LittleBigHeart
Jun 23, 2017
This is by far the best, most comprehensive, easy-to-follow app of its kind on the market, and I have sampled ALL of them. Most simply present ONLY the isolated form of the letter and how to draw it. Some include that, plus pronunciation sound buttons. I found one that does all that, includes words and corresponding pictures and fun knowledge check games. That one used to be my favorite Arabic alphabet app until I found THIS ONE!
This app is the only one that presents the learner with many of the components mentioned above AND the initial, medial and end letter forms in an engaging manner. This is the only app that I found to include: a clear, concise introduction about the app, long vowels, isolated consonants, letter forms, short vowels and diacritics, and special characters. Each section includes its own brief, concise intro as well. As I have been trying to learn the Arabic alphabet, I find all of this to be critical content and features.
In addition, its clean interface is uncluttered and simple, yet visually appealing. The lessons menu is perfectly organized and provides many visual cues to enhance the learning experience. Each lesson provides a brief explanation of the 'rule' and then demonstrates how the letter is formed according to each rule. It would be great if the app developer would add sound (that is, provide audible correct pronunciation of each letter, rather than the just the phonetic spelling of the sound). Leveraging as many senses as possible only increases ways one can anchor this new knowledge.
I also loved the knowledge checks! After every 3 (or so) lessons, the learner is presented with a knowledge check which, if successfully completed, unlocks the next few lessons. This was really fun! The knowledge checks are timed using a non-intrusive 'time bar'. I didn't notice it at first, so I timed out on one item. This caused me to notice it, and it increased the competitiveness in me! I was NOT going to time out again! :-) The cool thing is that timer is not just fun, but instructive bc if you can't confidently recognize the letter rather quickly, then you really need to study it again, which the app allows.
Besides including a listening component to the letter recognition lessons to reinforce that one is pairing the right sound with the correct character, I'd like to see additional lessons and knowledge checks with increasing complexity. Ultimately, one is using this app to reach the goal of being able to read Arabic words and prose.
It would also be cool if the learner could establish a profile so that all of the performance data can be tracked over time. As it is, one would have to manually record the performance feedback outside the app in order to repeat all the lessons and knowledge checks; otherwise, the data is simply lost when the lessons are repeated. Repeating the lessons, by the way, can only really be accomplished by completely erasing all the data and starting from scratch. (One could 'eyeball' review, but the knowledge checks cannot be accessed again in this way.) These developers were smart to add the option to erase AND to caution learners about what erasing really accomplishes. This helps a learner decide if that's what's really desired/intended.
I cannot wait for what's next! This is the best Arabic alphabet app EVER! Bravo!
(By the way, I am NOT a paid reviewer, nor was I compensated in any way for this review. After sampling the app, I paid for the full version. I am a lifelong learner, educator, and researcher who has the goal of learning to speak, read and write in Arabic.)