Rosetta Stone language software - any good?

[Martin]

I'm wondering if anyone here has tried it. If I complete levels 1 and 2 Spanish, how well would I know the language? Enough for children's books and tabloids?

 

[Chryso]

My dad has been learning Italian with it and he loves it.

 

[bobdelt]

I have it. I got it off ebay, it shipped from the UK. It was a DVD with probably all the languages on it. Might not be legal, but it was cheap and worked for me.

I'm close to being done with level 1 in German, and that I'm about at the level of when I left college - 1 semester into intermediate. So I think you study hard, and use the software to the best of your capability, plus maybe some other vocab stuff, maybe a grammar review book, im sure you can get to a level where you can read adult books, no less children books.

 

[krunchykrome]

I've actually heard poor reviews about the software. I wante to learn Korean, but instead of buying software, I enrolled in a non-credit class at my local community college. Tuition was a couple hundred dollars, and my book was about $50.

 

[SVT Cobra]

I have never used it (I took 6 years of spanish, 4 HS 2 college so I never had to) but my boss at one of my jobs used it to learn and we could have conversations when he finished. He was lacking a lot, but he was able to communicate effectively and properly for the most part.

I'd recommend them if the environment you lived in forced you to learn it on an average basis (such as a place as Southern CA), but if you want to be able to speak fluently and grammatically correct all the time look towards a class at a local college.

 

[angminas]

I haven't used it yet for more than a few minutes, but my local library allows me to use this software for several different languages for free over the web. I signed up with my name and library card # and it opened it up on my compy via flash. Check it out.

 

[Beev]

One of my friends has it and is trying to learn Japanese. I loaded it up one day at his house and couldn't figure out how to get started. It seemed like it just threw the language at you with no rhyme or reason. I don't think I did it right.

 

[DaWhim]

Originally posted by: Sraaz
One of my friends has it and is trying to learn Japanese. I loaded it up one day at his house and couldn't figure out how to get started. It seemed like it just threw the language at you with no rhyme or reason. I don't think I did it right.

they make it the way like you are learning your first language.

 

[Beev]

That seems inefficient, though. Since I have a fairly firm grasp of one language it would be easier to teach me using the language I already know. At least I would think it would.

 

[SVT Cobra]

Originally posted by: Sraaz
That seems inefficient, though. Since I have a fairly firm grasp of one language it would be easier to teach me using the language I already know. At least I would think it would.

No, no it would not.

What is going to teach you Spanish quicker: A HS English class? or going to Spain for a semester abroad.

Trust me, if you have ever gotten to a higher level in another language you will know what I mean.

 

[Shortcut]

Originally posted by: Sraaz
That seems inefficient, though. Since I have a fairly firm grasp of one language it would be easier to teach me using the language I already know. At least I would think it would.

not really, because you'll be very very likely to link the english language with whatever language you're learning. so when you see an object, you'll recall the english word for it first, then translate it into the other language.

its much faster if you can see the object, and directly recall the the proper word for it in the foreign language.

 

[Anghang]

Originally posted by: krunchykrome
I've actually heard poor reviews about the software. I wante to learn Korean, but instead of buying software, I enrolled in a non-credit class at my local community college. Tuition was a couple hundred dollars, and my book was about $50.

I'm learning Korean also, but just conversational, not reading and writing, using Pimsleur audio

 

[Jawo]

Originally posted by: SVT Cobra
I have never used it (I took 6 years of spanish, 4 HS 2 college so I never had to) but my boss at one of my jobs used it to learn and we could have conversations when he finished. He was lacking a lot, but he was able to communicate effectively and properly for the most part.

I'd recommend them if the environment you lived in forced you to learn it on an average basis (such as a place as Southern CA), but if you want to be able to speak fluently and grammatically correct all the time look towards a class at a local college.

So is spanish the official language of the border states now? 😉

 

[Turin39789]

Any info on the Pimsleur series? I can get the audiobooks for those over the net through my library.

 

[Abe Froman]

Originally posted by: Turin39789
Any info on the Pimsleur series? I can get the audiobooks for those over the net through my library.

Pimsleur isn't as useful for conversational verb conjugation. It only teaches formal. But that isn't hardly used in many languages.