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ajnabiehI wrote about my trouble getting Arabic learning software for my iTouch 2.0 in a previous post. However, I am very happy to say that the recent releases of the iOS do support Arabic. This has lead to a large number of apps that can help with Arabic learning...and I figured it behooved me to review them. You know. For the sake of the internet. Stop laughing.
Some caveats:
حسابي by Flagship Products
The only iPad/iPhone app in the bunch. It's actually an educational app for children in Arabic, which always makes me giggle: I like being reminded that I'm functionally a second-grader in Arabic. It's actually a basic math app, which sounds like it wouldn't be fun, but then you remember that Arabic uses different numbers than English. (Yes; we call them Arabic numerals, but Arabic doesn't use them. It's a conundrum.) I have the hardest time remembering whether ٧ or ٨ is eight, or that ٤ is four. There are three games: one where two or three digits appear on a chalk board, and you type them in while the game reads them out (good if you are having trouble remembering the names of the letters); one where three digit numbers appear on a chalkboard, and then you draw them in to practice writing; and one where you do simple arithmetic. This is actually really great, especially for people, like me, who have to work a little to do basic arithmetic: first you translate to English, then you do math, then you translate the result to Arabic. It's challenging and engaging, and really helps you practice your numbers. I recommend it full-stop; I'm just sorry the publisher doesn't make other kids' software.
Is there a paid version? No
Arabic FlashCards LITE, by Declan Software
This is the best flash card app I've found. It has sets of 10 words, generally themed (I've been working on numbers), and shoes you how many of them you have to learn, and how many you've learned already. There are four games with each set: "Word" (Arabic to English), "Meaning" (English to Arabic), Spelling (typing in Arabic), and Listening (picking English word out from the spoken Arabic). A bunch of things are awesome about this. First, let's say you go through "Word" and get seven out of ten words right on the first try. Then you go through "Meaning," and get only four. Immediately, the words you got wrong reset in the other games, so you can practice them again in a different way. Second, this is great because it really allows you to test your knowledge of the words in all the registers--can you understand it in writing? Can you produce it? Third, the spelling one is key; I can't tell you how many words I can understand in writing or speech, or say, but not spell. This forces you to learn the spellings of words early in the process.
Is there a paid version? Yes; $14.99
Would I buy it? It's pricey, but yes; I think this could be the One App to Rule Them All in terms of Arabic flashcard apps. In fact, I plan on saving up for it in our family app budget.
Free Pocket Arabic - Beginner, by InnovativeLanguage.com
Free Pocket Arabic - Introduction (called Newbie in the software), by InnovativeLanguage.com
This is basically the iPhone version of those old "learn language x in fifteen minutes a day!" audiotapes/CDs that I used to check out of the library all the time when I was fifteen. Ahem. But I do think the iPhone version represents a clear improvement: there's an audio lesson, you can listen to the dialogue line by line, there's a vocab recording, there are automated flashcards, you, there's a little grammar lesson-ette, and there's a "cultural insight." Neither the cultural insight nor the grammar lesson-ette are abject lies; I think the grammar is explained reasonably well, and the culture lessons are not offensive or overly generalizing. (One is on different ways people deal with gender relations; one is on the frequent invocation of God in Arabic conversation. Considering these are potentially big-deal topics, that neither is offensive is a big success.) The dialogues feature clear speakers, including both native and second-language Arabic speakers, and the pronunciation is very MSA-standard. Beginner assumes a little more knowledge of the Arabic alphabet; newbie assumes less, and relies more on transliteration. The difference between these two programs is that Newbie supposedly features Moroccan dialect, but I couldn't get it to play the audio for the Moroccan at all.
Is there a paid version? Yes, $4.99 for ten lessons
Would I buy it? I wouldn't, because I don't need cheesy audiotapes to learn Arabic grammar; I have grammar books for that. However, if I were a tourist on my way to a new country where I'd like to speak some basics in the language, I might pay five bucks for software from these folks. I also might if I had no access to real courses in a language I wanted to start to get some grip on.
Play With the ARABIC Words LITE, by Pixels trade
This is an Arabic learning app for Arabic-speaking kids; it focuses on letters, and has you slide the letters into the right position. There are three levels: beginner and intermediate, where you arrange letters into position over their dotted-line outlines, and the third, where you have to spell the word without hints (the letters are there, but you have to drag them into the right order). I can't say how much it would help an Arabic learner who didn't know the alphabet to practice; it does help reinforce the different shapes of letters at different points in the word, and does teach vocab on the side. However, the free version only has two words in each category and, annoyingly, when you finish a level it takes you to the "buy now!" page in the App Store.
