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Rosetta Stone

 
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What is your opinion of Rosetta Stone?
It is a fantastic tool, which will enable most determined people to make significant and reasonably swift progress.
16%
 16%  [ 2 ]
It has some merits but it is little more than a starting point.
8%
 8%  [ 1 ]
It is good but _____ is better (please state).
8%
 8%  [ 1 ]
It is an over-hyped waste of money.
33%
 33%  [ 4 ]
It varies from language to language.
25%
 25%  [ 3 ]
Other (please state).
8%
 8%  [ 1 ]
Total Votes : 12

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ABC KID



Joined: 14 Sep 2007

PostPosted: Fri Jun 25, 2010 8:22 pm    Post subject: Rosetta Stone Reply with quote

Rosetta Stone has received a mixture of acclaim and criticism. For people with experience of Rosetta, what is your verdict? What languages have you seen in action?

PLEASE BASE ALL ANSWERS ON STUDYING A LANGUAGE IN ONE'S OWN COUNTRY WITH THE CHANCE OF GOING TO THE COUNTRY OF THE TARGET LANGUAGE NOT BEING AN IMMEDIATE OPTION...
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toniyellow



Joined: 30 Sep 2009

PostPosted: Fri Jun 25, 2010 8:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I liked the German one some years ago.

I don't like the Korean one.
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Fox



Joined: 04 Mar 2009

PostPosted: Fri Jun 25, 2010 9:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have used Rosetta Stone to supplement my language learning. As a mere supplement it's fine; it drills vocabulary into your head, gives you practice speaking complete sentences, and gives you practice with character recognition and pronunciation as well.

One using Rosetta Stone exclusively can expect to make very little real progress, especially with a language like Korean, whose grammar is very opaque without explanation. At the very least, you will need to pair it with a good series of study books.

Rosetta Stone is also drastically over-priced when compared to its benefit as a study supplement. Unless you can get it for free somehow, it is not worth the purchase, especially for a language like Korean. The language website Livemocha can provide most of the benefit of the Rosetta Stone software for free, and can match you with study partners (in most cases, native speakers of the language in question who are willing to help teach you in return for you helping them with their English) very effectively as well.

Do not pay for Rosetta Stone under any circumstances, it is not worth the money.
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young_clinton



Joined: 09 Sep 2009

PostPosted: Fri Jun 25, 2010 10:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Fox wrote:
.

One using Rosetta Stone exclusively can expect to make very little real progress, especially with a language like Korean, whose grammar is very opaque without explanation. At the very least, you will need to pair it with a good series of study books.



Sorry but I disagree, I am about to finish Rosetta Stone Level II and have made significant progress in being able to communicate some Korean. Although I have to admit my first introduction to Korean was Pimsleur Comprehensive Korean I & II. I also get help from a Korean to English dictionary.

How good Rosetta Stone is depends on how many levels are available. For instance Thai and Indonesian have only one level and that is not near enough to justify buying it. Korean has 3 levels which is quite a bit, and languages like German and Spanish have 5 levels.

There are so many different views about how language should be learned that I think whether Rosetta Stone is liked or not depends on the language learning view of the person evaluating Rosetta Stone.
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Fox



Joined: 04 Mar 2009

PostPosted: Fri Jun 25, 2010 11:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

young_clinton wrote:
Fox wrote:
.

One using Rosetta Stone exclusively can expect to make very little real progress, especially with a language like Korean, whose grammar is very opaque without explanation. At the very least, you will need to pair it with a good series of study books.



Sorry but I disagree, I am about to finish Rosetta Stone Level II and have made significant progress in being able to communicate some Korean. Although I have to admit my first introduction to Korean was Pimsleur Comprehensive Korean I & II. I also get help from a Korean to English dictionary.


If you went through the entire Pimsleur course (a not inconsiderable amount of study), how can you really consider yourself a counter-example to my statement about the results of using Rosetta Stone exclusively?
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Draz



Joined: 27 Jun 2007
Location: Land of Morning Clam

PostPosted: Sun Jun 27, 2010 4:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

toniyellow wrote:
I liked the German one some years ago.


Tried the German one and hated it. There was no substance to it.
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buildbyflying



Joined: 01 Sep 2004
Location: To your right. No, your other right.

PostPosted: Sun Jun 27, 2010 6:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Seconding livemocha. It has it's flaws but the fact that it's community driven (and backed by one of the world's largest publishers) and that tends to weed out the errors.
RS is good if you're not paying for it (which is true for library subscribers, etc.)

Here's an invite (not necessary but it helps me.)
http://www.livemocha.com/invite/r:n51undKn
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