I'm planning on either the Naval Academy (Marines) or West Point for college and I was wondering what the easiest way to learn basic arabic mostly for being able to understand language I'm not interested in the writing and I think it's pretty obvious as to why.

I've heard Rosetta Stone is very effective but for ~$500 I'd rather hear opinions on it before buying. Any reccomendations as to what path I should take to learn Arabic?

I have Rosetta Stone v3 torrented.

any language that uses your alphabet its easier to pick up.
The program isnt a teacher it basically uses the idea that you a a child an you learn words by seeing images an then slowly learn to put sentences together.

When it comes to arabic unless you know the arabic alphabet this is almost useless.

the program turns itself into arabic an you can not "read" it.
The people talk fast an being a different language it is VERY hard to pick up their accent an pronounciation. you also should know arabic is read right to left.

I recommend you torrenting rosetta stone first an trying it out for yourself.
if you dont wanna learn arabic you can always torrent other language cd's

I'm planning on learning Arabic as well, I have relatives in an Arab speaking country though, I would suggest like the guy above me to download that and practice at home as much as you can.

http://www.syrianarabic.com/

This is a brilliant free course. I don't know if it would be very useful in Iraq though...

The Arab they speak in Syria is the so-called Levant Arabic which has a peculiar accent and is spoken also in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, but you can communicate with every other Arab speaking person, it's like the difference there is betwen American and British English.

The Arab they speak in Syria is the so-called Levant Arabic which has a peculiar accent and is spoken also in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, but you can communicate with every other Arab speaking person, it's like the difference there is betwen American and British English.

Are you speaking generally, or just talking about Syrian? I ask because I know for sure that some dialects are practically unintelligible among each other. Like...Morrocan Arabic and Egyptian Arabic are way different than Syrian, if I'm not mistaken.

Rosetta stone isn't really worth $500. If you're really set on spending a massive amount of money, get Pimsleur.

Egyptian Arabic will probably be the easiest to learn as Egypt pushes out more music and movies than most other Arabic countries. Surrounding yourself with media from Arabic countries is key if you want to become fluent. These are the things you'll want to spend money on as they tend not to be on torrent sites.

Practice everyday, and don't expect to become fluent in a year or two; that's nearly impossible.



FSI Absolute Language Proficiency Rating:

1. Elementary proficiency. The person is able to satisfy routine travel needs and minimum courtesy requirements.

2. Limited working proficiency. The person is able to satisfy routine social demands and limited work requirements.

3. Minimum professional proficiency. The person can speak the language with sufficient structural accuracy and vocabulary to participate effectively in most formal and informal conversations on practical, social, and professional topics.

4. Full professional proficiency. The person uses the language fluently and accurately on all levels normally pertinent to professional needs.

5. Native or bilingual proficiency. The person has speaking proficiency equivalent to that of an educated native speaker.



Arabic is considered a group four(hard) language; it might take you up to 10 years to get to level five.