Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ghost]

Does anyone use the Rosetta Stone program for learning Korean?

Seems like a pretty good program, and the program is reputed to be one of the best in the world.

You can use the program online, or you can order it from the States in compact discs, I think.

Try the free trial lessons online to get a feel of the program. It is quite good. There is no English translation whatsoever, but I lot of repetition. The program is used a lot by Diplomats and Missionaries who need to learn a foreign language quickly.

I am thinking of buying the program, because I was told the full online program cannot be downloaded in Korea.

http://www.rosettastone.com

ghost

[mikekim]

Use the search function FFS - there are 20 threads on the topic. Bittorrent the full version. Yeesh.

[oneota]

I don't know what ffs is, so I can't find the previous discussion that way. All I can say is that I found the program (expensive and) horrible. I spent maybe a year, an hour or so a day and didn't learn Korean. There are pictures with so many possible interpretations (and no gradual progressions and no explanations in either English or Korea) that Inever did find out what was being taught. For example, there was one sequence with different shapes, colors and positions. Out of frustration, I tried applying set theory to figure out what wasd being taught - I still couldn't tell, since too many variables varied. Oh, sure, I got all the right answers. That's because I went over the pictures so many times. So, what did I learn? If I see those images, I could repeat a fitting sentence. But I didn't know if I was saying the square is smaller than the yellow triangle, the square is two objects away from the circle, or... There was also some tiny picture of a guy on a skate-board in the air. What-ever was being taught wasn't used in a controlled environment in the other pictures in the set. I never did find out: was it jump, fall, fly, play. youth..who knows? When I have learned other languages (and ,later, Korean) through other methods, there has usually been some sort of feedback that is more than right/wrong. that way I learn what's up, not just a sequence of sounds. The review function is supposed to reinforce learning, but i would be asked questions I'd already correctly answered time and again, and never get to an evaluation or I'd get evaluations that didn't seem to reflect my "ability" (i.e., my behavioral, to say nothing of my cognitive ability). I asked a Korean friend about some of the stuff, and she said the constructions were technically correct but often unrealistic. There was also a picture of a kid and a horse (for "horse"), except that the horse's head was so up close, that I had no idea that it was a horse until I had learned the word else-where. There's a picture of some-body playing padook, and you're supposed to just know that arm or foot or leg (or what-ever - I've forgotten) is meant, since this is the first appearnace of the term as said. The plural form is extensively taught - but how often do you hear Koreans say X-dul? Particular problems for English ears are not taken into account, so that red and blue seem to be differentiated by the terminal phoneme rather that the initial one. The dual numbering system is not explained, of course (since there ARE no explanations). This must be terrible for any-one not knowing about it ahead of time. Even knowing of its existence, I got know idea of when to use which other thanfor hours, starting gates and track lanes.
All the speakers speak at a Seoul-rate. While this might be good for people going to Seoul, in two years in Korea I have never hear any-one outside of Seoul (and not all people in Seoul) speak that fast. AND there is no way to slow down the speech. When I teach English, I slow down at first before shooting at my Korean students with normal speed. In short, contrary to the ads (Rosetta Stone removes the frustration from language learning), trying to learn Korean with RS was one of the most frustrating "learning" experiences I've ever had and certainly tTHE most frustrating attempt at learning a language. Using books and later a university class were much better for my nerves adn my mind.

When I wrote to the company politely complaining, I never got a response. I wrote again, asking for a refund per guarantee. Again, no answer. (I have since lost some of all of the CDs.) The only time I got a response was when I aired my views on www.about - I'd guess that's because it was too public for them.

About other languages:
Users of the Russian program say that it doesn't take into account the gender of the speaker, which is crucial in Russian.

I friend who knew Spanish but not Portuguese, was very pleased with Rosetta for learning Portuguese. (I think this is because of 1) the nearness of Sp and P and 2) he had a stolen version, where-as I had spent a sizable percent of my meagre income on my version.)

