Rosetta Stone

[dark_lord]

anyone here ever try rosetta stone?  if so, what were your thoughts and experience with it?  also, what was your skill level with the new language before and after the program.

thanks

[bdm860]

Let me guess, you want to learn Chinese so you can watch old Kung Fu movies without the English dubs or the captions, right? 


I tried it, but it was about 5-6 years ago, so who knows what has changed since then, but I’ll tell you my experience.

I took it for Spanish, and I really knew nothing going in, except for the stuff that has seeped its way into American culture (asta la vista, me casa es su casa, uno, dos, tres, etc.).

I thought the method they used was pretty effective.  My only real gripe was with the voice recognition software.  Sometimes you feel you say a word right, but they say you’re wrong, then you repeat the same thing you just said, but this time they say it’s correct, then sometimes you’d say the word 5+ times the exact same way before they finally accept it on the 6th try.  Sure maybe it was me mumbling or not speaking clearly or not using the proper accents, but sometimes you’d get stuck on a word/phrase you’ve said correctly (according to them) like 10 times before. This didn’t happen a lot, but the once in a while that it did happen could really be frustrating.

Once you move on from simple words to phrases, a couple of times I do remember having to go break the phrase down in google translate to figure out what exactly I was saying, or what part of the phrase actually meant.

It also helps if you actually know somebody that speaks the language you're learning so you can practice with them.  I'd make it a point to try to go talk to a couple of my Spanish speaking friends at work everyday and try to use what I learned with them.  And they helped explain things or give me tips or hints.  That was a really helpful supplement to the Rosetta Stone stuff, and I think it would have been a lot tougher without it.

Of course, like any complex thing you want to learn, it takes a lot of work, and you have to stay consistent with it.  What I tried to do was use the software for about a half hour a day.  When I did that consistently, I felt I moved along pretty well.  But when I missed a few days or a week, I felt a little lost once I picked it up again.  I never really progressed that far, I got about 4-6 weeks into Spanish on 2 different occasions, then ended up not being able to stick with it for whatever reason.  So the more advanced stuff, I really have no idea how it goes, but the early stuff I thought was good.

You can set up multiple accounts for the whole family on one computer too, so you can all do your own thing at your own pace, but they only let you install it on 2 computers.  So if you, your wife, your kid(s) all have your own computer and wanted to install it on everyone’s personal computer you wouldn’t be able to, but if you have a family computer everyone shares, then no problem.  .

When I used it, I liked it, and would recommend it, as long as you can stick with it.  It ended up being a pretty expensive headset (as that’s the only thing I still use) for me, but I plan on picking it up again someday, so there’s still hope!

[Bahku]

anyone here ever try rosetta stone?  if so, what were your thoughts and experience with it?  also, what was your skill level with the new language before and after the program.

thanks

I think it's a bit over-priced, but I was also pleased with the results.

I learned two languages while in high school, and the biggest difference to me (of Rosetta Stone) was the practicality ... it develops your language skills for the real world, or rather everyday conversation.

Languages taught in school, (at least for me), are a bit more technical, and focus on parts of language that aren't always necessary to converse with.

I guess I'd say that Rosetta Stone does more with the time spent than traditional learning, and that's what I liked about it ... it was fun, (and I hated languages in high school).

It could be priced better, though, and there are some decent programs online comparably, that are morte affordable, like LingQ, Babbel, LiveMocha, (I think BBC, Busuu and Word2Word are free).

[BASS_THUMPER]

i dated girl name
Rosetta Stone once

[dark_lord]

anyone here ever try rosetta stone?  if so, what were your thoughts and experience with it?  also, what was your skill level with the new language before and after the program.

thanks

I think it's a bit over-priced, but I was also pleased with the results.

I learned two languages while in high school, and the biggest difference to me (of Rosetta Stone) was the practicality ... it develops your language skills for the real world, or rather everyday conversation.

Languages taught in school, (at least for me), are a bit more technical, and focus on parts of language that aren't always necessary to converse with.

I guess I'd say that Rosetta Stone does more with the time spent than traditional learning, and that's what I liked about it ... it was fun, (and I hated languages in high school).

It could be priced better, though, and there are some decent programs online comparably, that are morte affordable, like LingQ, Babbel, LiveMocha, (I think BBC, Busuu and Word2Word are free).

thanks for the feedback.  i have enjoyed the software thus far and agree with your assessment that it seems more practical for daily use, as opposed to they way foreign languages are taught in school, focussing on grammar.

