How helpful is Rosetta Stone in learning a language? Looking for some reviews
34 replies, posted
My girlfriend keeps talking about how she wants to learn Spanish and Japanese and I was thinking of getting her a Rosetta Stone for one of them for Christmas
But they're pretty damn expensive and I don't want to throw that much money at something that may not be as helpful as advertised. Anyone ever used it?
It's shit. Don't touch it. Seriously.
[editline]30th October 2014[/editline]
It claims to work on the basis of immersion and help you to learn like a child does. The problem however, is you aren't using Rosetta stone 24 hours a day, and you aren't a fucking child.
[editline]30th October 2014[/editline]
Assimil is pretty good, although the older programs are better than the newer ones. I'd also say that she probably shouldn't learn more than one language at once, as they tend to get jumbled up in your head. Go for the older series generally, and have a look at the reviews on sites like how-to-learn-any-language.com. Don't forget to talk to native speakers, it isn't scary at all. There's plenty of sites for it, and shit like italki exisits to fill that niche, as does lang8 for writing. Spanish has a section on Duolingo, which is pretty good, and i can't recommend Anki and memrise enough in order to skullfuck vocabulary into your head.
Like Aussie said don't use it.
You're better off learning a language from someone that speaks it fluently.
I've never tried taking online classes before but that website he mentioned might do the trick. Alternatively you could always try to find a local community/junior college that offers a class for the language(s) you're trying to learn.
Considering trying to learn a language myself in my spare time when uni ends for the year
Got conned into it by a lecturer, who would have thought. Was thinking Chinese? Any suggestions?
I verbally speak to norwegians and try to learn new words every day
[url]http://duolingo.com/[/url]
It's fun, free, and taught me a good bit of Spanish. Probably the only reason I don't continue with it is because I'm lazy.
Rosetta Stone is garbage, don't go for that. Go for Duolingo or other similar free sites.
[QUOTE=Dr._Medic;46367461]Like Aussie said don't use it.
You're better off learning a language from someone that speaks it fluently.
I've never tried taking online classes before but that website he mentioned might do the trick. Alternatively you could always try to find a local community/junior college that offers a class for the language(s) you're trying to learn.[/QUOTE]
She's Latino and a lot of her family speaks Spanish but growing up in the US, she never did and her parents haven't the time nor patience to really teach her.
As for Japanese, our local community college doesn't offer it as a language and, though she's going there already, a language course isn't part of her curriculum and she hasn't the money to step outside of that to try something like this.
I took Spanish at the cc and I didn't learn a damn thing. The professor, whom is the only one on the campus that teaches it, basically just shoved vocabulary in our faces and spent every class watching videos of people speaking Spanish to each other (with no subtitles) and this was apparently suppose to teach us the language. And she wondered why almost everyone failed every test..
You're better off getting an actual teacher, but if you want a thing like rosetta stone that's not overpriced as shit, try Duolingo, it does what Rosetta Stone does but better and with more gamification so you remember more.
The /int/ wiki helped me tons, it has general resources and specific language resources and tips.
[url]http://4chanint.wikia.com/wiki/The_Official_/int/_How_to_Learn_A_Foreign_Language_Guide_Wiki[/url]
Rosetta is shit for the price, but it does give you pretty good pronunciation and listening exercises. Other than that there's tons of better alternatives out there to help you learn more grammar/words.
[QUOTE=patq911;46370581]The /int/ wiki helped me tons, it has general resources and specific language resources and tips.
[url]http://4chanint.wikia.com/wiki/The_Official_/int/_How_to_Learn_A_Foreign_Language_Guide_Wiki[/url][/QUOTE]
Definitely that. Also check out the how to learn any language website for lots of great information on specific languages
as if /int/ can help, wait i was thinking of /pol/
okay I'll check that out
I've always heard the Genki series of textbooks are a good tool for learning Japanese, but I don't think they really cover spoken Japanese as much as they do written.
