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Rosetta Stone (Mandarin)

 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes Post Reply
20 messages over 3 pages: 1 2 3  Next >>
hobbitofny
Senior Member
United States
Joined 6015 days ago
280 posts - 408 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Russian

 
 Message 9 of 20
22 March 2010 at 1:11am | IP Logged 
It is not worthless. It is high priced for what it covers of the language. I have used the Russian. version 3 is better than version 2. If you do a search on this site you will find many comments of the RS software.

If you have troubles with the tones. The Michel Thomas course can be very helpful.
2 persons have voted this message useful



Arekkusu
Hexaglot
Senior Member
Canada
bit.ly/qc_10_lec
Joined 5163 days ago
3971 posts - 7747 votes 
Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto
Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian

 
 Message 10 of 20
22 March 2010 at 1:13am | IP Logged 
Lilitu wrote:
Do you only want to
say it's worthless, or some bit of advice?

I think I'll just say it's worthless.

Oh ok, I'll try to give advice. First off, I found the claim that your boyfriend
thought RS to be the best bar none, and yet didn't learn to speak another language with
it, to be quite telling. Nothing against your boyfriend, but there are loads of people
who claim the exact same thing without actually learning a language with it. That's not
exactly saying much about the method. The users are not the problem: the method is.

But, there are people who like it, and you seem to be one of them, so be it. If you
feel you are lacking in writing, then complement RS with another type of written lesson
plan and let RS be your guide for listening and pronunciation. That's quite an okay way
to go. However, many other lesson plans offer both written and oral and do a great job
of it. Others here actively studying Mandarin will no doubt have more precise
recommendations.

Edited by Arekkusu on 22 March 2010 at 1:24am
1 person has voted this message useful



Pyx
Diglot
Senior Member
China
Joined 5517 days ago
670 posts - 892 votes 
Speaks: German*, English
Studies: Mandarin

 
 Message 11 of 20
22 March 2010 at 1:24am | IP Logged 
Arekkusu wrote:

[...] and let RS be your guide for listening and pronunciation. That's quite an okay way
to go.

Please do not take it as a guide listening and pronunciation!!! Despite what RS tells you, tones are an integral part of Chinese, and ignoring them is like ignoring the vowels in other languages!
1 person has voted this message useful



Lilitu
Newbie
United States
zhongwenstudent
Joined 5145 days ago
7 posts - 8 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: Mandarin

 
 Message 12 of 20
22 March 2010 at 2:04am | IP Logged 
Quote:
Please do not take it as a guide listening and pronunciation!!! Despite what RS
tells you, tones are an integral part of Chinese, and ignoring them is like ignoring
the vowels in other languages!

I read that FSI is good for pronunciation. Would you agree with that?


Quote:
Oh ok, I'll try to give advice. First off, I found the claim that your boyfriend
thought RS to be the best bar none, and yet didn't learn to speak another language with
it, to be quite telling. Nothing against your boyfriend, but there are loads of people
who claim the exact same thing without actually learning a language with it. That's not
exactly saying much about the method. The users are not the problem: the method is.

I'll agree that Rosetta Stone is hyped, and most uninformed people, (like my boyfriend
for instance,) would automatically assume it's the best route for language learning
simply because they've heard of it. However, because I was given the program for free
with all three levels, I figured it would be a good introduction to the language.
Would you agree it's a good starting place , or do you think it's just something that
would set me back?

Quote:
version 3 is better than version 2.

Yeah, I think that as well. I played around with version 2 in the past and I thought it
was horrible. I find version 3 enjoyable.
1 person has voted this message useful



Pyx
Diglot
Senior Member
China
Joined 5517 days ago
670 posts - 892 votes 
Speaks: German*, English
Studies: Mandarin

 
 Message 13 of 20
22 March 2010 at 2:10am | IP Logged 
Lilitu wrote:
Quote:
Please do not take it as a guide listening and pronunciation!!! Despite what RS
tells you, tones are an integral part of Chinese, and ignoring them is like ignoring
the vowels in other languages!

I read that FSI is good for pronunciation. Would you agree with that?.

I don't know. I heard good things about it. The thing is, when I started learning Mandarin by my own, I had already had one semester of Chinese instruction. So I foolishly figured I wouldn't need to work on my pronunciation, and just pressed on. This has since come back and bitten me in the butt, but by now I really can't make myself go back to the basics :) But as I said, I heard very good things about it. I'd say go for it - at least it won't do any harm :)


Lilitu wrote:
Quote:
Oh ok, I'll try to give advice. First off, I found the claim that your boyfriend
thought RS to be the best bar none, and yet didn't learn to speak another language with
it, to be quite telling. Nothing against your boyfriend, but there are loads of people
who claim the exact same thing without actually learning a language with it. That's not
exactly saying much about the method. The users are not the problem: the method is.

