Living Language Arabic, Platinum Edition: A complete beginner through advanced course, including 3 coursebooks, 9 audio CDs, Arabic script guide, complete online course, apps, and live e-Tutoring Bilingual Edition

First off, it arrived very quickly and on schedule. And it has helped me so much in learning Arabic! Not to mention the price was a lot less than what living language sells it for. The online tutoring is so beneficial and the books help you step by step build your vocabulary and skills. Great product :)

I am very happy with the books, games and audio; however, the Arabic Tudor did not show up for scheduled session and I could not reschedule another season because none were available. This was very disappointing.

In order to successfully learn language you must have conversation as well as vocab. I noticed that this program doesn't explain the responses for the greetings however it's a great way to learn language. This program combined with other language programs and a dictionary will help you along the way.

Perfect for those slowly trying to learn a new language

Great

Short of having access to a native Arabic speaker or enrolling in an expensive college course, Living Language's Arabic Platinum Edition is the next best thing to learning to speak and write the language.With Living Language's courses, you can learn at your own pace via the books, CDs, and (most conveniently) online. While I find self-paced learning advantageous, this option can also be the kiss of death unless you're driven to complete the course. With no deadline or motivation to complete the course, you may find yourself with an expensive language course taking up space on the shelf. However, if you are driven or have a need to learn the language (i.e., required for work), I have experienced no better language learning system than the Living Language series - especially the Platinum Edition. If you're going to learn a language, you might as well get the most for your money.The Platinum Living Language course offers a separate, comprehensive course book that teaches the basics of the Arabic writing system. Since Arabic uses a different script, students must make a choice as to when they would like to tackle the writing system. You may decide to work your way through this script guide in its entirety before moving on to Essential Arabic. If you do so, you'll pick up some vocabulary as you master the writing system, but the useful spoken language that you'll learn will be rather limited. What's nice about the course is that both Arabic script and a system of transliteration is included, so there's no need to fully master written Arabic before jumping into the course.The real advantage is the online access. Here you'll find vocabulary review lessons, a language forum, and the ability to schedule e-tutoring sessions. Each 30 minute online session, taught by a native speaker, is designed to review what you've learned at key points in your course. The easy-to-use interface allows you to see and hear our language experts teach lessons with images, chats, and video. Each session has a maximum of three participants to ensure you get individualized attention. Students can engage in conversation with the tutor, ask questions, and practice their new language -- students will be able to hear but not see one another. One important thing to keep in mind -- the mobile app does not currently support Arabic yet (12/2/2012); however, apps for Spanish, French, Italian, German, Japanese, and Chinese are available.My motivation for completing the course is expanding my opportunities at work. With the end-goal in mind and the rich resources offered by this Living Language package, the only barrier to learning the language would be lack of commitment on my part.

The media could not be loaded. I have tried many different language programs and the Living Language program is one of the most complete I've ever used. There are several different ways to learn a foreign language and this particular one is probably the most like you are used to from either high school or college.It begins with very basic vocabulary and grammar mostly related to common expressions then progressively builds on that vocabulary. There are three levels included in the package, Advanced, Intermediate and Essential, which is basic. The Essential is exactly what it says. It teaches you expressions which would be used most commonly while traveling or greeting Arabic speakers. I liked the ability to take this program as far as I need to depending on my situation.I also liked the Script Book, which primarily focuses on identifying the letters of the Arabic alphabet and learning reading and writing skills. The entire program does have a timeline available for using the program in its entirety, if that's what you are going to do. It can, however, be used in parts.For example, if you only want to focus on speaking and listening comprehension you can do so without spending much time on reading and writing because the workbooks include phonetic pronunciations along with the actual Arabic word.It's up to you to put the effort into the program because all the tools you need are available here. The program is designed to be both comprehensive and flexible. There are audio CD's, workbooks, web access, online tutoring, apps and online tools, all from the most basic level to an advanced level.If you are able to structure your time to make the sort of commitment you might make if you were taking this as a class I am confident you will be able to learn the fundamentals and be able to effectively communicate in this very difficult language.One thing I didn't mention in the video is fine print on the box informs you that the website tools which are accessed from a code in the package are only active for a year. Once you sign on to the website the clock is ticking, at least for the web tools. This is very lame on the part of the publishers, but I assume they figure the life of the program would be about one year which seems about right if you are working at it consistently. It's definitely not the kind of program you can just pick up whenever you want to or have time to, any more than you could show up to a class any time you wanted and expect to get anything out of it.I am working through the Essentials and will update this review as I progress through the program.

Der beste Arabisch- Kurs auf dem Markt! Mit durchschnittlichen Englisch- Kenntnissen gut zu gebrauchen. Eventuell sollte man sich die Schrift vorher in einem Kurs beigebracht haben. Mit etwas Motivation geht es aber auch so.

The offer is misleading: there is no live e-Tutoring, but there is some web tutoring in the form of quizzes, games etc. The quizzes, however, are of questionable value, since quite frequently there are differences between the expected answers and the vocabulary in the text (which means that if you copy an expression verbatim from the textbook, it may be marked as False). The text proper is rather incomplete, it uses for example sometimes grammatical constructions without explaining them, occasionally the vocalization differs between different usages of a word, and the student wonders why this is the case; there is a section with examples for vocalizations in the alphabet section, but this is full of inconsistencies and evident errors, hence not particularly useful. The course is used best in connection with an academic textbook which might serve as a back-up for its too many gaps.