Rosetta Stone?

[CaliforniaDreamin]

So, I'm unemployed and don't want my mind to stagnate and I think I good way to do that would be to learn another language. I took 3 years of French in high school 20 years ago, but it didn't stick. There aren't really any opportunities to use French in rural NC.
Anyway, I always see the commercials for Rosetta-Stone on tv and they seem pretty convincing. Anyone ever used it? It's quite expensive, I'd probably have to save up for a couple of months, but I really want to learn to speak Italian. And no, there aren't any practical uses for Italian in rural NC, either. I just think it's a beautiful language.
Italian is not taught in any of the community colleges around here, Spanish only. And we have a growing Hispanic population, so that makes perfect sense.
And even if you haven't used Rosetta Stone, I'd love to hear from someone who learned a second language as an adult.

 

[bumbershoot]

I saw a demonstration of the Korean program, and it looked amazing. We cannot wait to get it, but have to do other things first.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Let's see.

If you do it online, for three months access it is $200 and for six months access it is $300.

To get the CDs it is $250 for level one and $300 each for levels two thru five, with savings if you buy all levels at once. ($750 for all five levels at one time.)

If you are unemployed, and do not have need for the language, do you need to spend the money on this?

 

[Mermaid02]

Let's see.

If you do it online, for three months access it is $200 and for six months access it is $300.

To get the CDs it is $250 for level one and $300 each for levels two thru five, with savings if you buy all levels at once. ($750 for all five levels at one time.)

If you are unemployed, and do not have need for the language, do you need to spend the money on this?

You have no idea of her family finances. I think this was rude. She said she knew it was expensive and she was going to save.

Learning another language is NEVER a waste in my opinion.

 

[Polyluvr]

You have no idea of her family finances. I think this was rude. She said she knew it was expensive and she was going to save.

Learning another language is NEVER a waste in my opinion.

I say go for it~ Learning a new language would be wonderful ! Especially Italian

 

[jlewisinsyr]

All for learning a new language, but understand some of the issues people hate about Rosetta Stone. Once you buy it, it's pretty much yours; it's almost impossible to resell or give to someone else because of how their licensing agreement works, it basically locks itself to one PC. If you try to use it on say your desktop and a notebook computer, no can do without a second license.

I think immersion learning is great, but I'd look into some of the other immersion learning programs on the market.

 

[Pixiedust34]

We have used a portion of Rosetta Stone German (homeschool version, level 1). We liked it at first, but eventually became frustrated with it and set it aside for a while. This is a timely thread, because we're going to pull it out soon and give it another try.

You do learn vocabulary words and random phrases, but it would be extremely helpful if there were a workbook to use along with the CD and dvds. A workbook would be great for practicing skills such as assigning a gender to an article, etc.

Also, you have to say the word *perfectly* for the computer to allow you to continue. My ds has a speech disorder, and can't say some of the words. This may not be an issue for you, but even dd and I have been stumped with saying words as perfectly as we could and the computer would reject our tries. This gets frustrating after saying the same word(s) over and over.

There is a time when you will have to type answers in French. Spelling errors are not allowed. German spelling is tricky for us, so we learned quickly to have a German/English dictionary on hand to do the written part of the assignment.

We're going to give it another try, but I wish the program came with a workbook for extra practice and were more forgiving with pronunciation attempts. Perhaps after 5 tries, if you're close enough you should be able to move onto the next word. I think we found a way to bypass the system in this regard (can't remember the details), but it was frustrating.

If you buy it, just take your time and have a dictionary handy for spelling in you need to. I hope it works well for you.

 

[bellebud]

We have used a portion of Rosetta Stone German (homeschool version, level 1). We liked it at first, but eventually became frustrated with it and set it aside for a while. This is a timely thread, because we're going to pull it out soon and give it another try.

You do learn vocabulary words and random phrases, but it would be extremely helpful if there were a workbook to use along with the CD and dvds. A workbook would be great for practicing skills such as assigning a gender to an article, etc.