I'll agree that Rosetta Stone is hyped, and most uninformed people, (like my boyfriend
for instance,) would automatically assume it's the best route for language learning
simply because they've heard of it. However, because I was given the program for free
with all three levels, I figured it would be a good introduction to the language.
Would you agree it's a good starting place , or do you think it's just something that
would set me back?

Well, in the best case it won't do any harm, but is that really what you'd like to spend your time on? And I'm not totally convinced that it actually doesn't do harm. As I know from personal experience, it's a bitch if you have a problem with the basics somewhere ;)
2 persons have voted this message useful



Arekkusu
Hexaglot
Senior Member
Canada
bit.ly/qc_10_lec
Joined 5163 days ago
3971 posts - 7747 votes 
Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto
Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian

 
 Message 14 of 20
22 March 2010 at 2:34am | IP Logged 
Pyx wrote:
Arekkusu wrote:

[...] and let RS be your guide for listening and pronunciation. That's quite an okay way
to go.

Please do not take it as a guide listening and pronunciation!!! Despite what RS tells
you, tones are an integral part of Chinese, and ignoring them is like ignoring the vowels
in other languages!

Serves me right for trying to find any good in RS.

Pyx, are you implying that RS has got the tones wrong?
1 person has voted this message useful



Pyx
Diglot
Senior Member
China
Joined 5517 days ago
670 posts - 892 votes 
Speaks: German*, English
Studies: Mandarin

 
 Message 15 of 20
22 March 2010 at 2:41am | IP Logged 
Arekkusu wrote:
Pyx wrote:
Arekkusu wrote:

[...] and let RS be your guide for listening and pronunciation. That's quite an okay way
to go.

Please do not take it as a guide listening and pronunciation!!! Despite what RS tells
you, tones are an integral part of Chinese, and ignoring them is like ignoring the vowels
in other languages!

Serves me right for trying to find any good in RS.

Pyx, are you implying that RS has got the tones wrong?

For all I know (I haven't personally tried it) they don't teach the concept of tones (which is fine, it's not their philosophy), and they also don't check for it during the speaking exercises (and this is where the problem lies!). If you don't know that Mandarin has tones (and which and how), and if it also doesn't make a difference in the exercises, you might wonder why they say it so funny, but probably not much more. This is the stuff that really really bad foundation for Chinese are made of.
2 persons have voted this message useful



ALS
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5586 days ago
104 posts - 131 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Norwegian, Finnish, Russian

 
 Message 16 of 20
22 March 2010 at 5:52am | IP Logged 
Lilitu wrote:
Quote:
Please do not take it as a guide listening and pronunciation!!! Despite what RS
tells you, tones are an integral part of Chinese, and ignoring them is like ignoring
the vowels in other languages!

I read that FSI is good for pronunciation. Would you agree with that?


Quote:
Oh ok, I'll try to give advice. First off, I found the claim that your boyfriend
thought RS to be the best bar none, and yet didn't learn to speak another language with
it, to be quite telling. Nothing against your boyfriend, but there are loads of people
who claim the exact same thing without actually learning a language with it. That's not
exactly saying much about the method. The users are not the problem: the method is.

I'll agree that Rosetta Stone is hyped, and most uninformed people, (like my boyfriend
for instance,) would automatically assume it's the best route for language learning
simply because they've heard of it. However, because I was given the program for free
with all three levels, I figured it would be a good introduction to the language.
Would you agree it's a good starting place , or do you think it's just something that
would set me back?

Quote:
version 3 is better than version 2.

Yeah, I think that as well. I played around with version 2 in the past and I thought it
was horrible. I find version 3 enjoyable.


I think you'd be better off starting with something else first, then using Rosetta Stone after you have a good grounding in the language to increase exposure, vocabulary, listening, and reading experience (which doesn't really count for Mandarin unless you devote a lot of time to Hanzi first). The lack of grammar explanations and the fact that they basically recycle every picture they use a hundred times can make it very confusing if you don't know much about the language first.

Personally I love Michel Thomas and would go through that first, then do Rosetta Stone, but there are a lot of options, many of them inexpensive or free (FSI has many publicly available courses for example).


1 person has voted this message useful



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