[dark_lord]

Let me guess, you want to learn Chinese so you can watch old Kung Fu movies without the English dubs or the captions, right? 


I tried it, but it was about 5-6 years ago, so who knows what has changed since then, but I’ll tell you my experience.

I took it for Spanish, and I really knew nothing going in, except for the stuff that has seeped its way into American culture (asta la vista, me casa es su casa, uno, dos, tres, etc.).

I thought the method they used was pretty effective.  My only real gripe was with the voice recognition software.  Sometimes you feel you say a word right, but they say you’re wrong, then you repeat the same thing you just said, but this time they say it’s correct, then sometimes you’d say the word 5+ times the exact same way before they finally accept it on the 6th try.  Sure maybe it was me mumbling or not speaking clearly or not using the proper accents, but sometimes you’d get stuck on a word/phrase you’ve said correctly (according to them) like 10 times before. This didn’t happen a lot, but the once in a while that it did happen could really be frustrating.

Once you move on from simple words to phrases, a couple of times I do remember having to go break the phrase down in google translate to figure out what exactly I was saying, or what part of the phrase actually meant.

It also helps if you actually know somebody that speaks the language you're learning so you can practice with them.  I'd make it a point to try to go talk to a couple of my Spanish speaking friends at work everyday and try to use what I learned with them.  And they helped explain things or give me tips or hints.  That was a really helpful supplement to the Rosetta Stone stuff, and I think it would have been a lot tougher without it.

Of course, like any complex thing you want to learn, it takes a lot of work, and you have to stay consistent with it.  What I tried to do was use the software for about a half hour a day.  When I did that consistently, I felt I moved along pretty well.  But when I missed a few days or a week, I felt a little lost once I picked it up again.  I never really progressed that far, I got about 4-6 weeks into Spanish on 2 different occasions, then ended up not being able to stick with it for whatever reason.  So the more advanced stuff, I really have no idea how it goes, but the early stuff I thought was good.

You can set up multiple accounts for the whole family on one computer too, so you can all do your own thing at your own pace, but they only let you install it on 2 computers.  So if you, your wife, your kid(s) all have your own computer and wanted to install it on everyone’s personal computer you wouldn’t be able to, but if you have a family computer everyone shares, then no problem.  .

When I used it, I liked it, and would recommend it, as long as you can stick with it.  It ended up being a pretty expensive headset (as that’s the only thing I still use) for me, but I plan on picking it up again someday, so there’s still hope!

lol, i would love to learn madarin, but im studying french.

thanks for the feedback.  i have done it for 2 weeks now and commit at least 30 min a day, but normally try to get 45-60 min in.  i agree about the voice recognition.  the mic and headset that came with the software isn't that great.  it seems ok, but i had the same issues when i spoke.  i saw that other people online had similar issues, and they all said it improves if you get a new headset.  so i bought a pair and it has worked great since.

gracias amigo

[Bahku]

Let me guess, you want to learn Chinese so you can watch old Kung Fu movies without the English dubs or the captions, right? 


I tried it, but it was about 5-6 years ago, so who knows what has changed since then, but I’ll tell you my experience.

I took it for Spanish, and I really knew nothing going in, except for the stuff that has seeped its way into American culture (asta la vista, me casa es su casa, uno, dos, tres, etc.).

I thought the method they used was pretty effective.  My only real gripe was with the voice recognition software.  Sometimes you feel you say a word right, but they say you’re wrong, then you repeat the same thing you just said, but this time they say it’s correct, then sometimes you’d say the word 5+ times the exact same way before they finally accept it on the 6th try.  Sure maybe it was me mumbling or not speaking clearly or not using the proper accents, but sometimes you’d get stuck on a word/phrase you’ve said correctly (according to them) like 10 times before. This didn’t happen a lot, but the once in a while that it did happen could really be frustrating.

Once you move on from simple words to phrases, a couple of times I do remember having to go break the phrase down in google translate to figure out what exactly I was saying, or what part of the phrase actually meant.

It also helps if you actually know somebody that speaks the language you're learning so you can practice with them.  I'd make it a point to try to go talk to a couple of my Spanish speaking friends at work everyday and try to use what I learned with them.  And they helped explain things or give me tips or hints.  That was a really helpful supplement to the Rosetta Stone stuff, and I think it would have been a lot tougher without it.

