Job Discussion Forums

[sinsofangels]

The script seemed to be part of the program, so I'm not sure you'd need Japanese installed on Windows, but I'm not sure. Just try it and see.

[VanKen]

[johnyuehan]

I've used Rosetta Stone for about a year now & am satisfied with it; glad I made the purchase. Their advertising is a bit of a stretch. Best language learning software I've found yet, but still not nearly as good as studying with a real person. Not perfect, but if you can't study with a real person, it is a good alternative. It has helped my Japanese a lot, but studying with a private teacher is a much more challenging mental workout.

The order in which words are learned is a bit odd & doesn't follow most textbooks or for studying for proficiency exams. Numbers don't show up until lesson 4. Lessons do build on previously learned vocabulary, and old words are reviewed & build up upon; only a few new words are learned in each lesson. Sometimes I can fly through a lesson, while others are tougher; depends how much of the vocabulary I've learned in my other studies.

I've used Rosetta for Mandarin also; the lessons & pictures for at least the first few lessons are almost the same for each lesson. Wonder if that is the case across other languages, also.

I find Rosetta more interesting to study with than a textbook because of the different activities. My electronic dictionary gets a lot of use looking up words from Rosetta; throw in podcasts, web sites, misc. texts and speaking with Japanese people and you have my discombobulated learning methods. Sticking with one textbook's lessons is probably better; classes with real teachers are the best, I'd say.

And I agree with JaredW to buy just the first year; it has enough lessons to keep you studying for a long time. When you've completed all lessons, you may be tired of it & have other studying resources you like better. I'll study with it for a few weeks & get bored with Rosetta, using other studying materials for a while before coming back to it.

I'd suggest completing at least 5 full lessons online thru the library system to see if you want to commit to purchasing it, more while it's free. Spelling? Only use the kana or kanji if possible, avoiding the romaji. If your computer isn't letting you see the kana & kanji online, try using it at one of the libraries & hope they have newer computers that can do it (Ridgedale or Eden Prairie, perhaps - I'm from MN, too). I use a Mac & rarely have problems with non-English languages; any Macs at the libraries, or at a friend's place you could try?


A bit off topic, but in the lines of language learning with computers:

Jim Breen's page of language learning & more has probably been posted here many times before; here it is again.
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/japanese.html

http://www.kanji-a-day.com/ - another one of my favorites; divided by 4 levels.

http://www.japanesepod101.com/ - good learning in the free podcasts; paid subscriptions give you access to PDFs of the lessons, proficiency exam practice tests & more. Not cheap, but a nice competitor to Rosetta. Daily lessons range from newbie to intermediate. More real-life situations and much more entertaining than Rosetta. For someone coming here on a quick vacation (like my parents), I'd say this is much better than Rosetta.

Other favorite web sites or software for learning?

[sinsofangels]

[ACGalaga]

I am a user of Rosetta Stone and am very fond of it.

200$ is way cheaper than taking a course in Japanese (that is if any local institutions even offer it) and I really enjoy it's 'immersion' technique.

Instead of directly translating phrases into you native tongue, this software has you to thinking in the language you are learning.

[VanKen]

[sinsofangels]

[VanKen]

[sinsofangels]

Try reading the ENTIRE post then...

[wintersweet]