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Arabic

Best Way to Learn Arabic - FINAL 23

Best Way to Learn Arabic: Pick A Dialect First

The best way to learn Arabic is to focus on one dialect, pinpoint your fluency goals, and choose learning tools that help you reach those goals. You can find a wealth of great resources to help you learn Arabic, including apps like Pimsleur’s Arabic app to learn vocabulary and pronunciation or HelloTalk to find a conversation partner.

Did you know that over 313 million people speak Arabic around the world? This means that learning Arabic can help you communicate almost anywhere! 

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Pimsleur Review Arabic - FINAL 23

Pimsleur Arabic Review: Conversational Fluency Quickly

Pimsleur Arabic

Summary

Pimsleur Arabic is one of the most popular and longest-standing resources out there for learning the Arabic language. Its courses place a strong emphasis on aural and verbal communication skills, paying less attention to grammar explanations and reading or writing skills. 

Quality 4.5
★★★★
★
★

The platform is extremely well designed and easy to use. The content seems to be of high quality at all levels.

Thoroughness 4.0
★★★★★

Timely repetition and active practice work well, and lessons build on each other nicely, but the “intermediate fluency in 30 days” claim may be a stretch.

Value 3.5
★★★
★
★★

The subscription option provides good value for some, but there may be more efficient ways to learn some languages.

I Like
  • Egyptian, Levantine, and Modern Standard Arabic are available
  • The lessons are structured well and are an appropriate length
  • There are both male and female native speakers
  • Lessons build on each other nicely
  • The platform is easy to navigate and visually appealing
I Don’t Like
  • There’s very little visual content.
  • Lesson speed isn’t customizable.
Price

Subscriptions of either $14.95/month or $19.95/month are available for courses with at least 60 lessons. Outright purchase prices otherwise range from around $20 to over $500. All purchases come with a 7-day free trial

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Arabic is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world, with over 300 million native speakers across the Middle East and North Africa. It is also an official language of the United Nations, the Arab League, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, giving it significant global importance.

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Rosetta Stone Review Arabic - FINAL 23

Rosetta Stone Arabic Review – It May Not Be Very Useful for Most

Rosetta Stone Arabic

Rating 3.2
★★★
★
★★

Summary

Rosetta Stone is one of the most well-known resources for learning languages. High levels of repetition and an absence of translations or explanations are hallmarks of the course. Rosetta Stone Arabic course could be most suitable for learners that don’t mind repetitive exercises and prefer to learn from pictures and context rather than translations and explanations. It’s probably not a good option for anyone wanting to learn non-Modern Standard Arabic, significantly improve their speaking or writing skills, or those looking for an engaging course.

Quality 3.0
★★★★★

The platform is a bit clunky on desktop, but the material is accurate and presented clearly; lesson mechanics are fairly intuitive.

Thoroughness 3.0
★★★★★

Without much opportunity to build your own sentences, I don’t think you’ll reach a conversational level with any notable speed.

Value 3.5
★★★
★
★★

Rosetta Stone’s Lifetime Subscription ($199 on sale) is quite attractive if you like the Rosetta Stone Method. Shorter subscriptions are quite reasonable, too.

I Like
  • Lessons progress naturally and logically
  • Both audio and visual learning components
  • The audio quality is very good
I Don’t Like
  • Only offers Modern Standard Arabic
  • No grammar explanations
  • No writing practice
Price

A three-month subscription to one language is $35.97, which works out to be $11.99/month.
A year-long subscription to one course is $95.88, which is $7.99/month. Both of these subscriptions are automatically recurring.
Lifetime access to all Rosetta Stone language courses is available for $199.

Get a lifetime of language learning for $149 this Black Friday! Over 60% off on Rosetta Stone courses! See details on the website. Offer ends on 12/4/2023.

Visit Rosetta Stone

Rosetta Stone uses a dynamic immersion method to help you learn Arabic in a natural way. 

