Can Rosetta Stone take you to fluency? (Language Programs, Books & Tapes) Language Learning Forum

Can Rosetta Stone take you to fluency?
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15 messages over 2 pages: 1 2

Autarkis
Triglot
Groupie
Switzerland
twitter.com/Autarkis
Joined 5958 days ago
95 posts - 106 votes

4 sounds
Speaks: German*, English, French
Studies: Italian

Message 9 of 15

23 August 2008 at 5:47am | IP Logged

Well, ok, cheap was the wrong word. I feel honored to be put straight on this point by an honest to god Scotsman. I salut you, Sir! ;)

Let's just check the numbers (from my point of view):

The Rosetta Stone Arabic Level 1 (Levels 1, 2 & 3) (amazon.com) : $197.00 ($494.10)

Arabic Lessons for Beginners, 28 lessons at 1.5 hours each (migros-klubschule.ch): 306$, materials not included

Now, all three TRS levels will probably have more vocabulary and you will be able to spend virtually unlimited time with it. It makes sense to me to make sure to pick up everything that's possible before entering the lessons.
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Dvorask
Newbie
United States
Joined 6010 days ago
16 posts - 16 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish, Japanese

Message 10 of 15

23 August 2008 at 8:03am | IP Logged

chelovek wrote:

Dvorask wrote:

I can say it's stupid. I have taken ONE YEAR of HIGH SCHOOL Spanish,
LEVEL 1, and i was able to do some of the
stuff on level 3 of the program. I have never taken the language before, and i studied it in SCHOOL! and i could
do some of level three. I think its to the point with me where i have a basic understanding of how things fit
together, and how they should be, and i just need to learn a WHOLE LOT more vocabulary and get a LOT more
exposure.

I do want to clarify though, that i did not buy the program. I was at a mall and they had a booth set up. I tried
level one and flew threw it. I got down the written part, and needed work on pronunciation. That's why I'm now
using FSI Spanish. It's hard, and a lot of work, but it makes you listen, and differentiate. This helps. A lot. I hope
to be reasonably fluent (watching tv, talking about any mundane subject, understanding when spoken to, you
know, the basics) by august '09. This gives me a full year to really learn the language. I watch the tv and listen to
spanish music as well, so that helps. I feel rosetta stone has a lot of "fluff".

Rosetta stone is ok, but to "get off the ground" in a language, i recommend learning the grammar and practicing
the boring way until it's becomes natural. Then, when you pick up a new concept, you got something to relate
to.

All in all, i don't really like rosetta stone, but i've only tried it once.

If you've only briefly tested the program, then you really shouldn't give your opinion on it. Especially not one as
illogical as, "I think it's stupid...but I hardly tried it." If you already know some of the language (from a year of
study), then you'll likely have a command of some of the things covered in Level 1. Understanding a few things
here and there in Level 3, even with a basic understanding, is normal.

Given that each individual lesson has ~40 new words/constructions, and that there are 10 lessons per unit, and
about 8 units per level...being able to recognize SOME things during your brief trial of the program doesn't really
mean a thing.

Okay, i see where you're coming from, and i guess i was a little strong with my opinion, and i'm sorry. The thing
is that the program costs so much, and as said before(by other posts), it doesn't really justify it's price. Again, i
can see where you're coming from, and it all makes sense. I don't plan on buying the program, but you don't
need to listen to my opinion. I will agree with you though that i was stupid for being so strong wit my opinion
after trying the program for a short while. Sorry.
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ColdBlue
Groupie
Angola
Joined 6579 days ago
40 posts - 41 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: Russian

Message 11 of 15

23 August 2008 at 3:15pm | IP Logged

Does anyone think that Rosetta Stone takes you farther than Assimil?
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AlexL
Diglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 7090 days ago
197 posts - 277 votes

Speaks: English*, Spanish
Studies: Italian

Message 13 of 15

31 August 2008 at 8:25am | IP Logged

I would say that for romance languages, Rosetta Stone, coupled with as much conversation practice as possible with native speakers, is a great program. For languages like Russian and Chinese, Rosetta Stone is probably not the best option.

If you want to see exactly how far the program will take you, go to www.rosettastone.com/global/support/downloads. Click "Version 3 Contents" and take a look at the English ones for Levels 1, 2, and 3. These are (basically) the sentences you'll learn to say.
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Cainntear
Pentaglot
Senior Member
Scotland
linguafrankly.blogsp
Joined 6017 days ago
4399 posts - 7687 votes

Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic
Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh

Message 14 of 15

31 August 2008 at 12:22pm | IP Logged

AlexL wrote:

If you want to see exactly how far the program will take you, go to www.rosettastone.com/global/support/downloads. Click "Version 3 Contents" and take a look at the English ones for Levels 1, 2, and 3. These are (basically) the sentences you'll learn to say.

I don't see that as particularly helpful. If you don't already know the relationship between English and your target language, this is pretty meaningless.
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autodidactic
Bilingual Triglot
Senior Member
United States
tinyurl.com/cunningl
Joined 6629 days ago
100 posts - 110 votes

Speaks: English*, Spanish*, French
Studies: Russian, Japanese, Kazakh

Message 15 of 15

17 September 2008 at 6:32pm | IP Logged

Rosetta stone has a cookie cutter approach that works for some languages but not for
others. Chinese and Japanese have relatively simple syntaxes with no noun declension,
verb conjugation. While you definitely wont get fluent with it, it'll teach you some
basic phrases with accuracy.

For a language like russian, version 2 just fails miserably. You can't use one
sentence to form another, as it uses different cases and conjugations without a proper
explanation.

However, even when it works it doesn't get you very far at all.

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