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Rosetta Stone revisited

  Tags: Rosetta Stone
 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes Post Reply
51 messages over 7 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6
mick33
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5720 days ago

1335 posts - 1632 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Finnish
Studies: Thai, Polish, Afrikaans, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, Swedish

 
 Message 49 of 51
15 May 2013 at 10:54pm | IP Logged 
Juаn wrote:
s_allard wrote:
I can't believe that something that is as dreadful as many people around here make it out to be was chosen by some intelligent and competent people and is still in use.


I can. Large institutions -specially those operating on public funds- are notorious for making poor decisions. How many of the officials making the decision whether to use Rosetta Stone at a public school you believe have taught themselves a foreign language successfully? I'd give much greater weight to the informed opinion of an interested and experienced member of this forum over that of a senseless bureaucracy.

As for people liking it - I like it too. Only I'm well aware of what Rosetta Stone actually provides you and what the program is worth.
I agree with Juan, claiming that some schools offer Rosetta Stone to their teachers and students is not the best way establish Rosetta Stone's value as a language learning tool.

I think the most likely scenario is this: A school district administration asks for, or is offered, Rosetta Stone software at a huge discount if the school district will buy many copies (at least 1,000, although I'd guess that a higher number is probably more likely) of the course for a particular language. Then the administration may tell their foreign languages teachers to include Rosetta Stone in the lessons on the grounds that 'We bought this, so you need to use it'.

Rosetta Stone also used to claim that their software is used by the US Army, which is not quite true. The US Army offers the product free of charge to any soldiers learning a language as part of their specific training, but it is only a supplement to their existing language instruction program. Just because it's available for free doesn't prove that anyone in the US Army actually likes it or even uses it.

I don't use Rosetta Stone myself and doubt I ever will, no matter how often people claim that the newest version is a marked improvement over previous versions, I just wasn't impressed with the free demo on the website and I believe that Assimil, Michel Thomas, Teach Yourself etc., are all a bit better. Having written that, I don't criticize others for using Rosetta Stone as some people do gain benefits from it, just be aware that it is probably best seen as a supplement to whatever other courses and methods you use.

Edited by mick33 on 16 May 2013 at 7:41am

6 persons have voted this message useful



Cavesa
Triglot
Senior Member
Czech Republic
Joined 4805 days ago

3277 posts - 6779 votes 
Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1
Studies: Spanish, German, Italian

 
 Message 50 of 51
15 May 2013 at 11:20pm | IP Logged 
When the copyright makes sense, I will respect it. For ideas of what does it mean, look for examples at
website of the open rights group (for example Neil Gaiman supports them). The thing as it is defies logic,
doesnt protect authors but mostly the parasites,gives ungovernamental organisations rights to get taxes and
in some cases twice for one production, damages the free market by regions and other nonsense and brings
another load of corruption into the politics on global level. So no, I don't feel any bad about breaking it.
6 persons have voted this message useful



LatinoBoy84
Bilingual Triglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5371 days ago

443 posts - 603 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish*, French
Studies: Russian, Portuguese, Latvian

 
 Message 51 of 51
16 May 2013 at 5:21am | IP Logged 
I actually I have it for Chinese and find it useful, granted I'm using it as a supplement
alongside Assimil, ChineseLearnOnline,PopUpChinese, Pimsleur and Fluenz. However it
really helps the vocab stick, remembering the Chinese words is harder than in the
European languages I've studied, the intuitive part actually works for me and a lot of
things click...because I've already covered the concept in my other resources. It's a
tool just like any other. I got a decent discount (1-5) and like it.


3 persons have voted this message useful



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