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TAC ’11 - Slacker’s Rosetta Stone Game | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
 Slacker Diglot Pro Member United States Joined 5444 days ago 62 posts - 99 votes  Speaks: Spanish, English Studies: German, Italian, Russian, Portuguese, Arabic (classical) Personal Language Map | Message 1 of 13 22 January 2011 at 4:43am | IP Logged | ||
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Hey Everybody!,
Slacker's 2011 TAC Challenge: Complete as Many Rosetta Stone Courses as Possible So, I'm wandering through the Dallas airport the other day, reflecting on the year so far... not only can I not believe that I'm still writing "2010" on my checks, I also can not believe that I still have a checkbook. My New Year's diet resolution is still going strong, as I was passing up the many appetizing eateries (and the Cinnabons), I had a quasi-epiphany... wait, where am I going with this? OK, so last year I had an excellent idea for TAC'10: to complete as many Pimsleur courses as possible. Long story short, about one and a half were "possible". Although I didn't accomplish much in the way of language annihilation, I did run three marathons, which was three more than I had ever previously ran... So anyway, I love walking around airports when I have a long layover -- this time was no different. One thing that I did take notice of; however, was the fact that every 50 feet or so, there was a Rosetta Stone kiosk. Lol. Suckers! Who buys $500 useless language software in an airport?!?! I tried out one of their courses in '02/'03 for about a week - barely got past "the new elephant is under the red table" before coming to the obvious realization that elephants are color blind, and therefore the redness or blueness of the table would be irrelevant to them (sound effect: tossing Rosetta Stone CD across the room, into the trash) Ok, so fast forward to now -- apparently the "new improved" versions are "better" (it would be difficult to not be)... and, as luck would have it, I apparently have access to the newer versions of the software. So here it is: my 2011 TAC Challenge: Complete as many Rosetta Stone Courses as Possible. That's it! Game on! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Slacker Diglot Pro Member United States Joined 5444 days ago 62 posts - 99 votes Speaks: Spanish, English Studies: German, Italian, Russian, Portuguese, Arabic (classical) Personal Language Map | Message 2 of 13 22 January 2011 at 5:05am | IP Logged | ||
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One Down!
Ok, so I completed "Rosetta Stone Italian - Level 1" (v.3) in just about 15 hours (I started last weekend). Passed all of the tests and the end-of-module "Milestones" with flying colors, usually 90-100%. As a side note, I'm not doing any of the speaking exercises. I'm thinking that Italian will be about as fast as I can possibly go, since I kind of know Spanish already that makes it a lot easier, thus it appears that I can go through these at a fairly rapid pace (although 15 hours is still no joke... could have watched a lot of TV instead). Next up? I'm thinking Italian Level 2. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Slacker Diglot Pro Member United States Joined 5444 days ago 62 posts - 99 votes Speaks: Spanish, English Studies: German, Italian, Russian, Portuguese, Arabic (classical) Personal Language Map | Message 3 of 13 23 January 2011 at 6:18pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hey Y'all,
Well, I hit my first major stumbling block in Italian Level 2. In Unit 1 (Travel) I had to repeat two of the grammar portions because my score was below 90%, which gives a horrible "X" instead of a "✔". No big deal, I figured out what I was doing wrong on the repeat - errors with pronouns - which turned out to be good foreshadowing for what would happen when I hit Level 2, Unit 2 (Past and Future)... I couldn't beat the grammar monster at the end of Level 2, Unit 2, Lesson 2. No problems with past tense and the apparent difference between transitive and intransitive verbs in the past, but my problems was with indirect object pronouns... just couldn't figure it out, so I had to go the ultimate gamer's cheat book: Berlitz Italian Grammar Handbook. Apparently it goes a little something like this: singular: mi - to me ti - to you (informal) Le - to you (formal) gli - to him, to it le - to her, to it plural: ci - to us vi - to you (informal) Loro - to you (formal) loro (or gli) - to them (masc and fem!) So the secret hidden key here is that "gli" can be used not only for the picture of the teacher giving the boy a book, but also for the grandpa reading a book to two girls. Better luck next time Grandpa! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Slacker Diglot Pro Member United States Joined 5444 days ago 62 posts - 99 votes Speaks: Spanish, English Studies: German, Italian, Russian, Portuguese, Arabic (classical) Personal Language Map | Message 4 of 13 07 February 2011 at 5:20am | IP Logged | ||
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Two Down!
