Anyone Used Rosetta Stone?
 

I would love to try and pick up some different languages and have been curious about this program for a while...

Get the one on ENGRISH It'll do YOU a world of good. :)


Actually. I've been wanting to get the Japanese one. I would love to know what they are saying about me at my local sushi joint.

pimsleur is better if you just want to learn some basics that will actually help in a beginner conversation

rosetta stone is better if you want to learn alot of words of what things are called in another language

I've used Rosetta Stone for Spanish. It was ok.

There are a ton of different options for learning a language. I've had good success with different products depending on the language.

1. Spanish speaking GF
2. Spanish speaking friend
3. Rosetta Stone
4. Other programs

I have had the best luck with making friends with people that speak the language you want to learn but don't speak hardly a word of english, and hang around them at least an hour a day, more preferably,

you pick up the language in a much more natural way for the brain to learn that way, but it still takes time and an effort to learn, but that is much better than the rosetta or pimsleur or other classes

If they are pointing at you and laughing it's probably better not to know.:2 cents:

It was recommended to me to learn Japanese, I think I am going to check out the demo 1st. Like everything if you put the time in you will learn. I am going to visit Japan again in October.

I'm using it right now. I'm not entirely sold on it's effectiveness, but it's decent. I've used Pimsluer as well, and I will say that the interactive aspect of Rosetta stone is a nice change and seems to help with retention of what you learn.
By far the best way to learn a language is immersion. I took a class at Alliance Française and it was far better for learning the language than any other program that I've experienced, but spending time around people natively speaking a language is the single best way to learn a language.

Pimsleur worked great for me. I had a couple friends use it with success as well.

using that now. found a french lesson on clearance at barnes and noble. i think lesson 3/4 is missing. fuck it.

It seems to be good...

ive been thinking about trying it as well for spanish or italian

never heared about

that would be best option :thumbsup

You can get a demo here: http://www.rosettastone.com/personal/form/demo-request

And they really do ship it out because I got mine recently.

I've been looking into buying Rosetta stone as well.. but seems like more people are having effective results with Pimsleur.

I found that if you really search hard on the internet, you'll find that most linguists recommend The Pimsleur Method over Rosetta Stone. There is a lot of praise from students of Rosetta Stone too, though. You could use both. With Pimsleur, you can take it anywhere with you. With Rosetta Stone, you have to be at your computer. I was relearning German with Pimsleur, and it is really effective. It makes you think things out. No memorizing involved.

I'm using Rosetta Stone now to teach myself French and I'm through the first unit, and although it's effective for basic conversation, it hasn't really taught me any of the rules or what the articles/question words are. I mean, I can basically figure it out using my own common sense but it would be nice if it also told me in my native language what I'm actually saying. There's no picture to match words like "what" or "the." I guess it depends on what your goal is in learning the language.

I like Rosetta Stone but Pimsleur is a lil bit better...

i hear http://www.livemocha.com is really good

Phelps says it works fine after some BONG action.

:2 cents::2 cents:

I moved to Puerto Rico and got a GF who doesn't speak English. It was sink or swim and I learned fast.

by far the best way and the only real way to get fluent, you can do all the courses you want, and you will still be lost if you try to get in a real conversation at normal speed in real life, immersion is the only way to get the brain to click over :2 cents:

I took years of french courses and not anywhere close to fluent, but I spent about 3 months learning spanish and then immersed myself with spanish only speakers (no english) and I am much more fluent in spanish than in french....

going to the country you want to speak the language, and avoiding english at all times possible (even if you are with bilingual people) is the best

you know what's universal? the backhand. just tell her once. :1orglaugh

Just use livemocha.com, it's free and gives you opportunities to practice with native speakers as well.

I do agree that kind of immersion is the best, but it's not the only way to get truly fluent. There are plenty of people who achieve fluency in languages without ever stepping foot in an area where it's spoken. It's just harder to do it that way.

To answer the OP's question. I find programs like Rosetta Stone to be only minimally effective. You'll learn far better if you just get the grammar basics of the language and study foreign DVDs, music, etc. Half the world learns English by watching English language movies.

actually yes that is a great idea, I find music often uses lyrics that are not "book language" also that is very helpful to learn, and it sticks with you easier, and the movie/tv idea is a good one.... it feels like work sometimes though, because your brain is working as you watch, which is different from what we are used to in being passive in front of a tv or radio, but those are great ideas