Is there a paid version? Yes, $1.99
Would I buy it? Maybe; it's cheap, the game is cute, and the trial version doesn't have enough content to actually be educational. Especially if I had a kid who was learning Arabic with me, I would. (I think my son would really like the graphics, but he's learning Spanish, and I think throwing another language at him simultaneously is a poor choice.)
*note: There's also a $0.99 "Arabic Alphabet Game" from this developer, which has no reviews yet. I didn't buy it, but if you've got less than a dollar to spare, it might be worth a shot.
Arabic Alphabet QuickRef, by Ronald Bell
Just the alphabet: the letters and their names (though I had quibbles with some of their namings). Good if you need to remember the letters and their order. Doesn't show you their different forms (Arabic letters have up to four different shapes based on their placement in a word).
Is there a paid version? Yes, called Arabic Alphabet Study Buddy, $0.99
Would I buy it? No freakin' way. Doesn't deal with the letter shapes problem at all; totally not useful.
Arabic Word of the Day FREE, by Ronald Bell
Arabic Verb of the Day FREE, by Ronald Bell
You know, it's got a lot of useful-ish vocabulary words. You don't just get one a day. The format isn't awful. For free, this is officially Not Bad. But there's no voweling and no audio, no rhyme or reason, and nothing more than an endless litany of words. Word has nouns, adjectives, and adverbs; Verb has verbs, all of them in the past 3rd singular (which is the infinitive form in Arabic; I am personally annoyed by texts that give the present 3rd singular, because That's Not Right.)
Is there a paid version? Yes, $0.99 each.
Would I buy it? It's not clear to me if there is any additional content in the paid version, so I think not.
Some caveats:
- I've been studying Arabic, off and on, for about a decade now. My major deficit is in vocabulary; I can go through, say, a newspaper article, and tell you what part of speech half the words are, and how to vowel them (Arabic, like Hebrew, doesn't write most of its vowels; most vowels are predictable by grammar), but I could only tell you what 5-10% of them are without a dictionary. That makes practicing with real texts a real pain in the butt, let me tell you. So I'm concentrating on vocabulary-building apps, rather than ones teaching grammar.
- This also means that I already know and am reasonably fluid at reading the Arabic alphabet. I looked at a few alphabet apps, but my judgement on them is that of someone very far out from the actual learning of the alphabet.
- I have an iTouch, and my wife has an iPad. I've tested most of these on the iPad, even the iPhone-only apps. Most apps that are made to run on the iPhone/iTouch can also run on the iPad, but they run smaller (you know, the size of an iPhone). But they can definitely still be used.
- I was doing this in the US; all prices in USD, all apps available in the US App Store. No idea what's available elsewhere.
- I've only tested the free versions of apps. Most of them have a pay-upgrade available, with access to more words. I indicate whether or not I would pay for the app.
حسابي by Flagship Products
The only iPad/iPhone app in the bunch. It's actually an educational app for children in Arabic, which always makes me giggle: I like being reminded that I'm functionally a second-grader in Arabic. It's actually a basic math app, which sounds like it wouldn't be fun, but then you remember that Arabic uses different numbers than English. (Yes; we call them Arabic numerals, but Arabic doesn't use them. It's a conundrum.) I have the hardest time remembering whether ٧ or ٨ is eight, or that ٤ is four. There are three games: one where two or three digits appear on a chalk board, and you type them in while the game reads them out (good if you are having trouble remembering the names of the letters); one where three digit numbers appear on a chalkboard, and then you draw them in to practice writing; and one where you do simple arithmetic. This is actually really great, especially for people, like me, who have to work a little to do basic arithmetic: first you translate to English, then you do math, then you translate the result to Arabic. It's challenging and engaging, and really helps you practice your numbers. I recommend it full-stop; I'm just sorry the publisher doesn't make other kids' software.
Is there a paid version? No
Arabic FlashCards LITE, by Declan Software
This is the best flash card app I've found. It has sets of 10 words, generally themed (I've been working on numbers), and shoes you how many of them you have to learn, and how many you've learned already. There are four games with each set: "Word" (Arabic to English), "Meaning" (English to Arabic), Spelling (typing in Arabic), and Listening (picking English word out from the spoken Arabic). A bunch of things are awesome about this. First, let's say you go through "Word" and get seven out of ten words right on the first try. Then you go through "Meaning," and get only four. Immediately, the words you got wrong reset in the other games, so you can practice them again in a different way. Second, this is great because it really allows you to test your knowledge of the words in all the registers--can you understand it in writing? Can you produce it? Third, the spelling one is key; I can't tell you how many words I can understand in writing or speech, or say, but not spell. This forces you to learn the spellings of words early in the process.