[QUOTE=En-Guage;46367541]Considering trying to learn a language myself in my spare time when uni ends for the year
Got conned into it by a lecturer, who would have thought. Was thinking Chinese? Any suggestions?[/QUOTE]
"Chinese" isn't actually a language, there's several different dialects such as Mandarin (which is what most people would think Chinese is, also the official language), but there's also others such as Cantonese and Wu. The written language is really hard, but the spoken language is actually stupidly simple grammar wise. However, you've got to work with tones, which will fuck you up a bit. Inflections can mean the difference between "I want to meet you grandmother" and "i want to fuck you grandmother".
[QUOTE=rotor2;46368980][url]http://duolingo.com/[/url]
It's fun, free, and taught me a good bit of Spanish. Probably the only reason I don't continue with it is because I'm lazy.
Rosetta Stone is garbage, don't go for that. Go for Duolingo or other similar free sites.[/QUOTE]
This looks like a good bet for her to use.
Only downside to all this now is that I have to find a new gift idea for her for Christmas :v:
Thanks, you all were very helpful
[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;46378063]This looks like a good bet for her to use.
Only downside to all this now is that I have to find a new gift idea for her for Christmas :v:
Thanks, you all were very helpful[/QUOTE]
I've heard that Duo Lingo isn't that great for learning a new language by itself, the best way to use it is to have it alongside a class, program, self-teaching, etc.. They may have been talking about full fluency, though. At any rate it probably wouldn't hurt to look into some books to use beside it.
[QUOTE=Lijitsu;46378589]I've heard that Duo Lingo isn't that great for learning a new language by itself, the best way to use it is to have it alongside a class, program, self-teaching, etc.. They may have been talking about full fluency, though. At any rate it probably wouldn't hurt to look into some books to use beside it.[/QUOTE]
You shouldn't use any program book etc on its own
[QUOTE=Lijitsu;46378589]I've heard that Duo Lingo isn't that great for learning a new language by itself, the best way to use it is to have it alongside a class, program, self-teaching, etc.. They may have been talking about full fluency, though. At any rate it probably wouldn't hurt to look into some books to use beside it.[/QUOTE]
Luckily, she has had high school basic Japanese and knows a handful of Spanish she's picked up over the years, so she's not going to be learning these with zero previous knowledge.
It's not worth the price really. Personally I really like memrise and duolingo, both of which are free. If you really feel like buying something, pimsleurs audiocourses are great but also a little tedious since you are reapeating everything 100 times.
[QUOTE=maeZtro;46380203]It's not worth the price really. Personally I really like memrise and duolingo, both of which are free. If you really feel like buying something, pimsleurs audiocourses are great but also a little tedious since you are reapeating everything 100 times.[/QUOTE]
If you can stand it, repetition is great. but if something feels like a chore one should probably pick a different method. With the exception of things such as working on grammar, pretty impossible to avoid having to drill the difficult parts of a language's grammar, but it depends.
The opinions in this thread are pretty funny, not wrong mind you, but not complete either.
All I can add is:
In 2005 I took a one month trip to Germany. I decided to buff up on some Germanics and took several shots at various courses, either paperpress format or online/software (Pimpsleur, Rosetta).
Took me 2 months of Pimpsleur/Rosetta munching, [B]watching some TV shows in German[/B] (Deutchewelle, ProSieben, other TV channels, especially the news) and I left to Germany.
The funny thing is that after conversations with local folks (Frankfurt people, mind you), they told me I speak phonetically correct German.
I had vocabulary lapses but the syntax & phonetics were in place.
I couldn't bulk up enough on vocabulary, it helps alot in day-to-day conversations, at work or in holidays.
Get a X-to-Y dictionary, eat those words up, learn the syntax, watch some TV shows in said language.
P.S. One of my friend learned German at a local school, but with a German teacher, who barely knew Romanian. Conversation, conversation, conversation, takes the edge/shiness away, yelds better understanding.
Rosetta stone + Other language media + Conversing with native speakers, probably the easiest way to learn the language without a teacher.
Rosetta stone isn't bad its just really over priced, and the way it teaches you is pretty damn effective.