Also, you have to say the word *perfectly* for the computer to allow you to continue. My ds has a speech disorder, and can't say some of the words. This may not be an issue for you, but even dd and I have been stumped with saying words as perfectly as we could and the computer would reject our tries. This gets frustrating after saying the same word(s) over and over.

There is a time when you will have to type answers in French. Spelling errors are not allowed. German spelling is tricky for us, so we learned quickly to have a German/English dictionary on hand to do the written part of the assignment.

We're going to give it another try, but I wish the program came with a workbook for extra practice and were more forgiving with pronunciation attempts. Perhaps after 5 tries, if you're close enough you should be able to move onto the next word. I think we found a way to bypass the system in this regard (can't remember the details), but it was frustrating.

If you buy it, just take your time and have a dictionary handy for spelling in you need to. I hope it works well for you.

just wanted to give you a tip (you may have already tried)... we do the spanish homeschool version, and my ds was having trouble w/ the speaking portion too, until he took off the headset/microphone, and turned up the volume on his compter, and just 'talks' to his computer. It made all the difference for him (for the program to 'accept' his pronunciation of the words). My dd has no problem w/ the headset/microphone, but each kid is different. BTW, I LOVE how they make them say the words w/ the 'accent' - my dd sounds like a little spanish girl when she says her words - I think it's very helpful. But of course someone w/ a speed disorder would have a problem w/ this. My ds was skipping that part for a while, because of his frustration w/ the program not accepting his version. So it was easy enough to skip that part if need be.

To the OP - yes, we all don't know you're financial position, but since you stated you were unemployed, you brought it into the conversation, and Rosetta is very expensive! I personally would not spend the money on it, unless it was extra money I had, and if I were unemployed, I cannot see having any extra money. There are free courses on-line and from libraries to learn languages... I'd look into those if I were you.

Good luck! (oh, can you also just "audit" a class at a community college?) I don't know if you have to pay to do that or not.

 

[~Brandy~]

I have tried Rosetta Stone and found I prefer the Fluenz software. It's not much cheaper (more or less the same price) but I found the interface better and the lessons more useful. I think they have a trial you can download on their website. Just an alternative to consider. If you read the reviews of Rosetta Stone on Amazon, you will also see Fluenz mentioned.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Good luck! (oh, can you also just "audit" a class at a community college?) I don't know if you have to pay to do that or not.

Yes you have to pay. Great idea though.

Thanks for the thread. I always think about getting this program but the cost stops me.

Sounds like looking for alternatives is a better idea.

I think you can use Skype for language learning for free. It is more of an "immersion" type thing. I have not checked it out but I am throwing it out there since I have heard of it.

 

[Toad_Passenger]

I have worked my way through the first 3 levels of the Rosetta Stone French series, hoping to re-solidify my French, since it had been a few years since I last spoke it/studied it. Our neighbor had got it for their kid who was taking french, so I borrowed their laptop for it.

I was extremely disappointed. Three whole levels (not just lessons, but whole level CDs), and it honestly still felt like elementary stuff that I already remembered.

If you are just starting a new language I could see it helping, but a lot of it is very basic, and I don't think it is useful for becoming fluent in the language, without supplemental instruction. Especially given the price.

 

[Carl]

It is interesting. You will enjoy using it. Also, you can turn off the part that listens for your speaking the words. By the way, there is also a way to adjust the level of accuracy the program expects when pronouncing the words. But, truthfully I took the full 5 level program and was still not able to carry on much of a conversation in Germany - or understand what was being said, for that matter. It helps, but by no means makes you fluent.

 

[Pixiedust34]

Thanks for the tips. I'm going to play around with the microphone and to see if we can adjust the level of accuracy in pronunciation, especially for my ds.

We did only part of Level 1, but from what I see I agree that Rosetta Stone isn't going to make you fluent. You learn a whole lot of random phrases ("The woman is eating an egg." "The man is reading a newspaper."), but keeping up with a conversation with a native speaker would be difficult. Again, I think that some textbook work along with the dvds and CDs would be nice to have.

When we went to Epcot, the kids and I talked a little (very little ) German to the German cast members in Germany. Although we didn't say too much, they were thrilled to meet a family studying their language! If you go to Epcot and you've studied one of the languages represented in one of the countries there, strike up a conversation with a cast member if you can.