My set had free peaks at a number of other languages. The English, Spanish, French, Russian, German etc. seemed so simple and reeasonable - but I think that's because I know those languages, I'd already gotten past that point with the Korean by the time I looked at them, and they were simply simple objects. I also tried out the Indonesian (a language I'd studied for only two semesters maybe ten years earlier). That, too, went easily and quickly: two times through (a few minutes), and I had all the words down. Maybe it's just that the vocabulary is easier,but I really think Rosetta is predicated on English and vocabulary. to the extent that you move away from strict vocabulary and languages that are like English, it breaks down.

[Bondrock]

oneota's assessment is basically correct. But i have found the Rosetta Stone program to be helpful if one already knows some Korean. If you are starting from zero, it is just as "oneota" said, you can guess the right pictures but will not know if what is being said is hop, jump, laugh or whatever, but if you already know some of those words, or use the program with a translation dictionary it could be helpful.

[mack4289]

I think the method Rosetta Stone uses is excellent but I felt like I wasn't learning what I wanted to. I learned how to say "The man and the woman are dancing" before I could even say "What's your name?"

If you can handle being in the dark a little and having to figure things out from context, then Rosetta Stone offers the best method of any computer program I know. I personally prefer going entirely without English when learning a language. I didn't stay with Rosetta Stone because I wasn't learning the stuff I most needed to and also it's a little boring practicing with a computer. My advice is find a hot Korean who can speak enough English for you to explain how and what you want to be taught.

[corroonb]

Don't buy it. Download it from any torrent site for free and if you like it and are not inclined to piracy, pay for a legit version. Nothing ventured, nothing lost. oneota is correct, it is not for beginners.

Declan's Korean language programs are good and one will help you learn hangul and basic vocab and there is one flashcard program with far more vocab. Not available via torrent.

[Bibbitybop]

FFS = For F()cks Sake

[Demophobe]

[Scotticus]

Yeah, I'd have to agree with some of the things said. It's def not the sort of thing you wanna pick up if you have zero Korean knowledge. It's all in Hangul, and it does sometimes take a little figuring out to realize what you're being taught.

Having said that, it's really not at all impossible to figure things out by context. In fact, that's the concept it's built around. I just got Rosetta and have already seen some of the issues Oneota mentioned. It's really not that hard to figure things out. Unless you're blind/used to being totally spoon-fed everything, you should be able to figure almost everything out. And if you can't? Just ask a Korean friend what the word means, or a coworker... or someone on the street.

[corroonb]

Thanks a lot for quoting that Demophobe. When I'm in jail, I'll send you a postcard.

[ghost]

Thanks for the feedback.

I'm just using the (free) demo lessons online for the moment, before I come to a decision.

The demo lessons are actually good for learning hangul characters, because you can test yourself and replay the scenarios ad infinitum.

A Korean class for foreigners is starting on Saturday at the Korean Language Academy this Saturday (June 8th).

There are still a limited number of seats left for Level 1.

Send me a pm if you want to register for the course.

One of the students in the course will be a 51 year old polyglot Canadian who speaks 8 languages (French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Turkish, Mandarin, and Tagalog). He suffers from a type of dyslexia problem which means he has trouble learning Hangul characters, but he will explain his method for learning multiple languages in a short time.

Seoul Korean Language Academy, 4f Jichoun Bld., 818-1, Yoksam-dong, Kangnam-gu, Seoul, 135-80
Tel: 02 563 3226
e-mail: [email protected]
www.seoul-kla.com/



Ghost

[Whitey Otez]

Ha! Ghost in the shill!

Nice set up, excellent delivery...your technique for recruiting students was brilliant.

[ghost]

[Kenny Kimchee]

Excellent assessment. It�s crap � don�t buy it. The first time I used it I was at maybe middle-beginner level and still had no idea what was going on � I pity the absolute beginners who try to use that nonsense. After a couple of hours I could say �the boy is under the airplane� � yippee! It�s like the old saw about getting a thousand monkeys on typewriters and they�ll eventually write Shakespeare; use Rosetta Stone for a million hours and you�ll finally figure out Korean.

Check out http://wiki.galbijim.com/Portal:Learning_Korean for a nice list of free language learning resources; especially recommended is http://korean.sogang.ac.kr/

[patongpanda]

I gave up on it - it was just way too repetitious. I was learning a lot of weird stuff as well like 'the boy is under the airplane' - not a phrase I have had much use for.