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Will Rosetta Stone give me what I want? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| polyglHot Pentaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5067 days ago 173 posts - 229 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, English, German, Spanish, Indonesian Studies: Russian | Message 9 of 20 12 February 2011 at 8:00am | IP Logged | |||||
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No. Go to Korea. (Preferably the South...)
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| EmmaHewitt Newbie United States Joined 5036 days ago 20 posts - 20 votes Speaks: English* | Message 10 of 20 12 February 2011 at 6:59pm | IP Logged | |||||
yeah, i am going to go to south korea, in about 1 1/2 years. I will also take a few korean language classes in the fall at university, i just wanted to see if rosetta stone would actually give me a basic understanding of things so i could start learning something before i take the classes which i cant start till the fall. i've taken Spanish courses before, and felt that if i had went in with some knowledge about the language i would have gotten way more out of the class than i did, i'm sure others have felt the same way. ^_^ 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
 Slacker Diglot Pro Member United States Joined 5454 days ago 62 posts - 99 votes Speaks: Spanish, English Studies: German, Italian, Russian, Portuguese, Arabic (classical) Personal Language Map | Message 11 of 20 12 February 2011 at 8:57pm | IP Logged | |||||
Emma, I say that since you have access to Korean level 1-3 already, and you aren't concerned with price, go for it. I've so far done the Italian level 1 and 2, and just started on Arabic level 1, and the one thing I would warn you (as others have) is that it isn't great at teaching the script from the beginning. You might want to spend a few hours beforehand learning the Hangul writing system before you get started. You said that you're not worried about grammar and such; however, although it isn't presented in a pedantic "the first person present indicative of the verb "to climb" is... blah blah blah... (snore)", the whole purpose of Rosetta Stone, I would argue, is to teach grammar and vocabulary through the progressive exercises. In this respect, I would say that using RS would give you a definite leg-up when you start your university class and you'll already be ahead of the game. Also, if you are using version 3 or 4 (and I think you said that you are in one of your later posts) there is actually a lot of emphasis on basic conversation, versus the previous "the boy is on the horse", "the boy is under the airplane" versions. That being said, getting to the level where you can have a "basic conversation in Korean" will take a lot of time and effort, no matter what course of studies you take... depending on your definition of a "basic conversation". Good luck! -Slacker ============================== TAC '11 - Slacker's Rosetta Stone Game Current: Arabic-1.1.2 Done: Italian-1, Italian-2 Total Hours: 35.5 ============================== 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Slacker Diglot Pro Member United States Joined 5454 days ago 62 posts - 99 votes Speaks: Spanish, English Studies: German, Italian, Russian, Portuguese, Arabic (classical) Personal Language Map | Message 12 of 20 12 February 2011 at 9:12pm | IP Logged | |||||
I agree with Sanghee on this one -- I've used a number of Pimsleur courses and I like them as well (although, like RS, you'll see a lot of bad reviews, mostly related to the course being overpriced.) I just did a search and found that Korean has both a full Level 1 and Level 2 now; so you might want to consider doing these along with RS. Pimsleur is very repetitive, and very (only) conversation oriented. So, you could put together a decent introductory self-study course using Pimsleur Level 1 and 2 along with RS Level 1-3 (which you already have), and a $20 Korean grammar book in case you get stuck/confused. -Slacker 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| EmmaHewitt Newbie United States Joined 5036 days ago 20 posts - 20 votes Speaks: English* | Message 13 of 20 12 February 2011 at 9:42pm | IP Logged | |||||
yeah, using both is a good idea, and i think thats exactly what i'll do. i also am going to try to watch the Let's Speak Korean program, just so i can mix things up so i wont get bored doing the same thing. ^_^ 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Chris Heptaglot Senior Member Japan Joined 7122 days ago 287 posts - 452 votes Speaks: English*, Russian, Indonesian, French, Malay, Japanese, Spanish Studies: Dutch, Korean, Mongolian | Message 14 of 20 13 February 2011 at 10:29am | IP Logged | |||||