Just finished Rosetta Stone Italian, Level 2 (v.3). It took a little longer than level 1... about a week longer... but still only about 16 hours total. I'm not sure how my actual Italian proficiency is coming along; however, I was able to understand most of the Italian in the George Clooney movie, "The American"... which is about the best thing I can say about that particular film. -Slacker Done: Italian-1, Italian-2 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Slacker Diglot Pro Member United States Joined 5444 days ago 62 posts - 99 votes Speaks: Spanish, English Studies: German, Italian, Russian, Portuguese, Arabic (classical) Personal Language Map | Message 5 of 13 08 February 2011 at 4:01am | IP Logged | ||
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Hey Y'all!,
Ok, while logically, you would think that I might go on to Rosetta Stone Italian Level 3 next, in fact I think I'm going to try something a little more challenging. Arabic. Yeah... I just worked through Level 1, Unit 1, Lesson 1, and I can say that it was a bit more difficult than Italian. Wish me luck! -Slacker ============================== TAC '11 - Slacker's Rosetta Stone Game Current: Arabic-1 Done: Italian-1, Italian-2 Total Hours: 33 ============================== 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| strikingstar Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 5164 days ago 292 posts - 444 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin*, Cantonese, Swahili Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written) | Message 6 of 13 08 February 2011 at 5:50am | IP Logged | ||
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Not to be a Debbie Downer but I would seriously advise against starting off on Arabic
with Rosetta Stone. If you have no understanding of Arabic grammar, RS Arabic will drive you absolutely nuts. Edited to add "Good luck". Edited by strikingstar on 08 February 2011 at 5:51am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Slacker Diglot Pro Member United States Joined 5444 days ago 62 posts - 99 votes Speaks: Spanish, English Studies: German, Italian, Russian, Portuguese, Arabic (classical) Personal Language Map | Message 7 of 13 13 February 2011 at 5:49am | IP Logged | ||
Strikingstar, Thanks! Yeah, I can definitely see that already -- which is probably why I've never tried to learn Arabic before. I'm only up to lesson 1.1.2 and I can already say that it is quite a bit more challenging than Italian was. So, before going into this I can count the number of things I know about Arabic grammar on one hand: #1. Arabic words are formed from three-consonant "roots", with the vowels used to convey plural, verbs, subject, etc. #2. It has masculine and feminine, as well as differences between singular, plural, and "dual" for two of something. #3. The grammar of Modern Standard Arabic doesn't necessarily apply to any of the modern spoken variants (dialects). #4. That's about it. So, with all that, I can say that although even the first couple lessons have been difficult, I think I'm slowly getting it. I last did the core exercise for 1.1.2 on Monday (and it was brutal -- had to re-do it at least twice), and hadn't touched it again until today... I was busy all week, and I'll admit, a little discouraged. However, today when I did the additional lessons of 1.1.2 (which included review of 1.1.1), it all seemed to 'click' and make sense. For example (and excuse the transliteration -- this is just how I hear it, your results may vary): heya ta'kulu tufahatan = she eats an apple hum ya'kuluna tufahan = they eat apples huwa ya'kulu shatiratan = he eats a sammich huma ya'kulANI shataira = they (TWO PEOPLE) eat yummy looking sammiches huwa ya'kulu baidatan = he eats an egg So, what I was able to understand more clearly this time, five days later, is that "ANI" is related to two people, and verbs starting with "ta" are usually related to females doing something. Then in the next grammar exercise was: kalamun = a pen al waladu ladeyhi kalamun = the boy has a pen then it gave me the following choice: lada rajuli (aklamun OR kalamani)... ...since the picture was of a dude with way more pens than anyone should actually ever have, I went with "aklamun" to mean "a whole lotta pens". I got the little green check-mark, the happy-harp noise, and ended up with a 90% overall score for the grammar review. Sweet! Speaking of Debbie Downer, did you know that in the Middle East, feline AIDS is still the #1 killer of feral cats? (Insert red "X" and RS "wah-waaah" sound effect) -Slacker 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| strikingstar Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 5164 days ago 292 posts - 444 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin*, Cantonese, Swahili Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written) | Message 8 of 13 13 February 2011 at 8:41am | IP Logged | ||
See, that's the problem with RS Arabic. It gives you an incomplete picture and it causes you to form dangerous conclusions only to have these conclusions continuously challenged. It is true that "aani" is related to two people, but RS doesn't make it easy to deduce that this is only true for the nominative case. In the genitive and accusative cases, "ayni" is used. And actually, "ta" is used for both males and females. For example: Anta ta'kulu = You (m) eat. Antum ta'kuluuna = Y'all (m) eat. Antunna ta'kulna = Y'all (f) eat. Antumaa ta'kulaani = You two eat (regardless of gender). Humaa ta'kulaani = They two (f) eat. In any case, it seems you're having fun with RS. I'll admit I might be slightly (just oh so slightly) prejudiced against it having struggled mightily when starting off on Arabic with RS. I actually almost gave up on Arabic. Yikes!! Stopped for two whole months and decided to start over anew. But hey, if RS does work for you, don't let me rain on your parade. Good luck. -Strikingstar 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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