Anyone Here Used RosettaStone Language Courses?

Overpaid Slacker · 03-21-2007, 01:05 PM

Interested specifically in German, Greek, Italian and Russian.

If anybody out there's got one of these, please PM me. I'm bored and looking to learn/refresh a few languages.

Thanks in advance.

JP

MRM · 03-21-2007, 01:16 PM

I have not but they have the contract with the US government to provide language instruction to US personnel in Iraq who want to learn Arabic. They must have something going for them

The Gaijin · 03-21-2007, 01:21 PM

They do have lots of slick marketing.. Kiosks at Grand Central Station and airports..

Lanuage learning has really progressed beyond tapes and textbooks. The whole interactive & computer thing has got to help.

Let me know.

Rick Lee · Rick Lee's Garage

JP, what I've done is get started with a language by taking a class. Once you know how it works, the tapes and cd's can be very helpful. I started intensive Russian my senior year in college, so there was not enough time left to really get advanced. But after two semesters, I had enough of an understanding to get tapes and go from there on my own. Ditto for Mandarin. I took night classes at the local high school for two courses. I kept signing up for level III, but they kept cancelling because I was the only person who signed up. If I weren't so lazy now, I could do the rest on my own, since my fiance is a native speaker. I can't imagine starting from scratch with tapes, though I did that with German when I was 13 and it gave me a little bit of a head start once I got into a real German class.

Overpaid Slacker · 03-21-2007, 01:58 PM

Rick -
I've studied German (years ago), Russian (a few years ago) and Greek (ancient... but it's not soooo different, and the alphabet is half the battle, as with Russian). So I've got something of a foundation to build upon.

Thing is (for me) German is excruciatingly precise... and I've found I don't learn well by memorizing rules. Russian is bizzare and Greek is inflected, so I'll learn them best by just doing.

Italian is b/c I mentioned to my mom that I was looking for these courses and she said "I've always wanted to learn Italian. Get that one too so we can learn it together." Can't say no to mom. (note: not to be confused with "mother", tabs' bete noir).

Story: Getting on a train in Venice to ride down to Florence. Two (d-bag) guys are in our -- assigned -- seats. So I say, nice and smiling, excuse me you're in our seats, holding the tickets out so they could see them, without thrusting them into their faces. These guys look at each other and say something in Italian, rolling their eyes.

I say, smile frozen on my face: "is there a f*cking problem, or are you moving." I'm 6'5" and 275 and looking through the guy's head I'm addressing. He asks, in Italian if I speak Italian. I say "no". He asks in French if I speak French. I say "no." He rolls his eyes, makes a Pffft sound and smirks at his buddy.

I say, in Russian "do you speak Russian"? He stares at me. I say, in Dutch "do you speak Dutch"? He's not smiling any more. "Hmm. Afrikaans?" He's getting the point. I ask, "Do you speak Japanese", in Japanese (OK, this was pushing it... other than that phrase, I knew only enough Japanese to order beer and get laid). Now he's turning red. "Deutsch? Nein?" I turn to his buddy: "You speak Sotho?" In Sotho. "So, none of those huh? Pffffffffffffffft." Rolling my eyes. "And not English either, apparently. Genius, move right now or I will move you. You understand that?" He got the point.

More importantly, it's too common for non-native English speakers to feel insulted that we have not learned their language. But how to choose? There are great arguments for learning German. Same for French. And Italian. Here, Spanish certainly has its merits. Russian is a great and marketable language for certain purposes. But what about Ukranian, or Hungarian, or Flemish, etc.? There are too many options for us, but only one real primary option for non-native speakers -- learn English. Their choice is easy. But many get bent b/c, of the hundreds of languages I could learn, and the few that I have, I haven't learned theirs.

JP

holtjv · 03-21-2007, 02:03 PM

the only feedback I have on rosetta stone is from a friend whose son took the spanish course. My friend, who is extremely enthusiastic and effusive about most everything, said, "rosetta stone is the best!"

I asked how well it worked for his son, to which he replied, "not too well."

It seems like it would be such an individual thing as to whether or not you'd do well with it. Maybe if you can find a comparison to other programs (look on amazon for reviews) it would serve you better.

JH

Overpaid Slacker · 03-21-2007, 02:07 PM

JH - There's no magic wand, I know. And rote is just part of the equation (once you're older than 4 or 5 and your language patterns have gelled).

However, a very bright, tri-lingual friend needed to learn Pashto or some such arcane language for work, got RosettaStone and raved about it.

I wish my dad had spoken Greek in the house when I was a kid. In addition to the curse words, I mean.

JP

AFC-911 · 03-22-2007, 09:51 AM

JP, since you have already taken a few classes, I'm assuming you already know most of the basics.

So, why not just use the internet for radio stations in your chosen language?

http://www.mikesradioworld.com/europe.html

Finding tv shows & news is not that hard either. Listen to songs with the lyrics and watch films. You'll learn tons of new words (even some slang that won't be in a language cd).

After some time, you will start to understand.

Overpaid Slacker · 03-22-2007, 10:55 AM

Arvin -
Great idea! I'll use that to supplement whatever "program" I get into. I need some discipline/rule refreshers though. Evidently RS has put a lot of work into what and how you learn, so I'm going to give it a shot their way first.

JP

nostatic · nostatic's Garage

I find the Rosetta Stone Mandarin software to be crap. ymmv.