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Michel Thomas – ArabicI just uploaded the Mandarin yesterday and it was well received so i thought i would provide this also.This is my second product and I am trying to get some ratio up so if you could let me seed as much as possible or transfer me some ratio it would be greatly appreciated.An eight-hour, 100% audio method for learning Arabic. Join teacher Jane Wightwick and native speaker Mahmoud Gaafar and two students in a live lesson and within the first hour you will be able to construct simple phrases. You will learn the language with the students, hearing both their successes and their mistakes to keep you motivated and involved throughout the course. By the end, you will have the confidence to understand and speak Arabic.Quote from AmazonQuote:This is a very impressively effective method.And it’s definitely worth the money. It’s actually a cheap method given the results.I say this from the point of view of an “experienced amateur language learner”. Over the last 4 years, I’ve learnt 3 Romance languages, I have revived and improved the German I had learnt at school, in addition to my mother language (French) and to English. I confess I have learnt some Arabic with Pimsleur’s 2 levels for Syro-lebanese Arabic.I could do this because 1) There are very smart rather painless methods that I discovered and used: Pimsleur and Assimil. 2) I had the time , mostly when driving or performing some brain-easy activities (running, walking the dog etc…) 3) The methods I used are so rewarding and effective that they prompted a crave for learning new languages. I can now have conversations (general and in my professional environment) in all 3 romance languages and German.This lengthy introduction is not intended at boasting, but rather at making 2 points: 1) I think I now can identify a good language learning method when I try one. And 2) there are methods that are very smart and make language learning very easy if you have the wish to learn and enjoy speaking foreign languages.So far I considered Pimsleur the best to start with because as it’s only audio, it’s quite natural, and your pronunciation is based upon what you hear, not what you read. When you read foreign words, you read them with a brain that may have difficulties producing an appropriate pronunciation because it will interpret the reading according to your reading experience in your languge. This is why so many French people pronounce English like Inspector Clouseau. Pimsleur is also very good because it brings you to constructing your own sentences based on other , different sentences. And it is a very quickly rewarding method, you soon realize you can actually speak the language. But thereafter, especially after the ideal Pimsleur method that comprises three 30 lessons levels , each intended 25 minutes, with one lesson a day (I did more on occasions for the easy romance languages) more so with short Pimsleur series, you do not have enough words and tenses to understand easily. And at times it’s quite awkward to identify the sounds and reproduce them. But although you lack words you can express basic needs and have simple conversations. After these usually 3 months, you need to expand your vocabulary a lot, which Assimil is very good at doing especially if you work as much as you can with the CDs. There you will memorise words and many idioms in context . You’ll need the booklet to understand the text that you’ll need to repeat while understanding it, while listening to the CDs, like an almost simultaneous echo, which some call “to shadow the speech”. Well that’s how it works best for me..But now I discovered this new “MICHEL THOMAS” Arabic foundation method, based on late Michel Thomas (MT) principles, and designed by a British teacher of Arabic helped by a native speaker of the Egyptian dialect.THIS METHOD IS MUCH EASIER TO GO THROUGH THAN PIMSLEUR, and gives you more for your time and money. But it has the same huuuge advantage of being only audio (see details above.The only problem so far is that only the Foundation course (8 CDs) is available and I’ll be eagerly waiting for the “advanced” course” (March 2008) and the “vocabulary ” course.But IN 8 CDS, THE ACHIEVEMENTS ALLOWED ARE REMARKABLE.Well, my case is special since I did not start from scratch, having done Pimsleur’s level one 1 year ago and level 2 one month earlier in another Arabic dialect. But the Egyptian dialect is somewhat different.The teaching is quite slow in purpose (I guess) so as not to put the learner under stress. It seems that the quiet environment created by the gentle pace and tone of the teachers, their nice and positive attitudes towards the students, all of this seems to be essential to open our minds and help us memorise and eventually speak. Well you realise this when later in the course you’re asked to say something and you actually do say it.Of course this basic course with it’s 8 slow paced CDs does not teach you many words, less than a 30 lessons (15 CDs) of Pimsleur, but I think it’s a more effective method for a difficult language like Arabic. I had to spend much more time on Pimsleur than 30 minutes per lesson for level 1, sometimes having to do the same lesson 3-4 times before I could pronounce /identify the sentences. In the MT program, it’s way easier. And still you are led to build sentences on your own, being fed the bases earlier.My impression is that those 8 CDs can be used without going again and again through the same “lessons”. I did not need to listen more than once.And after completing it you’ll be much more at ease to further progress using either other methods or the aforementioned next steps of the program, pending for release.I DEFINITELY RECOMMEND THIS “ARABIC FOUNDATION”: if you want to learn Arabic it quite certainly is the best to start with and you’ll see , it’s not very difficult. Then you ‘ll probably find it easy to move on either with the “advanced course” which I understand will be available in March 2008 and the vocabulary course later or with other methods.RESERVATIONS:1) I cannot speak from the point of view of a naive learner from scratch. Nevertheless I found the method not boring and I did understand post hoc some details that had escaped me while doing the Pimsleur program. I’ll certainly try the Mandarin or Russian program from the same publisher on the same principles, then I’ll know the value for the absolute beginner. 2) The choice of Egyptian. I think this is a good choice since many sources and Arabic speakers I know indicate that it’s understood by almost all Arabs, mainly because so many TV series and films are from Egypt (Hollywood on Nile). Many methods teach you “Modern Standard Arabic”. You never hear that Arabic spoken except maybe on TV news on international Arabic channels. I find it better to learn one of the dialects, either Egyptian or Lebanese/Syrian: all those are understood in Jordan Irak and the gulf, and Egypt. Egyptian might be more understandable in Northern Africa for the reasons mentioned above. . 3) No teaching of the writing. So what? I don’t care since I just want to communicate orally. Learning the writing would definitely slow down the pace of learning and make it more difficult. A good learning has to be rewarding so keep that for later, when you speak the language. 4)The 2 students in the course. Strange as it may seem I think they help. First, they have hesitations and make mistakes that you (I ) have or do. Second they help convey the positive empathy of the teachers onto you. This is supposed to ease the learning process in according to MT’s principles. I do find the students helpful. 5) As you’re exposed to only one speaker who speaks clearly and rather slowly, you are not prepared to understand a flow of Arabic at normal speed, and this is what expects you, because when Arabs will hear you speak well (you will, I think) , they will assume you understand as well as they hear you speak. This is also a problem with Pimsleur that facilitates a nice pronunciation, which exceeds the lower quality of our understanding. But you have to start somewhere and here again this MT Arabic Foundation I recommend wholeheartedly.CONCLUSIONI think it’s an excellent and cheap but effective method to start with. Very rewarding for the short duration it lasts. Hopefully the next levels will be as effective. I will keep my eyes out for more of these cos i know people here are after them.