Cheap Rosetta Stone Arabic Level 1 Win/Mac Personal Edition (Software) (Windows XP, Mac OS X, Windows 2000, Windows Me) Price

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Customer Reviews of Rosetta Stone Arabic Level 1 Win/Mac Personal Edition

Really like the format, However:
I also have the Auralog Tell Me More Arabic and have only browsed through both of them a little bit (under an hour). So far I am liking the Rosetta Stone's structure better so far (go online and do a demo of Spanish or something). However, there is a big problem with Rosetta Stone; on one of my desktops and one laptop they both always have 100% CPU Usage, this is very annoying. Although I have a Pentium M it still gets loud and very, very hot when running at 100%. I would like to be able to use Dragon Naturally Speaking Pro 8 with it if it is possable, but with CPU at 100% it just crawls. I hope there is a work around on this other wise I'll be forced to use Auralog's Tell Me More. I tried downloading Daemon Tools and set up a virtual CD-Rom drive and that doesn't do anything either.

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Useful but flawed
This program is, on the surface, attractive for learning Arabic as it uses a system of pictures and sounds to introduce basic concepts and words and is a change from drier textbooks. However, it suffers from forcing Arabic to follow a universal template mainly designed for the European languages. Concepts and structures that are simple in many European languages (e.g. numbers/plurals, etc.) are introduced early in the program. They are NOT simple in Arabic! Add to this the fact that the "plural" is often illustrated by two people, meaning that the dual has also to be introduced at an early stage, and you can begin to see the flaws. Having said all that, if you are following a classroom or self-teach course, you could amuse yourself and get some extra practice with this program.

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Good Program - With Limitations
The Good: Rosetta Stone is a very user-friendly, low-stress program that will teach you a lot of Arabic vocabularly over time. The format is very simple (a good and bad point)- You get four pictures on the screen and either a written or spoken phrase beneath. Match the phrase to the picture and you're on the way. Very good for association and vocabularly drilling, and pretty easy to use, so you can play with it throughout the day without having to devote a lot of time to "studying." Also, you would be surprised at how creative they can get with the "match the picture" format; all kinds of situations you wouldn't think possible. <
> The Bad: First, the price. This would be a great $70 program, but the $170 tag is really pushing the envelope. Also, although this program is sold everywhere, the company seems to be pretty rigid on the price- always advertised as $195 but offered for some type of discount at $170. On the other hand, there are a lot of lessons in the program and they go pretty far into the language, so unless you are sure you are going to stick with it, this is a big investment to make and then give up after a few weeks. <
> Next, this program cannot stand alone, especially in Arabic. For one thing, it does not teach Arabic script, you need that before you start (see Awde's book on the Arabic Alphabet as the best choice for that). Second, it does not teach grammar, just word association, and you should be aware that Rosetta Stone uses the exact same lessons for every language, they are not tailored to the pecularities of Arabic. You absolutely need an Arabic textbook to accompany this, or by lesson 4 you will be lost (Smart's Teach Yourself Arabic is the simplest and cheapest). Last, the voices used (unless they've changed them recently) are very strange. Some of the other languages are good, but the Arabic speakers sound like greeters at Disney World. If you've been to the Middle East, you will recognize how silly they sound. <
> Bottom Line - if the price doesn't bother you and you use it to supplement existing Arabic study, this is a great program for drilling and vocabulary building.