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In-Depth Reviews And Recommendations - Without The BS

Review Of Transparent Language – Their Courses Are Awful!

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Quick Review
Summary: The Transparent Language Essentials Courses aim to get absolute beginners engaged and interacting with the language they’re learning and speaking the basics in no time at all. While there are lots of different exercises for you to work through, the material isn’t all that helpful and it does get very repetitive. Although the courses aren’t all that useful or in depth, with over a hundred languages on offer it might be worth checking out if you want to learn the very basics of a more obscure language such as Buriat, Kazakh or Turkmen. But, even then, I’d try to find other resources first.

Quality
While the exercises are for the most part well-designed, diverse and easy to use, it is the core material itself which is lacking.
Thoroughness
There are hardly any explanations at all, you just have to endlessly memorize words and phrases.
Value
I would only consider using if it were free and I was studying a very rare language.
I Like
I really like the fact that they offer up courses in languages that are usually overlooked.

It’s pretty well-designed, easy to use and has lots of different activities to work through.

I Don’t Like
The core material is severely lacking and you won’t learn much grammar or how to form even a basic sentence yourself.

It gets very repetitive and so I didn’t find it that fun to work through.

You learn virtually nothing about the different cultural contexts of the languages you’re learning.

 Their teaching methodology is the biggest issue, leaving you memorizing lots of words and phrases in isolation. 

Price: There is a free two-week trial period for you to try it out. Otherwise, it is $24.95 per month or $149.95 for a whole year if you just select one language. If you want access to all of the languages it is then $49.95 per month and $249.95 a year.

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Michel Thomas Method Review – Avoid At All Costs

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Quick Review
Summary: One of the most famous language teaching courses out there, Michel Thomas is a household name and his audio lessons aim to teach you your language of choice, naturally, intuitively and without any memorization involved. With 18 languages for you to choose from, the courses are aimed at absolute beginners and at the end you should be able to understand and speak to a basic level. I tried out the French foundation course and found it to be severely lacking and as such cannot recommend it at all. You may, however, have more luck with the other language courses that they offer.

Quality
Very easy to use, the audios are decent quality but Michel Thomas’ discouraging manner means that students get flustered and this detracts from the content’s quality.
Thoroughness
Michel Thomas doesn’t go into much depth and any explanations he offers up are just at a surface level.
Value
I wouldn’t use these even if they were free due to Michel Thomas’ teaching style which ruins the material.
I Like
Um…in all honesty I’m not sure if I enjoyed any of it!

I Don’t Like
Michel Thomas never praises the students, often interrupts them and creates a negative learning environment.

The pacing of the lessons often seems off to me and in certain places they feel very hurried.

All of the lessons are almost identical and so it does get quite monotonous working through them.

Languages: Arabic (Egyptian), Arabic (Modern Standard), Dutch, French, Greek, German, Hindi, Italian, Irish, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Swedish.

Price: There are several different courses available with prices ranging from $11.99 to $100.

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The 15 Best Podcasts For Studying Arabic – Check These Out!

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Learning Arabic isn’t an easy task but it can be done. There may not be as many good resources available for learners of Arabic, compared to other languages, but we’ve still managed to find over 115 resources that can help you.

Podcasts can be among the most effective ways to study the language. They can help train your ear to natural sounding Arabic, while helping you to improve your grammar, vocabulary, and more.

Better still, they’re easy to incorporate into your studying routine as you don’t need to be sitting down at a computer, or hunched over a textbook to find time to study.

This list outlines the best podcasts for studying Arabic, starting with podcasts made for beginners.
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Language Transfer Review – Better Than A Lot Of Expensive Courses

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Quick Review
Summary: The Language Transfer’s courses approach language learning with what has been coined as “The Thinking Method’. These audio courses serve as a great introduction to the nine languages currently available. They go into lots of depth on how each language works, teaching you all of the main grammar points and giving you the tools needed to learn independently and intuitively. For beginners looking to learn a language, these free courses are an effective and efficient way to start your journey.

Quality 
Might look a bit basic but the content is very well designed.
Thoroughness 
The courses don’t follow the traditional learning path but have a lot of depth.
Value 
It’s completely free and better than most paid resources.
I Like
Lessons are efficient in that they cover a lot of material in a short amount of time.

The lessons teach you a mix of grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation each time and so you really come away understanding how the language is formed.

Mihalis (the founder) presents everything in a very calm and relaxed manner, thoroughly explaining everything as he goes while encouraging the student who answers his questions.

 For each language, the course is created independently and follows its own learning path.

I Don’t Like
While the content is very good quality, it could maybe do with varying the presentation a bit as there are no exercises, quizzes or work for you to produce.

The lessons kind of progress in a strange manner as you don’t follow a traditional language learning route, such as starting off with greetings, etc.

You won’t hear any native speakers on most of the courses and you don’t ever actually hear a conversation.

Price: Completely free, but if you find the courses to be useful, consider making a donation.

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Talk in Arabic Review – An Extremely Disappointing Experience

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Quick Review

Summary: Talk in Arabic is a random collection of lessons rather than a course. The main positive point is that it covers a wide range of Arabic dialects. Unfortunately, it does so very thinly, with many dialects lacking a significant number of lessons. To make matters worse, many of the lessons are quite bad, simply being a few phrases read out loud. The poor quality and lack of cohesion between the lessons makes it impossible to be anything more than a quick peek at some different dialects. Anyone seriously interested in learning Arabic should look elsewhere.

Quality 

Some lessons are good but too many are really poorly made.

Thoroughness 

Far too many gaps in the content and many dialects have very few lessons available.

Value 

You’d probably be better off finding free lessons for different dialects on Youtube.

I Like

It’s great that they attempt to cover so many different dialects of Arabic.

Native Arabic speakers teach all of the lessons and as such it is a very authentic resource.

Some of the lessons look at scenarios that arise in the country of the dialect you’re learning and it is therefore quite useful seeing the cultural context.

I Don’t Like

Some of the dialects had very few lessons available, and those lessons were often short, disconnected, and poor quality.

Learners could never advance from beginner to intermediate using Talk in Arabic as a main resource.

A lot of the content is not well thought out or doesn’t cover the topic in much depth with some ‘lessons’ really being only a phrases that are read out.

Not worth the cost.

Price: Talk in Arabic costs $15 per month, $126 per year or $197 for a lifetime subscription. All of these get you access to all of the content available on the platform.

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Alternatives: Although I don’t love Rocket Arabic, it’d be a better choice for those looking for an Arabic course focused on the Egyptian dialect. A resource that I do like, ArabicPod101 is quite good and focuses primarily on Modern Standard Arabic.

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