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Pimsleur vs. Rosetta-Stone | ||
Tags: Rosetta Stone | Pimsleur | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| engs15 Newbie United States Joined 5686 days ago 3 posts - 3 votes Speaks: English* | Message 1 of 8 25 October 2008 at 3:56pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Going through this site and others I keep coming across 2 programs. I have seen crazy prices for rosettastone but hear it is great to learn fast and retention. I saw a CD for Pimsleur that was 9.95 but that must be for some beginner level. I guess I need some honest criticisms of both so I can decide and start right away!!! I will start with Spanish and plan to learn 3 or 4 more so cost is a big part. Also what site is best to purchase this stuff? Oh I also saw a post where someone went on the public Library site to do Rosettastone for free??? Can anyone confirm that!!!
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| BGreco Senior Member Joined 6204 days ago 211 posts - 222 votes  3 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: French, Spanish | Message 2 of 8 25 October 2008 at 4:23pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Most people hear, I would say, actually dislike both those methods and would encourage you to pick up Michel Thomas, Assimil, or Learning Spanish Like Crazy. Or even better, go to fsi-language-courses.com and learn for free.
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| gilozoaire Newbie Belgium Joined 5698 days ago 12 posts - 12 votes Speaks: French* Studies: Mandarin | Message 3 of 8 25 October 2008 at 5:19pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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If you want to learn Spanish, you'd better buy "Spanish like Crazy" which is a little like Pimsleur but with more vocab and a less stilted style. It's also much cheaper than Pimsleur (200-250 euros for both volumes)
Rosetta Stone is good for getting used to language structure and acquiring vocab, but useless for communication. You can get something useful from it, but it's not worth the horrible price tag. Edited by gilozoaire on 26 October 2008 at 9:40am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| ennime Tetraglot Senior Member South Africa universityofbrokengl Joined 5715 days ago 397 posts - 507 votes Speaks: English, Dutch*, Esperanto, Afrikaans Studies: Xhosa, French, Korean, Portuguese, Zulu | Message 4 of 8 26 October 2008 at 4:57pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I agree, personally Michel Thomas would be my recommendation. but between Pimsleur and Rosetta I would go for rosetta, I've been using both in Russian and I prefer Pimsleur definitly, the draw back bein that my cyrillic not being adequate... Though I found it harder to get the pronounciation correct with Rosetta and also my comprehension of grammar wasn't really being furthered I felt. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Leopejo Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Italy Joined 5920 days ago 675 posts - 724 votes Speaks: Italian*, Finnish*, English Studies: French, Russian | Message 5 of 8 26 October 2008 at 5:45pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I shouldn't reply to this topic, but since there have been serious answers: I disagree with the prevalent mood here. Between Pimsleur and Michel Thomas, I much prefer Pimsleur. It teaches more words and constructions, it teaches pronunciation a thousand times better, its repetition value is not high, but higher than MT (I mean, returning to listen to Pimsleur after you completed the course). Besides, I find that what Pimsleur teaches sticks, while MT doesn't. Sure, Pimsleur takes more time, and probably costs some more, if you can't find it for free (library). Besides, Pimsleur can be interesting, nice, full of humour too - while MT is just annoying, especially the two beginner students. Caveat: I base the above on MT (and Pimsleur) Russian - not taught by Mr. Pimsleur himself. I have no experience of other MT. Caveat 2: I am not suggesting Pimsleur to anyone. Just saying that in my personal opinion MT is much worse. But luckily there are other programs available as well (and no, not referring to Rosetta Stone!). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| J-Learner Senior Member Australia Joined 5841 days ago 556 posts - 636 votes Studies: Yiddish, English* Studies: Dutch | Message 6 of 8 26 October 2008 at 6:03pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I like all of these courses a lot but I don't have any of them for Hebrew except Pimsleur. I will be using MT, Pimsleur and Rosetta Stone for German, however. Why must I make a choice when I don't need to?
They all have strengths and weaknesses. The strong student is one who can use the strengths to their advantages and don't bash others because of the disadvantages :) Reminds me of the discussion I had with my grandmother about 2 Hebrew books we have. One is the Colloquial course and another is called Hebrew at your ease by Eliezer Tirkel. The Colloquial book is good but very fast moving and does not attempt to really impress the language apon you but instead float it past you hoping you have a big enough net to catch it. She prefers it because it is easier. But she also knows a lot less Hebrew than me.... This is my German plan (loosely): 1 month intense L+R Shadow Assimil books phonology studies MT Pimsleur study Assimil books Teach Yourself series Warum Nicht + other DW materials rosetta stone further studies while watching movies, tv shows and skyping Is one better than another? I think they all have their place. Just my 2 cents rounded up.... Shalom, Yehoshua. Edited by J-Learner on 26 October 2008 at 6:05pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Americano Senior Member Korea, South Joined 6657 days ago 101 posts - 120 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Korean | Message 7 of 8 26 October 2008 at 10:00pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I agree with you that MT is not that great. I checked out MT after reading great reviews, and I was sorely disappointed with the program. Listening to him was a nightmare, and I would say you'd be much better off listening to Pimsleur for pronunciation. I've used Pimsleur for Spanish, and now Mandarin, and both programs have given me great pronunciation and a good grasp on how each language "feels". That said, Pimsleur is quite pricey, so if money is an issue then MT should suffice. Like has been said already: get on FSI, if you have the dedication, and you will go far. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| dltwlf18 Diglot Newbie United States Joined 5680 days ago 10 posts - 10 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Arabic (Written), Polish | Message 8 of 8 30 October 2008 at 5:02pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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If you do use Rosetta Stone you have to use the new version 3 it is far superior. The newer version is much improved when it comes to teaching you conversational type words and phrases in the language.
I've used the new v3 rosetta stone and really like it. The only real problem is the price of course. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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