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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
 meramarina Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5968 days ago 1341 posts - 2303 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Italian, French Personal Language Map | Message 1 of 6 23 February 2011 at 5:30pm | IP Logged | ||
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There is a very interesting series of articles analyzing the current market for language learning products in general and detailing the business strategy of Rosetta Stone in particular:
Rosetta Stone's slide intensifies with slash to Q4 outlook Does Rosetta Stone dominate the language learning industry? Why Rosetta Stone's strategy to revitalize itself will fail I was wondering how the author knew so much about language self-study options when I read this: The Web also provides tons of free or cheap blogs, forums and websites which have been increasingly able to replace language-learning courses. The combination of the forum at how-to-learn-any-language.com, Spanishdict.com, and the digital flashcard program Anki taught me more Spanish than anything I had to pay for. Good reading! I liked these articles and I hope that the author, if he's here (I don't know username) does not mind this brief excerpt from the series with mention of our HTLAL forum. It was especially alarming to learn of school districts firing language teachers and replacing them with Rosetta Stone, even if that's unlikely to continue. Note: I'm placing this topic in this room rather than in the links and resources room because of the extensive discussion of various language self-study products. 9 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| skchi Groupie United States Joined 5746 days ago 57 posts - 86 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 2 of 6 24 February 2011 at 7:11pm | IP Logged | ||
I just skimmed through the articles. They looked interesting, so I'll read them later when I have more time. What's going on with firing language teachers and replacing them with Rosetta Stone? How does that work? Do they just send the students into a computer lab with a low-paid teacher's assistant to babysit the students, and let the students play with Rosetta Stone for a hour or so? I assume that the students aren't required to speak the target language, since there isn't a teacher there to listen, help, and grade them. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| CaucusWolf Senior Member United States Joined 5273 days ago 191 posts - 234 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Arabic (Written), Japanese | Message 3 of 6 25 February 2011 at 6:45am | IP Logged | ||
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I noticed the article talked about Rosetta Stone promising fluency. No single program can make you fluent, not that I'm defending RS. The only way it could be this is if your definition is only being able to read novels with help from a dictionary.(knowing an extremely smaller vocabulary than a native.) So I think that argument is a little flawed.
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| schoenewaelder Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5561 days ago 759 posts - 1197 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: German, Spanish, Dutch | Message 4 of 6 25 February 2011 at 5:01pm | IP Logged | ||
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That story about firing teachers must surely be a myth? That said, I do think if every school kid was given a copy of a Michel Thomas course, and sent home for two weeks, it would lead to a big transformation in language learning. And you could do something similar with Rosetta Stone in the infants school.
I like the suggestion that the reason Americans think that RS is pretty good is because Americans never actually have to use their language skills, so they don't realise that they're not actually fluent (but then that doesn't explain why America also produces some of the best language products). Once you start thinking that RS isn't really about becoming fluent, it's about "edutainment" it actually starts to sound a bit more appealing. Apart from the price. But if you're marketing it against computer games etc, then it doesn't look so extreme. Also interesting that Americans are simply accustomed to paying such high prices (because language learning is a niche market there?) compared to the rest of the world. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6012 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 5 of 6 25 February 2011 at 6:10pm | IP Logged | ||
Such as...? Teach Yourself is run out of the UK. It was Teach Yourself's UK publishers who commissioned the MT courses (although he spent most of his working life in America). Routledge (Colloquial) are a UK company. Linguaphone is based in the south of England, and was founded by a Pole. Berlitz and Langensheidt are German. Assimil is French. Pimsleur is American. Living Language (Random House) is American. So while I'm not saying that the US are bad at producing language materials, I don't feel your statement really holds true.... 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| meramarina Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5968 days ago 1341 posts - 2303 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Italian, French Personal Language Map | Message 6 of 6 25 February 2011 at 6:18pm | IP Logged | ||
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The article gives a link to the teachers vs. software story:
software or teachers? The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of Rosetta Stone isn't efficiency, learning, or saving money, in class or out of it! I was at a Borders Bookstore sale the other day (company is bankrupt and closing many stores) and you know what I was doing there: hunting for a few good language book deals, of course. And the whole place was in disarray with items in the wrong locations everywhere, but the really funny thing was that Rosetta Stone products were on the Addiction and Recovery shelf! Wish I'd had a camera with me! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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