The Rosetta Stone Arabic course contains 12 units focused on everyday situations like family life, shopping, or travel. Each unit consists of multiple-choice lessons that allow you to match images or say words to learn new vocabulary.

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LanguagePod101 — All Languages, Pod101 and Class101

Updated November 20, 2023

If you want a language learning podcast that consistently adds new content to keep you motivated, you will find the “Pod101” and “Class101” series quite useful.

One great thing about LanguagePod101 programs is that they do publish new content ALL THE TIME. And their pricing structure allows language learners of any mastery and commitment levels to find contents that are useful. The pricing starts at a mere few dollars per month, and the top subscription called Premium PLUS gives learners personal feedback and a personalized program to follow.

Visit Language Learning Programs in the LanguagePod101 Series

Click the icon to visit the site for the language you want. Purchase or just check it out. Happy Learning!

You can also read ALR independent reviews for each language’s program in the following section.

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Mondly Review – Made Significant Improvements in 2022

Mondly

Rating 2.7
★★
★
★★★

Summary

Mondly is a language-learning app that teaches basic vocabulary and grammar structures. It seems most appropriate for learners with little to no exposure to their target language.

The activities mostly rely on passive recognition of vocabulary and phrases, and therefore are not very challenging. However, they are varied enough that you probably wouldn’t get bored with short, daily practice sessions.

Although I wouldn’t recommend Mondly to anyone looking to seriously learn a language, it may be appropriate for individuals studying languages with less available resources, or for individuals who are preparing to travel abroad.

Quality 3.0
★★★★★

Both the interface and the course itself could be designed better. *Edited on Nov 22* It has made many improvements this year. We will update soon.

Thoroughness 2.5
★★
★
★★★

It’s decent for learning vocabulary, but I thought a lot of the material wasn’t explained very well.

Value 3.0
★★★★★

It’s fairly inexpensive.

I Like
  • Daily lessons, weekly quizzes, and monthly challenges – these functionalities encourage you to practice every day.
  • The vocabulary included is useful and drilled in an effective way.
  • It’s fairly inexpensive.
I Don’t Like
  • The content and exercises are the same for all levels and languages.
  • The exercises are mostly passive.
  • I don’t think the order of lessons and topics is very well thought out.
  • For me, the interface is not user friendly and the platform is visually unappealing.
Price

There are three plans… $9.99 per month for one language $47.99 per year ($4/mo) for one language and $99.99 for lifetime.

Get Lifetime Access to Mondly Premium at 96% off plus bonus access to Mondly AR & Mondly Kids! See details on the website. Offer ends on 11/30/2023.

Visit Mondly
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Lang Workbooks Mini-Review: Thorough Writing Practice

Lang Workbooks

Rating 4.0
★★★★★
Price:

$5.99

Summary

For learners of languages that use unfamiliar writing systems, the Lang Workbooks series can be a helpful and practical way to master the intricacies of writing in their target languages. Among numerous other writing systems, the series includes the Korean, Russian Cyrillic, and Armenian alphabets; Persian and Thai script; the Hindi Devanāgarī abugida; Chinese characters; and Japanese Hiragana and Katakana. The series also covers languages that use the Latin alphabet with diacritical (accent) marks, such as French, German, and Portuguese. Many books in the series have been translated into other languages, such as Italian, French, German, Spanish, and Portuguese. The series also covers writing systems that may have fewer available resources for learners, such as Lao script and the Cherokee syllabary. Each book in the series presents its featured writing system with suggested pronunciations. The practice pages in each workbook have useful features for each letter, symbol, or character, such as a recommended stroke order, font variations, example words, and a “Trace and Learn” section. Each workbook is relatively inexpensive. In addition, the publishers of the series have granted teachers and students a license to make photocopies of the workbook pages for personal use, so you can get unlimited chances to practice. Considering the depth of information in each language’s workbook, the books in this series can provide great value for learners.

Visit Lang Workbooks