Rosetta Stone Q&A (Former Employee) (Language Programs, Books & Tapes) Language Learning Forum

Rosetta Stone Q&A (Former Employee)
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Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes

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Solfrid Cristin
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Norway
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Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian
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Message 81 of 109

19 June 2012 at 8:56pm | IP Logged

I find two things ironic.

The first is that every American I talk to about the fact that I am learning languages, always say: "Oh, but you must get Rosetta Stone - it is a wonderful product!" When I then ask which languages they have learned using Rosetta Stone themselves, it always turn out to be exactly zero languages.

The second thing is that I have now heard so many horror stories about Rosetta Stone, that I have asked our librarian to get me the one for Mandarin. I simply have to try this out for myself. Someone said (not in this thread though)that it was quite useful for languages who do not use our alphabet. So I'll give it a try. It is however a product which is totally unknow here, so I have waited for a month so far, and I still do not know when I am getting it.
5 persons have voted this message useful

iguanamon
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Message 82 of 109

19 June 2012 at 10:32pm | IP Logged

Solfrid Cristin wrote:

... every American I talk to about the fact that I am learning languages, always say: "Oh, but you must get Rosetta Stone - it is a wonderful product!" When I then ask which languages they have learned using Rosetta Stone themselves, it always turn out to be exactly zero languages.

RS is practically the only language learning program generally advertised on television. I've never seen an ad for Pimsleur, Assimil, Teach Yourself, Linguaphone or any other language learning related company. Their mass-market advertising is pervasive.

I get the same thing myself here on the island whenever someone hears me speaking Spanish or Portuguese- "Oh, wow! Did you use RS?" No, I didn't- shock and dismay then ensue. As if one could not learn a language any other way. Even people who know me and know how I've learned still want to fork out the money and try RS. Go figure! Here's a link to their TV adverts: Rosetta Stone 2010 US TV Spot Rosetta Stone 2011 US TV Spot. If you were an average monolingual person and saw this marketing three or four times a week... well, that's why most Americans who have ever watched television associate RS with language learning. Never underestimate the power of marketing.

I, along with the rest of the forum, I'm sure, will look forward to your genuine, unbiased review, Christina. I trust you!

Edited by iguanamon on 19 June 2012 at 10:58pm
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hrhenry
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Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe

Message 83 of 109

19 June 2012 at 11:49pm | IP Logged

iguanamon wrote:

If you were an average monolingual person and saw this marketing
three or four times a week... well, that's why most Americans who have ever watched
television associate RS with language learning. Never underestimate the power of
marketing.

TV's a pretty powerful medium, for sure. But that's not all RS uses for their
marketing. Pick up a magazine (doesn't even have to be travel-related) and you'll find
ads for them. I've even seen ads in newspapers.

Makes me think that the cost is so high not because of development, but because of
advertising.

R.
==
6 persons have voted this message useful

dbag
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United Kingdom
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Studies: Spanish

Message 84 of 109

20 June 2012 at 12:29am | IP Logged

Yep, in the UK they actually sponsor television programs on certain channels, so they
must have a huge budget for marketing.
It seems to be the only course just about everyone has heard of, along with linguaphone
strangely.
1 person has voted this message useful

kanewai
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Message 85 of 109

20 June 2012 at 12:53am | IP Logged

Solfrid Cristin wrote:

Every American I talk to about the fact that I am learning
languages, always say: "Oh, but you must get Rosetta Stone - it is a wonderful product!"
When I then ask which languages they have learned using Rosetta Stone themselves, it
always turn out to be exactly zero languages.

I've had this same conversation a dozen times! A lot of my friends have actually bought
the program, and highly recommended it ... before confessing that it didn't actually
work for them. It's really the strangest thing.
1 person has voted this message useful

Serpent
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Russian Federation
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Message 86 of 109

20 June 2012 at 1:01am | IP Logged

dbag wrote:

It seems to be the only course just about everyone has heard of, along with linguaphone strangely.

I think in some places linguaphone might've become a common noun as a synonym of the audiolingual method? it's definitely the case with Russian.
1 person has voted this message useful

hrhenry
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Message 87 of 109

20 June 2012 at 1:09am | IP Logged

Serpent wrote:

dbag wrote:

It seems to be the only course just about everyone has
heard of, along with linguaphone strangely.

I think in some places linguaphone
might've become a common noun as a synonym of the audiolingual method? it's definitely
the case with Russian.

I only have experience with one Linguaphone course - Turkish PDQ, which was utter crap.
It had way too much silly banter between the two presenters, and didn't teach all that
much in the end. I got a lot more out of Pimsleur Turkish, frankly.

Since it's well known in Russia, how is the course actually perceived?

R.
==

Edited by hrhenry on 20 June 2012 at 1:10am
1 person has voted this message useful

Random review
Diglot
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United Kingdom
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Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin, Yiddish, German

Message 88 of 109

20 June 2012 at 2:29am | IP Logged

I've not had that exact experience, but someone at work did once ask me what I
recommended for learning Spanish and then to my astonishment went on to answer his own
question, "Rosetta Stone, right?". I'd have loved to have seen my face about then. He
went on to try one lesson of Pimsleur (at my suggestion because he wasn't a book kind of
guy) and then stated that he couldn't spare half an hour a day every day. Oh if I had a
penny for everyone that "wants" to learn something difficult and worthwhile (doesn't have
to be a language) and then claims that they can't spare even half an hour a day...sigh.

5 persons have voted this message useful

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