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How far can Rosetta Stone v3 take you? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| chelovek Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5904 days ago 413 posts - 461 votes  5 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Russian | Message 10 of 88 21 April 2008 at 2:14pm | IP Logged | |||||
I think I have Version 2. The second volume starts with basic greetings and such, but there aren't any in Volume 1. I'm glad they actually are trying to improve their product though. I don't suppose they added in some grammar tools, did they? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| AlexL Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6901 days ago 197 posts - 277 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Italian | Message 11 of 88 26 April 2008 at 3:31pm | IP Logged | |||||
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They did add grammar exercises. They've also added simulated conversations (though not that many) and they now try to teach you individual sounds and letters.
Also, "the elephant is jumping" is literally the first lesson. Of course you progress further. By Level 2, you are saying, "The man drove the car to work," "The train has been delayed 30 minutes," "Is it going to rain tomorrow?," "I'm buying an umbrella today because it's going to rain tomorrow," and more. Go to this link: http://www.rosettastone.com/global/support/downloads And click the "Version 3 Contents" tab. You can then download a list of phrases taught in any of the version 3 languages. Personally, I think RS v3 is great, but you should have some background, even just a small one, in the grammar of the language or the grammar of a similar language. I had no problems using RS Italian having studied Spanish, but did have trouble with Russian--I think I would have fared better had I spent a few weeks learning some basics before starting the program. Edited by AlexL on 26 April 2008 at 3:33pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Lugubert Heptaglot Senior Member Sweden Joined 6684 days ago 186 posts - 235 votes Speaks: Swedish*, Danish, Norwegian, EnglishC2, German, Dutch, French Studies: Mandarin, Hindi | Message 12 of 88 30 April 2008 at 8:57am | IP Logged | |||||
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I have looked at RS Hindi and Chinese, languages that I need to improve. The pictures plus words very often lead to difficulties that are not language related. Is this kid in a toy car a boy or a girl? Is this female meant to illustrate a girl or a woman?
Hindi. A boy is face down flat on the ground. A ball balances on his back. You think that you recognize the nouns, so it reads 'boy' par 'ball'. You know some other Indo-European langugaes. Clear enough: par must mean 'under'. Or? Pages later, you get a table over a boy, 'over' is nice. Finally, after listening umpteen times and viewing other combinations, if you're lucky you might find that 'boy' doesn't sound exactly the same way with the ball as in "The boy runs". Ball-boy problem: it's literally Boy - on whom - ball, and conversely for the table setup, your understood 'over' means 'under' One sentence of grammar explanation would have saved you from "learning" two errors, having to unlearn them later. An interesting cultural clash was that I was getting very close to a brain meltdown, because I thought that I rather consistently chose the correct answers for level 2 Chinese (except perhaps for those boychild/girlchild, walking/running or boy/man choices), but the program signalled errors all the way. It wasn't entirely obvious to me that the check mark was supposed to mean OK. From grade 1 in Sweden, the check mark means wrong in school. I'm so happy that our public library lent those courses. Buying them would have been a total waste of money for me. Edited by Lugubert on 30 April 2008 at 8:59am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| CaitO'Ceallaigh Triglot Senior Member United States katiekelly.wordpress Joined 6674 days ago 795 posts - 829 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Russian Studies: Czech, German | Message 13 of 88 30 April 2008 at 10:04am | IP Logged | |||||
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I used Rosetta Stone levels 2 and 3 to learn Spanish (I had started with Pimsleur).
I have such mixed feelings about it, because I liked it for Spanish, and not so much for Russian. I'm not sure why. I had already studied Russian for a number of years, perhaps, so the sentences in Rosetta Stone seemed worthless to me. I just could not relate to "The boy is under the airplane" in a meaningful way. Level 3 has audio, reading, and even videos which I found to be entertaining enough to stick with it. After version 3, I started going to a private Spanish tutor, and she was impressed I had learned as much as I did from a piece of software. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Javisst Newbie United States Joined 6118 days ago 35 posts - 34 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, Italian, Swedish | Message 14 of 88 01 May 2008 at 1:25am | IP Logged | |||||
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Lugubert, your criticism of RS minus the cultural clash is the same as mine. When I tried it out, there were so many times that I just wanted it to give me a translation instead of forcing me to play these elaborate, drawn out games to find out what a word means. I just couldn't get into RS.
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| AlexL Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6901 days ago 197 posts - 277 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Italian | Message 15 of 88 02 May 2008 at 5:03pm | IP Logged | |||||
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While the criticisms are certainly valid, they are of Version 2. The "boy under the airplane" is not in Version 3, and prepositions are not taught until you are already used to the language somewhat. There are now grammar exercises, and while it is still sometimes difficult to understand certain phrases based on the pictures--especially in non Indo-European languages--a search for a good explanation in Google or a look at your favorite dictionary usually are enough to solve the problem.
I think RS has improved a lot in Version 3, but I do still think the program is designed to work with Romance languages and Germanic languages more than any others. (Russian and Chinese included). 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| digitlhand Triglot Groupie United States ryanslrblog.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6038 days ago 77 posts - 108 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Swedish Studies: German, Arabic (Written), Japanese, Greek, French | Message 16 of 88 02 May 2008 at 5:10pm | IP Logged | |||||
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In conclusion you'll learn the language a little but not far. End of discussion.
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