|
 |
Rosetta stone, how many hours? | ||
Tags: Rosetta Stone | Time to learn | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| benjavi Newbie Brazil Joined 6137 days ago 4 posts - 5 votes Speaks: English | Message 1 of 26 31 March 2008 at 10:05pm | IP Logged |
|
Hi
I've read every post about Rosetta Stone, and some mention was made about the hundreds of hours it offers. Googling it found 400hrs (I guess total), and on another place 200hrs per unit . I have a friend that has RS Russian 1, 2 and 3 (version 3) but each unit seems to amount to about 8hr worth of lessons. Even considering the question of how fast you go, or how much drill you want, 24hrs is far from hundreds... So how many hours does it take to finish a unit of Rosetta Stone? Since the cds are too expensive, I've considered subscribing to their online course for three months (for German, you can use the 3 units), but if it's really 400 (or 600!) hours, there's no way paying for three months is nearly enough. Btw, kudos to this forum. I read something in here everyday, and always come out a little more informed. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| BGreco Senior Member Joined 6203 days ago 211 posts - 222 votes  3 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: French, Spanish | Message 2 of 26 31 March 2008 at 10:15pm | IP Logged |
|
Download this course instead.
http://www.freelanguagecourses.com/language/russian/princeto n-russian-course-51/ It's free, wonderful, and much faster. Most everyone here agrees that RS is completely inadequate to learn a language. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| hobbitofny Senior Member United States Joined 6043 days ago 280 posts - 408 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian | Message 3 of 26 01 April 2008 at 2:18am | IP Logged |
|
If you use all the features of Rosetta Stone, version 2, it is about 200 hr for level one. With level one and two having total of 550 hours in listen comprehension, reading, writing, and speaking. It would be difficult to complete version 2 in 3 months. I assume version three is not shorter. The program has good points, and has been helpful to me, but it is not the complete package to learn a language. Edited by hobbitofny on 01 April 2008 at 3:31am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| AlexL Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6894 days ago 197 posts - 277 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Italian | Message 4 of 26 01 April 2008 at 8:34am | IP Logged |
|
Version 3 actually is much shorter. In Version 2, there are eight units with about 10-12 lessons each in each level. In V3, there are 4 units with 4 lessons each in each level. Each lesson consists of a "core lesson" (about 30 minutes) to introduce you and teach you the vocabulary and grammar concepts of that lesson. There are then 9 focused activities that you can do (though I only do six or seven per lesson): Pronunciation, Reading, Writing, Listening, Listening and Reading, Speaking, Vocabulary, Grammar, and Review. Each of these is either five or ten minutes in length. Following their recommended course, I spend a little less than 1.5 hrs. per lesson. For each four-lesson unit, I spending just more than 6 hours. (There is a ten minute "Milestone" at the end of each unit as well).
Each level contains four units, so that would make it 24 hrs per level, or with all three levels, 72 hours total. This is way less than the hundreds of hours that were offered in version 2. However, Version 3 is much better in almost every other way. It teaches the language more thoroughly and puts more of an emphasis on learning grammar correctly. There is also more structure (it actually guides you through the course, though you can also set your own path), and more variety in the activities. The interface is much easier on the eyes. I'm using v3 to learn Italian now, and it's working great. However, I already knew Spanish at a pretty high level. I feel like if I didn't have that background, I would not be able to get as much from it, or I would be frustrated and give up. I tried v3 of Russian (our school has it) and was lost after the second lesson. It was unclear what the difference between certain verb forms were (it was trying to teach verbs of motion, directional and indirectional). I believe that without some foundation in Russian, it would be hard to gain from this program. That said, I think it's a great resource if you just spend a week or so learning the basics of the language first, or if you already know a similar language. It's fun, enjoyable, and easy to use, and now with the better focus on grammar, etc., I think it could actually go a long way towards teaching a language all by itself. (As for your question about three months, if you dedicate yourself and study every day, it is possible, I think, to finish one level in a month, and three in three months. But of course this depends on the language and prior knowledge of it/similar languages). Edited by AlexL on 01 April 2008 at 8:36am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| benjavi Newbie Brazil Joined 6137 days ago 4 posts - 5 votes Speaks: English | Message 5 of 26 02 April 2008 at 8:56am | IP Logged |
|
AlexL
Thanks for clearing it up! I think I'll give it a try, see if it's worth its cost. Do you know of any info as to when (and if) they'll be releasing v3 of the other languages? BGreco I'm looking at learning German, not russian. The RS my friend had happened to be russian. I've already heard of this Princeton course, and since you've mentioned it again, I've downloaded to see how it looks (gotta learn russian sooner or later...), but was very unimpressed, nothing like FSI, which I guess would be the closest comparison. Looks poorly structured and kind of silly, judging from chapter 1. Have you used it, and have you used anything else besides? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| AlexL Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6894 days ago 197 posts - 277 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Italian | Message 6 of 26 02 April 2008 at 3:39pm | IP Logged |
|
They just released four new languages (Chinese, Irish, Hebrew, and Japanese, I think), and I imagine they'll be releasing the others eventually. German is close enough to English that it shouldn't be too hard to use Rosetta Stone to learn it. I'd recommend a grammar book that you can check for clarifications if the software is not clear enough, though. As there are no translations, and only pictures, it can sometimes be hard to figure out exactly what a sentence means.
Good luck! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Tonitrus Groupie United States Joined 5901 days ago 64 posts - 68 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 7 of 26 02 April 2008 at 8:14pm | IP Logged |
|
I tried Rosetta Stone for German at one point, but it was too hard to learn using that method. I am a very methodical person, and after having learned two languages in a "normal" learn-the-rule-then-apply-it method, it was too difficult to make myself learn "naturally."
I kept trying to pick out the rule in the sentences, especially when it came to genders and adjectives. But since the genders of the nouns were never given, this was pretty much impossible. So instead of actually "absorbing" the material, I only obsessed on trying to figure out what was going on. For me, anyways, I like grammar books more than the learn-the-way-you-learned-your-native-language methods. I'm sure if I applied myself I could learn using Rosetta Stone, but I'll probably end up using it to learn vocab later on. Edited by Tonitrus on 02 April 2008 at 8:16pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| AlexL Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6894 days ago 197 posts - 277 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Italian | Message 8 of 26 02 April 2008 at 9:13pm | IP Logged |
|
You can find the "curriculum text" for German Level 1 (Version 3): http://www.rosettastone.com/us_assets/documentation/RSV3_CC_ German_1.pdf
Tonitrus, did you use Version 2? I find that Version 3 places more of an emphasis on learning the grammar well. That said, it can still be hard to learn more than 2 genders/noun declensions with Rosetta Stone. Swahili and it's many different noun classes would be a nightmare in Rosetta Stone. However, I think German's three genders would be manageable, even if it took a little bit to get used to. Another thing to consider is getting a grammar book on the side and studying gender/adj. agreement/etc while or before you go through Rosetta Stone. 1 person has voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