[QUOTE=circuitbawx;46368444]I verbally speak to norwegians and try to learn new words every day[/QUOTE]
How long have you been at it/how difficult is it going from English to Norwegian? (I'm assuming English is your first language.)
I learned a great bit of German from duolingo and music.
I have little experience in learning a second language but I heard a few tips here and there.
[url=http://ankisrs.net/]Anki[/url] and [url=http://www.memrise.com/]Memrise[/url] are good flashcard sites and you can use pre-made decks and use mnemonics to help.
They use [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaced_repetition]spaced repetition[/url] to drill terms into your head over a period of time. If you have a tablet or smartphone, there are apps.
Important note: flashcards help with vocabulary but doesn't teach much about grammar.
TV shows can not replace real life person to person talking experience so either go to the country in question or get a penpal/language partner. You could find them at [url=http://www.interpals.net/]InterPals[/url].
You can still watch TV shows so you could be engrossed in the language but don't use subs and lie to yourself about not using subs as crutch.
Also, [url=https://www.duolingo.com/]Doulingo[/url] is a good supplementary learning site. It's good but you can't rely on it alone. Only comes with European languages though and I'm not sure if Latin American Spanish is supported.
Rosetta Stone is expensive and not worth it as there are better alternatives if you want to learn at home for cheap/free. Never tried it but I heard Rosetta Stone only covers the basics and doesn't teach proper grammar for Asian languages if not for any language.
[QUOTE=patq911;46370581]The /int/ wiki helped me tons, it has general resources and specific language resources and tips.
[url]http://4chanint.wikia.com/wiki/The_Official_/int/_How_to_Learn_A_Foreign_Language_Guide_Wiki[/url][/QUOTE]
^ This. Read all of it.
It has list of textbooks, basic stuff, and et cetra you need to learn.
I also heard Reddit is a bad place to go if you are learning a language as there are high-and-mighty almost beginners teaching others bad practices.
The BIGGEST problem is motivation. Help your girl with motivation and staying on task diligently and consistently but don't burn her out.
Don't do both languages at once. Start with Spanish as it is the easiest of the two unless you/she insist on jumping right in Japanese. Japanese is allegedly not as difficult as everyone say it is. You just need good practice and perseverance.
its shitty
I used it and its methods of teaching suck.
[QUOTE=hippowombat;46400820]How long have you been at it/how difficult is it going from English to Norwegian? (I'm assuming English is your first language.)[/QUOTE]
You assumed correctly
Learning the vocabulary is simple as hell, my problem is that I tend to fuck up a lot with grammar and sentence structure (which makes people lol), and speaking is a lot harder than reading/writing.
I think in the nor. chat thread, for some reason, I accidentally said "always smell me like a wet dog" (alltid lukter meg som våt hund) instead of "always, i smell like a wet dog" (jeg alltid lukter som våt hund) (referring to rain) and stuff like that happens all the time, it's just a matter of ironing out the kinks and learning specifics and certain technicalities, then getting used to seeing/using them
In some places it's super straightforward, but in some cases the way things are said is sort of counterintuitive
I find it a lot easier than Spanish
[QUOTE=circuitbawx;46413806]You assumed correctly
Learning the vocabulary is simple as hell, my problem is that I tend to fuck up a lot with grammar and sentence structure (which makes people lol), and speaking is a lot harder than reading/writing.
I think in the nor. chat thread, I accidentally said "always smell me like a wet dog" instead of "always, i smell like a wet dog" (referring to rain) and stuff like that happens all the time, it's just a matter of ironing out the kinks
In some places it's super straightforward, but in some cases the way things are said is sort of counterintuitive
I find it a lot easier than Spanish[/QUOTE]
Excellent, I took 3.5 years of Spanish in High School and got mostly A's and B's. Thanks for sharing the info! :) do you recommend any place/site/books to learn from?
[QUOTE=hippowombat;46413830]do you recommend any place/site/books to learn from?[/QUOTE]
Real Norwegian specimen, and a dictionary
Ah. Fair enough :) Thank you again!!
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