anyone here like rosetta stone? i was talking to this guy who had never tried it, so i was wondering which people here had tried it.

I’ve tried them. I have the Mandarin, Japanese, German, and French (coughbootlegcough) versions. They’re great because you get to practice your reading, listening, writing, and speaking. I finished the first volume of Japanese about a year ago and I still retain some of what I learned. It has one major drawback: it could get very repetitive and boring. Strong motivation, an ergonomic keyboard, and a good chair (I had none of the last two) is a must if you’re planning to use Rosetta as you’ll be sitting in front of your computer for a while.

I’ve never tried it d:
But i’ve been wanting to try it for a long time!
I got a demo disk a while ago, lol. But that’s about it….

I have all of them.

I mostly refer to them for listening practice, and when I have lists of vocab I want to learn that coincide with Rosetta Stone units.

I think it’s a good multimedia tool, but it shouldn’t be the basis of learning.

They are pretty good for vocabulary, but depending on the language you are learning, there may be better resources for free. I think iknow.co.jp is as good for Japanese vocabulary as Rosetta Stone. Not to mention the cost….

Based on all the feedback I’ve heard, I was going to get it for my son (Spanish) and it was too pricey for me. So I came here. :)

Rosetta Stone is annoying…. and expensive…. for just $20 I can enroll in the Japanese class at college for a whole semester and genuinely learn something…. as well as not deal with “The two girls are laughing” and “The girls are jumping rope” and “The two laughing girls are jumping rope”

Besides, the wonderful language tutors that we have here on eduFire are so much better to learn from than a monotone-voiced computer program.

….that’s all I have to say.

Neko
clicks cat
Kurama
clicks car

Rosetta stone has learnt me about 3 new words since my brother and I went halves…. Such a waste of money >.>

I don’t know….

All I really have to say about Rosetta Stone is I’m glad I didn’t buy it ;)
It didn’t actually teach me much; it just familiarized me with some vocabulary, which I could care less about considering that’s the easiest thing to learn in a sentence.

Rosetta Stone isn’t my first choice either….but I have a huge love of languages and can take the leap of faith of talking before I understand everything about the language. My uncle got a Rosetta Stone in spanish for both himself and for me, so that we study along together…..he is more logical and methodical about his learning, and Rosetta seems to be working very well for him, and he likes it, so I guess it is to each his own on this. It is pricey.

I was given a copy and used only once: not enough to pass judgement, but my impression is that ultimately it is a ‘cheap’ program in the sense that it’s cheaply made: it does not deal with real world issues; it spends an hour talking about a horse in a meadow…. An interesting and varied program has to deal largely with people, and that’s what makes programs expensive…. Better than nothing! it’s a tool!….

I do like the “Topics Entertainment-Instant Immersion” series. Have you heard about it? I have the French deluxe v2.0 and is really good bc it has phonics,speak recognition and some other knick-knacks!! Just between us though, language software is one of the many resourses available to make learning a breeze. Or is there somebody depending only on these softwares? Just curious.

Let’s hope that nobody depends solely on software to learn~ I have Rosetta, Pimsleur, Living Language, Genki and host of other Japanese self-study resources, but I ultimately end up calling my aunt asking for some help.

lol calling your aunt. cool. yeah I’m planning on moving somewhere that has more people that speak the language. because i dont know but it seems like it would be easier if you were a little bit more surrounded by the language.

Rossetta Stone is very expensive. I have a friend that uses it and loves it. For free, try www.livemocha.com. It is similar to Rossetta.

Hi Alan, I am an active member of livemocha and would recommend it to anyone willing to try the ‘rosetta stone method’, it’s the same thing probably but for free, plus you have some feedback by native speakers (the best thing to be honest). Such methods have lots of limits, but can help you learn some vocabulary….
I prefer to have a personal 1-to-1 professional teacher. For me the ‘complete approach’ works best:
private teacher+reading magazines+translating+wrting practice+watching movies+listening to music+motivation… I do that for a few months and improvement is assured

I agree with Katherine Garcia up above in that it could get repetitive and boring, that’s why you need to compensate it with additional resources, however, in case some other people haven’t noticed, Rosetta is in reality an undercover SRS (spaced repetition system). Rosetta just don’t play as in levels, you actually go back from time to time to previous lessons to refresh learning content.

Let me clarify something else, you can learn 30 new words in a day, however you may not be able to remember them all the next day. Learning and practicing throughout long periods of time is the key to successfully learn any language.

Rosetta is a great tool and people will easily lose faith on it, but you just have to stick with it for a while and dedicate to it seriously.

I have rosesetta stone japanese 1,2 and 3 but I got to tell you I do not agree with the method it is shaky at best. I must say that it is great for vocab superb but version 3 is krap i believe. The context of alot of it is harsh there is no real teaching of sentence structure and i fell like it skipped around alot of the time. Also I have found a few bugs in the software that really mad me reconsider keeping it. Also I wish to pose this question to anyone out there is the prounceation up to par I have tried but I put it on most diffelcult so is that how you really say the words or is it off by on percent? Thanks for your time!!!!

i have Rosetta stone, Spanish 1 and 2, and i think it is great.

Despite it’s claims, I don’t think that it is an effective method on it’s own. That said, I do think it has a place along side in person instruction (whether that be in real life or something like edufire). It actually did help me with grammar as well as vocabulary.

I’ve researched a lot of products such as Rosetta Stone to help me learn my languages a bit better. For me, it is better to have a classroom setting and for others that may not be a solution. I do have to agree however that there are many resources that are free and so much better than Rosetta Stone. From my understanding Rosetta Stone gives little help as to how the culture is of the language spoken and it cost almost $300 for the first lesson? I don’t think that’s a very good product.

Rosetta has its benefits such as getting a good foundation in the grammar aspect, but that shouldn’t be what ANYONE should do when learning a new language. The person must be speaking, speaking, speaking the language! BUT Rosetta IS a great supplement for your language studies—just don’t make it your main source of information and practice~

I have Rosetta Stone for Korean and have tried the Japanese version. I can say that I learned a bit from it but, I am not quite sure that I can justify the price point. At least not as a principal learning tool. Like Katherine says, it is a good supplement, if you can afford it.

It doesn’t have the means to compete with actual conversation. Try to find some people who speak the language that you are learning…. even other students would be helpful.

I don’t like Rosetta Stone. I find it too rigid for the cost.

It’s too expensive.