Is there a paid version? Yes; $14.99
Would I buy it? It's pricey, but yes; I think this could be the One App to Rule Them All in terms of Arabic flashcard apps. In fact, I plan on saving up for it in our family app budget.
Free Pocket Arabic - Beginner, by InnovativeLanguage.com
Free Pocket Arabic - Introduction (called Newbie in the software), by InnovativeLanguage.com
This is basically the iPhone version of those old "learn language x in fifteen minutes a day!" audiotapes/CDs that I used to check out of the library all the time when I was fifteen. Ahem. But I do think the iPhone version represents a clear improvement: there's an audio lesson, you can listen to the dialogue line by line, there's a vocab recording, there are automated flashcards, you, there's a little grammar lesson-ette, and there's a "cultural insight." Neither the cultural insight nor the grammar lesson-ette are abject lies; I think the grammar is explained reasonably well, and the culture lessons are not offensive or overly generalizing. (One is on different ways people deal with gender relations; one is on the frequent invocation of God in Arabic conversation. Considering these are potentially big-deal topics, that neither is offensive is a big success.) The dialogues feature clear speakers, including both native and second-language Arabic speakers, and the pronunciation is very MSA-standard. Beginner assumes a little more knowledge of the Arabic alphabet; newbie assumes less, and relies more on transliteration. The difference between these two programs is that Newbie supposedly features Moroccan dialect, but I couldn't get it to play the audio for the Moroccan at all.
Is there a paid version? Yes, $4.99 for ten lessons
Would I buy it? I wouldn't, because I don't need cheesy audiotapes to learn Arabic grammar; I have grammar books for that. However, if I were a tourist on my way to a new country where I'd like to speak some basics in the language, I might pay five bucks for software from these folks. I also might if I had no access to real courses in a language I wanted to start to get some grip on.
Play With the ARABIC Words LITE, by Pixels trade
This is an Arabic learning app for Arabic-speaking kids; it focuses on letters, and has you slide the letters into the right position. There are three levels: beginner and intermediate, where you arrange letters into position over their dotted-line outlines, and the third, where you have to spell the word without hints (the letters are there, but you have to drag them into the right order). I can't say how much it would help an Arabic learner who didn't know the alphabet to practice; it does help reinforce the different shapes of letters at different points in the word, and does teach vocab on the side. However, the free version only has two words in each category and, annoyingly, when you finish a level it takes you to the "buy now!" page in the App Store.
Is there a paid version? Yes, $1.99
Would I buy it? Maybe; it's cheap, the game is cute, and the trial version doesn't have enough content to actually be educational. Especially if I had a kid who was learning Arabic with me, I would. (I think my son would really like the graphics, but he's learning Spanish, and I think throwing another language at him simultaneously is a poor choice.)
*note: There's also a $0.99 "Arabic Alphabet Game" from this developer, which has no reviews yet. I didn't buy it, but if you've got less than a dollar to spare, it might be worth a shot.
Arabic Alphabet QuickRef, by Ronald Bell
Just the alphabet: the letters and their names (though I had quibbles with some of their namings). Good if you need to remember the letters and their order. Doesn't show you their different forms (Arabic letters have up to four different shapes based on their placement in a word).
Is there a paid version? Yes, called Arabic Alphabet Study Buddy, $0.99
Would I buy it? No freakin' way. Doesn't deal with the letter shapes problem at all; totally not useful.
Arabic Word of the Day FREE, by Ronald Bell
Arabic Verb of the Day FREE, by Ronald Bell
You know, it's got a lot of useful-ish vocabulary words. You don't just get one a day. The format isn't awful. For free, this is officially Not Bad. But there's no voweling and no audio, no rhyme or reason, and nothing more than an endless litany of words. Word has nouns, adjectives, and adverbs; Verb has verbs, all of them in the past 3rd singular (which is the infinitive form in Arabic; I am personally annoyed by texts that give the present 3rd singular, because That's Not Right.)
Is there a paid version? Yes, $0.99 each.
Would I buy it? It's not clear to me if there is any additional content in the paid version, so I think not.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-20 05:27 am (UTC)-J
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-20 05:42 am (UTC)Came over from Dr. Koshary
Date: 2010-11-27 09:40 pm (UTC)Flashcards
Date: 2011-04-27 09:21 pm (UTC)Thanks!
Jake