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In-Depth Reviews And Recommendations - Without The BS

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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ArabicPod101 Review – Better Than More Expensive Courses

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Quick Review
Summary: ArabicPod101 has loads of audio and video lessons that cater to students learning their first few words in Arabic right up to advanced learners. Covering a wide range of subjects, the lessons explore anything from Arab culture and particular grammar points to specific scenarios and essential vocabulary.

The lessons progress in difficulty and are perfect for beginner and intermediate learners although not much focus is placed on learning how to speak and write. While the lessons are generally very good, learners need to pay attention as some of them are in Modern Standard Arabic while others are in the Egyptian and Moroccan dialects.

Quality
The presenters very clearly explain the grammar, vocabulary and cultural context while still making the lessons entertaining.
Thoroughness
The content covers a wide range of topics at varying degrees of difficulty.
Value
The Basic plan is great value but the other plans might not offer enough to justify the higher prices.
I Like
The lessons clearly progress in terms of difficulty and less English is used as you move up levels.

Good chemistry between the hosts makes the lessons more enjoyable.

There are a lot of lessons and they’re well thought out.

The Basic plan is very affordable.

I Don’t Like
While the lessons mostly focus on Modern Standard Arabic, it is strange and confusing to find the Egyptian and Moroccan dialects sometimes thrown in.

There is not much focus placed on speaking and writing.

I found it quite confusing to navigate the dashboard.

Price: There are three subscription plans with varying lengths between 1-month and 2-years. The longer the length, the lower the monthly cost becomes.

Basic plan – Costs $8/mo if you sign up for one month or $4/mo if you sign up for two years.
Premium plan – Costs $25/mo if you sign up for one month or $10/mo if you sign up for two years.
Premium Plus plan – Costs $47/mo if you sign up for one month, or $22.88/mo if you sign up for two years.

Use the promo code “ALLLANGUAGERESOURCES” to save 25% on a subscription to ArabicPod101.
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