Of course, like any complex thing you want to learn, it takes a lot of work, and you have to stay consistent with it.  What I tried to do was use the software for about a half hour a day.  When I did that consistently, I felt I moved along pretty well.  But when I missed a few days or a week, I felt a little lost once I picked it up again.  I never really progressed that far, I got about 4-6 weeks into Spanish on 2 different occasions, then ended up not being able to stick with it for whatever reason.  So the more advanced stuff, I really have no idea how it goes, but the early stuff I thought was good.

You can set up multiple accounts for the whole family on one computer too, so you can all do your own thing at your own pace, but they only let you install it on 2 computers.  So if you, your wife, your kid(s) all have your own computer and wanted to install it on everyone’s personal computer you wouldn’t be able to, but if you have a family computer everyone shares, then no problem.  .

When I used it, I liked it, and would recommend it, as long as you can stick with it.  It ended up being a pretty expensive headset (as that’s the only thing I still use) for me, but I plan on picking it up again someday, so there’s still hope!

lol, i would love to learn madarin, but im studying french.

thanks for the feedback.  i have done it for 2 weeks now and commit at least 30 min a day, but normally try to get 45-60 min in.  i agree about the voice recognition.  the mic and headset that came with the software isn't that great.  it seems ok, but i had the same issues when i spoke.  i saw that other people online had similar issues, and they all said it improves if you get a new headset.  so i bought a pair and it has worked great since.

gracias amigo

Yeah, I used the headset I got with my voice recognition software, so I never had those problems.

[Yakmanev]

Honestly, its not that great and here is the problem. Rosetta Stone bases everything on the same set of photographs and lesson plan and many times uses things that are likely never spoken in that particular language. Also,they base everything off of a literal translation from English.

Out of about 100 exchange students that came to Japan, I was the only one that used Rosetta Stone and I finished in very last place on my placement test and I used it regularly and could regurgitate just about everything the software taught.

Perhaps if you are learning a language from the Indo-European family or of the Germanic and Romantic line it might work OK, but for languages outside of those families it doesn't seem to have the same level of effectiveness.

As mentioned I used it for Japanese and here are a couple of problems I ran into.

For example if we are lost within the city in English we would go to someone and say, "Excuse me, I don't know where I'm at." and then they you would receive directions. In Japan if you walk up to someone and say, "Sumimasen, watashi wa dokoka wakarimasen," (The literal translation) they would look at you funny and point to you and say you're right there, because that is literally what you are asking them. You're telling them that you don't know where YOU are.(It seems silly, but that's the way they hear it)　In Japanese you would say I don't know the city and I am lost. "machi ga wakaranakute, michi ni mayoimasu" This is one example of how a literal translation just simply doesn't work. Yet they teach the literal translation. (Its possible they have fixed this in later versions, but I don't know)
Also in regards to RS Japanese is they teach a lot of pronouns and in Japanese society it is considered quite rude to refer to someone you know with a pronoun as if you know there name you should always use it. (Even though this sounds quite strange to us) In other words never talk to a friend and refer to them as Anata unless you are hinting you want some distance from them and not so personal of a relationship.

Vocabulary can sometimes be tricky, too. For example they teach udetokei for wris****ch even though the Japanese just say tokei, which means either clock or watch. Which one is understood from context, a very important element in Japanese. Same thing for facial hair, beard and mustache. They teach agohige and kuchihige. However, while these are correct words in Japanese hige suffices for both. (Although I suppose if you are explaining someone's looks to the police and they only had a mustache, for example, then you would use kuchihige to clarify, but not in everyday conversation.

I'm not totally against it, though. It's great for common vocabulary and getting an idea of the grammatical structures.
I also found the earlier versions, 2 in particular, to be more thorough. I have used as late as Version 3 and found all 3 levels didn't even make it through an introductory textbook used in Japan and not even thoroughly at that. I should point out that I did not use the live studio versions, which might have alleviated some of the aforementioned problems. 

Basically, I would not rely on Rosetta Stone alone, but I would incorporate other programs such as Pimsleur's, textbooks printed within the country that uses that language, television programs such as local public broadcasting, (in my case NHK) I even use a printed and audio version of a Japanese Bible for reading and pronunciation practice. This allows me to not rely on English translations since I already have a general knowledge of the stories and can gain understanding without stopping and thinking or looking things up. I also used a favorite Manga that I already knew the story line too. Unfortunately there is no audio version. I would be careful of movies and regular programming as we know from our own programming sometimes the most appropriate vocabulary isn't used. And messing up socially in Japan can quickly lead to isolation in a society that is already pretty difficult or at least slow paced for foreigners to get involved with.