Rosetta Stone

[DarkPenguin]

Anyone use this?  Opinions of it?  I feel like learning a language.

[kaelaria]

It's as-advertised - I play with it when I have the time, learning German.  It's really easy and addictive - and trains your brain very quickly.  I blows the several language classes I've had through my schooling out of the water, by FAR.  I learn more in 1 hour with it than a month of classwork (taken latin, greek, french for several years).

[feppe]

I've used it as well. It is quite good for conversational language, and I highly recommend it. I've learned passable tourist Spanish just with Rosetta Stone. It's not a substitute for immersing yourself, but will get you started on a language if you're not living in the country.

[DarkPenguin]

Very cool.  Thanks!

[larkvi]

Anyone use this?  Opinions of it?  I feel like learning a language.

It has some role in helping train the ear, but I have never found it as helpful as a good, grammar-oriented book, which I believe will help you actually communicate, as oppose to exchange basic pleasantries.

What language are you learning?

[Rob C]

Learning languages can be a pleasant experience, but I´d warn against any system that encourages speech before grammar.

I have this on personal experience with Italian and also Spanish. Hearing it and speaking it in conversational manner is all well and good, but unless you actually study the grammar properly you just don´t (eventually) realise how many mistakes you are making. I studied French at school for a long time and now, many years later, I find that reading it is not a challenge at all, as long as I know the meaning of the actual words; the sense of the thing also comes through without any problem because of the basic grammatical understanding. But, with the other two languages, though I can understand them both very well, the result of learning by ear and never taking a proper course has resulted in stilted conversational powers - not something to enjoy.

I have no idea if the Stone method works or not - all I want to say is don´t underestimate the value of learning properly, the first time. It´s easier to learn something once, properly, than later have to forget what you picked up and start all over again. Confusing, to say the least, if it can even be done.

Rob C

[DarkPenguin]

It has some role in helping train the ear, but I have never found it as helpful as a good, grammar-oriented book, which I believe will help you actually communicate, as oppose to exchange basic pleasantries.

What language are you learning?

Waffling on this.  It really should be Spanish but I couldn't roll an 'R' to save my life.

[BruceHouston]

Waffling on this.  It really should be Spanish but I couldn't roll an 'R' to save my life.

Rosetta Stone is tops in my opinion because it provides immersion, with no English, and makes maximum use of the senses.  We have both Spanish and Russian.  I am learning Russian becasue my family speaks it at home.  They are learning Spanish, at which I am fluent.

Trilling the R's requires a bit of practice but not much.  Practice making machine-gun sounds using a long sequence of trills.

Bruce

By the way, I have the prior additon of Rosetta Stone Russian Levels I and II for sale if anyone is interested.

[larkvi]

Waffling on this.  It really should be Spanish but I couldn't roll an 'R' to save my life.

Spanish has a really regular grammar, so all the more reason to immerse yourself with both the computer and a good book (not like those terrible textbooks they use in schools, something that clearly lays out grammar--look for the XXX for Reading Knowledge series) to work on aural comprehension and an understanding of the grammatical rules which will make you fluent(er) faster.