 

[palavra]

Try www.livemocha.com. It is a free online language learning site. I did a free trial version of Rosetta Stone once, and livemocha is very similar. I haven't gotten far with it, but it is very interactive just as Rosetta Stone is.

 

[PatriciaH]

Many libraries have Rosetta Stone online to use too. Under the reference sections on their web site. We had it in Florida when we lived there. Now I have a few of the languages. I like it but I don't think I could get fluent using it. iTunes has a lot of language podcasts for free too.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

Many libraries have Rosetta Stone online to use too. Under the reference sections on their web site. We had it in Florida when we lived there. Now I have a few of the languages. I like it but I don't think I could get fluent using it. iTunes has a lot of language podcasts for free too.

Interesting, I've never seen this on our local libraries site, and I'm shocked that Rosetta Stone allows it, they're pretty strict with their software. Not that I doubt you, just shocked.

 

[snapppyd]

Let's see.

If you do it online, for three months access it is $200 and for six months access it is $300.

To get the CDs it is $250 for level one and $300 each for levels two thru five, with savings if you buy all levels at once. ($750 for all five levels at one time.)

If you are unemployed, and do not have need for the language, do you need to spend the money on this?

I can't believe you said that! Her finances are not what her question was about.

 

[snapppyd]

So, I'm unemployed and don't want my mind to stagnate and I think I good way to do that would be to learn another language. I took 3 years of French in high school 20 years ago, but it didn't stick. There aren't really any opportunities to use French in rural NC.
Anyway, I always see the commercials for Rosetta-Stone on tv and they seem pretty convincing. Anyone ever used it? It's quite expensive, I'd probably have to save up for a couple of months, but I really want to learn to speak Italian. And no, there aren't any practical uses for Italian in rural NC, either. I just think it's a beautiful language.
Italian is not taught in any of the community colleges around here, Spanish only. And we have a growing Hispanic population, so that makes perfect sense.
And even if you haven't used Rosetta Stone, I'd love to hear from someone who learned a second language as an adult.

I've heard that Italian is a very hard language to learn. That said, I admire you for wanting to keep your mind sharp!

 

[Bi-winning]

In my opinion, Rosetta Stone is not worth the money or the invested effort. You have a big advantage in learning French because it uses the same alphabet as English (for the most part), meaning it's phonetic. What I would do to learn French is:

1. Do a lot of listening to native French materials.

Listen to native music and movies with French subtitles. Even if you don't understand a lot, French is very similar to English so learning listening comprehension will be fairly easy. Vocab is also similar.

2. Use a Spaced-Repition System (SRS) to learn vocabulary and grammar.

Rip a movie apart line by line and learn it through spaced repetition.


You may have no idea what I'm talking about but in the linguistics community it's fairly popular. You could probably find an online French learning community and read about how exactly to go about using SRS.

I would bet that if you did it this way you could speak very proficiently in a couple of months if you could spare an hour or two every day. It's definitely not easy to find that time, but if you want to learn French, this may be the best way.

Languages really aren't that difficult to learn. It just takes time. European languages, in general, are much easier to learn for language learners than a language such as Japanese or Mandarin.


EDIT: By the way, I'm an adult Japanese learner.

 

[CaliforniaDreamin]

Thanks everyone for the info. I'm going to look into Fluenz or the free program mentioned (can't remember the name, already stagnating!). I think with my French background (albeit an antiquated one!), I suppose my best bet is picking up French again, or trying Spanish. I hear the two languages are fairly similar. I admire anyone who knows Mandarin! I've heard it's the most difficult language to learn (unless you count English as a second language. I've heard that is very difficult.

Thanks for those who took up for me regarding my finances. I'm surprised the poster didn't pick up on the fact I have a Disney trip scheduled this year. I would think that would be the better opportunity to flame someone.Anyway, we are doing just fine, financially. The reason I am having to save up is I don't want to touch our savings,and $500 or so is not something I want to spend on myself all at once. I'll feel less guilty if I save up.