29 02 December 2010 at 10:52pm | IP Logged | ||
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Sometimes working things out is beneficial. Because it'll lead to you having a better
understanding of how the grammar functions. But since the OP is expressly asking about Arabic, I have to admit RS is simply lacking when it comes to Arabic. (I've used RS Spanish 1-3, Arabic 1 & Japanese 1 so I dare say I've got a fair amount of experience with RS.) RS only works when grammar is 'intuitive'. It can be useful as a supplemental material but to use it as the main learning material would be foolhardy. Arabic grammar is already complex enough without any guesswork, let alone when you have to flounder around in uncertainty. Oftentimes, you'll be left second-guessing yourself. The following will likely be your thought processes when using RS Arabic. Did I really hear الشمس ash-shams. It's an l, why isn't it al-shams. That is an 'l' right? Or.. I learnt that green = أخضر (akhdar). So why is green bicycle = دراجة خضرة. (daraja khadra). What is this 'khadra'? Okay... so I've figured out (read: found out from a book) that adjectives have genders too. Of course it's more complicated than the likes of amarillo/amarilla but I think I can manage... but then on the following slide..., wait a minute... why is green chairs = كراسي خضرة (karaasii akhdar)? Chairs is a masculine term. This doesn't make sense. Or... I learnt that the past tense, 3rd person, masculine form of the verb 'write' is كتبو. So 'The students wrote' should = كتبو الطلاب (katabuu at-tullaab). But wrong yet again!!! It's كتب الطلاب (katab at-tullaab). What's going on? Basically, you get my point. RS Arabic = too much effort and you cannot possibly use it in isolation. This isn't really a knock on RS. I've been pleased with the Spanish software. It's just that Arabic grammar is simply a whole new level of whoop-as*. Also, everything comes with case endings in the software. E.g. at-taalibu jayyadun. You're barely going to hear case endings in conversations (besides Marhaban, Afwan etc.) If you've gotten accustomed to case endings from RS, you're going to have an uphill battle trying to mentally remove the endings every time you speak, otherwise you'll just attract laughter. My advice is to just pick up a book and be on your merry way to a great Arabic adventure. Edited by strikingstar on 02 December 2010 at 11:08pm 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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