I hate Rosetta Stone with a passion. Don't touch that junk with a bargepole. You'd be better off with Eurotalk Korean, or how about Rocket Korean, if the software is what's catching your fancy? Rocket is very basic, but it is conversation based, and the folks at Librosmedia (the publishers) have finally realised that they need to use 100% native speakers on their audios. Even though it's very basic - I have to stress this fact: it is BASIC - I've been testing it out (and I'm going to review it) and it's pretty good for a basic, introductory course. It also teaches you how to read Korean. There's a fairly new book out there by Tuttle called 'Mastering Conversational Korean: Korean For Beginners' that is worth buying as a westerner learning Korean. The title is misleading because there are no model conversations as such, but you will gain insights into the Korean language, and the book and CD Rom do a very nice job of teaching you to read Korean. What else? 'Korean For Beginners' is another introduction you might consider. It comes with a CD with really slow and deliberate pronunciation on it, and it does include hangul, although it only gives you a general idea of pronunciation. Other guides are more detailed. It also comes with game cards ytou can cut out, but I never did because I like the hair-shirt approach to language-learning. I teach English to Japanese elementary school students and their books have cut-out cards in the back so I think they are a bit daft in an adult textbook. It's an OK introduction, though. A final point: You can't divorce grammar from language-learning. It simply isn't possible. I've often been non-plussed by people saying, 'I don't want to do all the grammar, I just want to be able to speak it.' but your knowledge of how the structure of a language works will determine, in part, how good you are at speaking thge language. Good luck with your studies! Korean is fun! The food's good too! Edit: Forgot to mention 'Beginning Korean' CD Rom by Critical Language Series, University Of Arizona. Google it and you'll find it. Great piece of software! Edited by Chris on 13 February 2011 at 10:32am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| jtdotto Diglot Groupie United States Joined 5230 days ago 73 posts - 172 votes Speaks: English*, Korean Studies: Spanish, Portuguese, German | Message 15 of 20 13 February 2011 at 8:46pm | IP Logged | |||||
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This is just my take on RS and learning Korean...
Rosetta Stone's pedagogy is essentially flawed. Their whole marketing scheme (which is very impressive by the way) is to offer language fluency with minimal effort, activating your primal lingual learning ability - like a baby. Toddlers and kids learn languages well because most of them have two educated live-in tutors around 24/7 (their parents). And it takes them years before they become conversationally fluent. This is language acquisition. Language learning on the other hand is a highly systematic process (in successful cases) where someone learns the rules of the language (the grammar) and an entirely new set of vocabulary for concepts you already know (and some you don't). Trying to hack through the grammar code with RS is kind of a needless waste of time when you can simply buy a book that explains what is going on and then provides you with clear examples. I suppose if RS was used as a supplement with a primary textbook, you could gain some useful listening practice and vocabulary drilling. In short, if you simply want to enter your class in the fall with some words and a very foggy understanding of the beginnings of Korean sentence structure, RS is sufficient. But if you're looking for a true leg up from your classmates in the form of knowing how to form your own sentences and making basic conversation with some fluidity (and a very real sense of satisfaction), RS will not even scratch the surface - this takes a certain amount of effort working through a grammar textbook with audio accompaniment, like the KLEAR series or the "You Speak Korean!" series (the second one my professor authored and I have to say is truly one of the best resources for beginning Korean out there). 5 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Chris Heptaglot Senior Member Japan Joined 7122 days ago 287 posts - 452 votes Speaks: English*, Russian, Indonesian, French, Malay, Japanese, Spanish Studies: Dutch, Korean, Mongolian | Message 16 of 20 14 February 2011 at 1:21am | IP Logged | |||||
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Oh, the 'You Speak Korean' is one of the new offerings from Cheng & Tsui. Their materials are of excellent quality.
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