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My experiences with programs! Tell yours!

 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes Post Reply
11 messages over 2 pages: 1 2  Next >>
AmaymonF
Tetraglot
Newbie
Brazil
Joined 5071 days ago

5 posts - 4 votes
Speaks: Portuguese*, English, Spanish, German
Studies: Russian

 
 Message 1 of 11
30 January 2011 at 4:05pm | IP Logged 
Hello, language learners. Tell about your experiences with language learning programs,
give recomendations. So I will start:

Learning German
I think the best learning program for German is so far DeutschWelle! They offer basic
lessons, intermediate, advanced and business. DeutschWelle offers also a soap opera in
German, everyday news in German with audio in two speeds: Originaltempo and slow. Which
improves a lot your listenning skills. And that's only the beginning! So, for me it is
best learning 'device' for German. And yet it is TOTALLY FREE! Forget about others! Use
DeutschWelle!
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,,2547,00.html

I've tried Alemão Passo a Passo, Rosetta Stone German, Tell me more German. But none
overdoes DeutschWelle.

Ranking on my experiences on learning German:

1. DeutschWelle
2. Tell me more German
3. Alemão Passo a Passo
4. Rosetta Stone

Learning French

Teach Yourself French? Yes, but just to learn the basics. It provides you about 1300
words. Colloquial French? Yes, but just the basics too. Provides about 1300 words too.
Rosetta Stone French Complete for $549.00? NEVER! Yes, I said NEVER EVER in earth.
Overpriced, Overrated, 'Overboring'! Doesn't even offer you a dictionary or a grammar
reference.
Rosetta Stone method is genious, yeah! But their method won't make you learn a language
in just 5 levels, if it had 50 levels, maybe. I made a rough calculation and the
results are sad. Rosetta Stone French Complete offers about 2000 words. That's
absolutely ridiculous, buying a product for this price to learn only 2000 words.

So the Oscar goes to: Tell Me More French 10 levels. The price is $400.00. But it
teaches more than 9000 words. Amazing! Ohhhh How I wish it existed Tell Me More All
Languages!

Ranking on my experiences on learning French:

1. Tell Me More
2. Teach Yourself French - Colloquial French
3. Wizard Francês
4. Rosetta Stone

Learning Russian

Colloquial Russian levels 1 and 2: Not very expensive and can provide you about 2300.
BETTER and CHEAPER than Rosetta Stone.
Teach Yourself Russian: Well, it is quite good and CHEAP. It can introduce you the
basics. About 1300 words. I bought mine for only $28.00
But the best for me is the course provided by Princeton University. I got it for free,
1.5GB of lessons and audios. Amazing. I am very pleased with Princeton University's
work on Russian language.

Ranking on my experiences on learning Russian:

1. Princeton Russian
2. Colloquial Russian
3. Teach Yourself Russian

Learning Dutch

Such a beautiful language with not much resources available. What a shame. In the
sphere of Dutch I've tried only Colloquial Dutch levels 1 and 2, it is quite good and
not expensive, providing about 2500 words. I am sure that Tell Me More Dutch is the
best, although I never tried it. And can't afford buying it right now.

1 person has voted this message useful



tomsawyer
Senior Member
Aruba
Joined 5293 days ago

103 posts - 141 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: GermanB1, French, Russian

 
 Message 2 of 11
01 February 2011 at 2:17pm | IP Logged 
Thanks for your informative post. You seem to judge a method's effectiveness depending on
its price vs. the number of words it teaches you, which I find is an interesting measure.
Though you seem to really be enjoying yourself, learning these languages, and that's
great.


1 person has voted this message useful



tmp011007
Diglot
Senior Member
Congo
Joined 6075 days ago

199 posts - 346 votes 
Speaks: Spanish*, English
Studies: French, Portuguese

 
 Message 3 of 11
01 February 2011 at 8:54pm | IP Logged 
a TellMeMore fan? good for you

I think TellMeMore version 10 (or 9) could be a good suplement but not the main resource for Spanish, french, Italian, German, dutch and even English... there are some arabic, japanese, and chinese old versions and they just... they just suck (big time)

...

my own "Learning French" list would be, in chronological order:

.michel thomas method/pimsleur
.oxford take off in french/teach yourself french complete course/hugo french in three months
.rocket french/fsi metropolitan french fAST course
.fsi french basic course/assimil french with ease
.linguaphone french complete/dli french basic course
.frances planeta de agostini/tellmemore frances *
.french in action/frenchpod


now, "Ranking on my experiences":

1.
assimil/linguaphone (just amazing)
french in action (maybe the best and/but maybe not for beginners)
planeta de agostini (very good but not enough audio)
fsi fast (good and fast, veeery fast)
fsi/dli (amazing and/but boring)

2.
michel thomas (quick structure/grammar but no vocabulary)
take off/hugo/teach yourself (good foundation and phrasebook style...)
pimsleur (soft drilling... poor vocabulary)

3.
frenchpod (good enough... sometimes too much English)
tellmemore (not for beginners. good practice but poor teaching)
rocket (beginners)


Edited by tmp011007 on 01 February 2011 at 10:18pm

1 person has voted this message useful



Cammela
Tetraglot
Newbie
Senegal
Joined 5059 days ago

28 posts - 31 votes
Speaks: French*, ItalianC2, Spanish, GermanB2

 
 Message 4 of 11
02 February 2011 at 12:09am | IP Logged 
What do you think about Strokes?
1 person has voted this message useful



AmaymonF
Tetraglot
Newbie
Brazil
Joined 5071 days ago

5 posts - 4 votes
Speaks: Portuguese*, English, Spanish, German
Studies: Russian

 
 Message 5 of 11
03 February 2011 at 10:49pm | IP Logged 
@tmp011007

Thank you for the information about French. Of course only one language program is
absolutely not enough. But Tell Me More is the most complete for me. :) (The new
versions, of course)

@Cammela

I heard about Strokes. But I've never gave it a try. Does it worth? Can you tell me more
about it?

Thanks
1 person has voted this message useful



leosmith
Senior Member
United States
Joined 6556 days ago

2365 posts - 3804 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Tagalog

 
 Message 6 of 11
04 February 2011 at 2:24am | IP Logged 
AmaymonF wrote:
BETTER and CHEAPER than Rosetta Stone.

I wonder if there is a program out there that can't claim that?
1 person has voted this message useful



vibe
Newbie
United States
Joined 5119 days ago

4 posts - 5 votes

 
 Message 7 of 11
04 February 2011 at 4:53pm | IP Logged 
Could you give some information on the Tell Me More approach? I haven't heard of it, and their website didn't give a lot of details other than its some software you use.

How does it work? Is it like Rosetta Stone or more like FSI with audio drills?
1 person has voted this message useful



tmp011007
Diglot
Senior Member
Congo
Joined 6075 days ago

199 posts - 346 votes 
Speaks: Spanish*, English
Studies: French, Portuguese

 
 Message 8 of 11
04 February 2011 at 5:09pm | IP Logged 
vibe wrote:
Could you give some information on the Tell Me More approach? I haven't heard of it, and their website didn't give a lot of details other than its some software you use.

How does it work? Is it like Rosetta Stone or more like FSI with audio drills?

there are free online demos on their website (no credit card required, really free. just sign up for a 7 day trial)


an old review (version 5 or 6 I think)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsFlzZYhYok

tellmemore intro (in Spanish)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arVLEaxJSYs


Edited by tmp011007 on 04 February 2011 at 5:28pm



1 person has voted this message useful



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