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

109 messages over 14 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 7 ... 13 14 Next >>

Random review
Diglot
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 5582 days ago
781 posts - 1310 votes

Speaks: English*, Spanish
Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin, Yiddish, German

Message 49 of 109

15 June 2012 at 1:20am | IP Logged

1) This is a long thread and yet I haven't really learned any specific reasons from the
OP why Rosetta Stone might be good. I find the train of thought of the OP makes
superficial sense but leaves me feeling a bit bewildered.

2) OK, I know I'm probably barking up the wrong tree here, but I have to add that I
find Steffan's post made me feel (I'm speaking of an emotional reaction here) very
similar and couldn't help wondering...your English is really VERY good, (native level,
in fact) you seem (in this one post at least) to argue in a very similar way to the OP
(first make a mild and almost completely irrelevant criticism and then somehow turn it
round and give substantial praise) and you appear to have joined 2 days after the OP.
For instance, why do you say you are a bit suspicious that the OP didn't note the
changes in the different versions? That is only relevant if people are worried that the
OP might be lying about having worked for Rosetta Stone; whereas (at least for me) the
worrying issue was whether he STILL does in some capacity, as his entire thread has
lots of alarm bells ringing in my mind.

3) Well whether you are the same person or different, Steffen, you did at least make
the first pro-Rosetta assertion that I found interesting enough to actually be worth
thinking about.

Steffen wrote:

Finally, I noticed that RS is not quite the undemanding, oversimplified language course
for the
undiscerning masses many people here seem to think it is. Since you have to spot
grammar rules (and
their exceptions!) on your own, the experience can be quite challenging and even
intellectually satisfying.
If one, on the other hand, just clicks wildly and mindlessly about as if this was a
video game, one will get
bored quickly and get little mileage out of it. So the course in a way mirrors its
users seriousness and
impartiality.

If there's a free online demo I'll give it a try, though I would never buy it as I
simply could not afford it.

Edited by Random review on 15 June 2012 at 1:24am
4 persons have voted this message useful

Random review
Diglot
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 5582 days ago
781 posts - 1310 votes

Speaks: English*, Spanish
Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin, Yiddish, German

Message 51 of 109

15 June 2012 at 1:43am | IP Logged

David Hayter wrote:

1) Except for where I discuss the output, speech recognition, etc.

But what exactly did you say about them that was actually useful for the language
learner considering which product to buy as opposed to useful for someone interested in
the development of Rosetta Stone products? If I missed some gem tucked away I will
apologise.

David Hayter wrote:

2) HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA. Are you for real? Do you think I'm also Iversen or
Serpent - people who are non native English speakers who happen to write in very good
English? Is it possible that Steffan just studied hard? I don't know how I can prove
that I don't still work for the company, and it's seriously amazing how just because I
have a positive outlook on the program, everyone thinks I do and am doing marketing.

For real? Yes. Sure? No. I never said that a great level of English was in itself
suspicious (nor would I be so stupid), in conjunction with other things such as those I
mentioned, it might be. You are attacking a straw man.

David Hayter wrote:

3) I realized, and this is my error, that I did not already make that post on this
forum. I have made a similar post to that on another forum, and it seems that Steffan
beat me to putting that explanation on this one. I hinted at it in the first post when
I discussed Russian, but that's about it.

What do you mean? I don't understand. Do you mean his reasoning followed similar
patterns to yours because he lifted the point from a post you made on a different
forum?

Edited by Random review on 15 June 2012 at 1:46am
5 persons have voted this message useful

Eumaeus
Groupie
Australia
Joined 5403 days ago
75 posts - 134 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Italian

Message 52 of 109

15 June 2012 at 1:54am | IP Logged

David Hayter wrote:

Eumaeus wrote:

David Hayter wrote:

I'd like to take this moment to say that
I'm
aware that there's been a lot of RS
bashing on this forum, for obvious/not obvious reasons. I must emphasize again that I
strongly dislike the company, a lot of the program, but think it has much more merit
than people give it credit for. I don't see much of a point in having circle arguments
where one person says "I think xyz about it is terrible!" and my reply "Oh yeah? Well
I don't!" for much longer. n.

Oh so now you're putting it all back on us? I seem to remember it was you who had their
posts deleted for, of
all things, name calling. And that was after you had already referred to TerryW's
question as " childish" and
"idiotic".

My complaint is in no way circular. I paid an exorbitant amount of money for a
substandard product.
It was like a set of flash cards made by Fischer Price.

Haha, what? No. What I meant was that obviously you and I are going to continually
disagree on the supposed CEFR level the program can leave you with. You claim A1-2, my
friend sat the B2 in French and succeeded, citing RS as the only way he could have done
it. But again, there's no point in continuing this, because neither of us will budge,
WHICH IS WHAT MAKES AN ARGUMENT CIRCULAR.
."

I made no such claim. Please do not falsely accuse me again.

I am capable of reading words typed in lower case.

Thank you for not calling me names.

Edited by Eumaeus on 15 June 2012 at 7:29am
5 persons have voted this message useful

Eumaeus
Groupie
Australia
Joined 5403 days ago
75 posts - 134 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Italian

Message 53 of 109

15 June 2012 at 2:18am | IP Logged

David Hayter wrote:

OK, tell me that "blowsetta stone" isn't a childish and idiotic little nickname, and
I'll admit that I was wrong in telling her that she was the first person to bring the
nickname to my attention. I didn't call her a child nor an idiot, merely the term and
whoever invented it (which she didn't take credit for, and said "many people call it
this."

Again, please don't falsely accuse me.

Furthermore, living in a free democratic society as TerryW does, he/ she/ other is free to gender identify any
way he/she/other pleases. Judging by the profile photo though, I'd say TerryW is a dude.

Edited by Eumaeus on 15 June 2012 at 7:29am
5 persons have voted this message useful

Serpent
Octoglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
serpent-849.livejour
Joined 6396 days ago
9753 posts - 15779 votes

4 sounds
Speaks: Russian*, English, Finnish^C1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish

Message 54 of 109

15 June 2012 at 2:24am | IP Logged

David Hayter wrote:

If you ask yourself "What are they trying to teach here?" on every screen, and sit down and dissect it and look it up, and understand it,
it can be quite rewarding.

Oh my, that's worse than using a textbook aimed at people learning their first foreign language, where you know what they're trying to teach. If anyone seriously finds this RS aspect interesting, they should just use native materials to figure out the grammar.
Thanks for the compliment btw :-) I found that post suspicious too, can't picture someone who already speaks good English using RS in order to reach perfection.
5 persons have voted this message useful

kanewai
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
justpaste.it/kanewai
Joined 4688 days ago
1386 posts - 3054 votes

Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese
Studies: Italian, Spanish

Message 55 of 109

15 June 2012 at 3:09am | IP Logged

David Hayter wrote:

I don't know how I can prove that I don't still work for the
company, and it's seriously amazing how just because I have a positive outlook on the
program, everyone thinks I do and am doing marketing.

People think you are doing marketing because you've made 23 posts in five days either
praising the product, or rebutting in detail any and all criticism.

And because every post in your log praises Rosetta Stone.

And because you are still listed online as a Language Consultant for Rosetta Stone
(January 2010 to present).

You're selling something, even if the last item is dated.
14 persons have voted this message useful

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