Rosetta Stone??

[Loppfessor]

Anyone ever used or know someone who has used Rosetta Stone to learn a language? I didn't realize it was so expensive and am curious if it's worth it.

[mate_spawn_die]

i don't know.

[Loppfessor]

Umm thanks...lol

[alruggs]

I've heard good things. My nephews are home schooled and they use it for Spanish.

[insertnamehere]

it's pretty cool but i don't know that i'd actually pay that much money for it

it works on the premise of teaching you words from actually seeing things instead of by associating them with words in your native language, so instead of

chico - boy

you get chico *picture of a boy*

to reinforce, they use the same words over and over in many different pictures, for the better part of the time they will show you 4 different pictures and say the word and you have to click which picture it is. then as you learn the words (the base words are usually boy, girl, man, woman) it incorporates it with other things to expand your vocabulary like :boy and girl, boy and airplain, boy and man, boy and woman..... well i know all those other words so airplane must mean airplane! *click* *check* and now you know the word for airplane

its pretty cool, but i dont know how well youd be able to speak after it, ive not looked any higher than level 1 of anything (there being 3 levels of each language) and what i saw was pretty much just nouns with some verbs sprinkled in.

[insertnamehere]

also, i thought you were army? you should be able to access it for free if you are though your ako account.

and theres always demonoid

[ms.peachy]

I have recently been wondering about the same thing, except for Muzzy (http://www.early-advantage.co.uk/) for my daughter. She is learning language now like a sponge; I would love for her to speak more than just English but mr.p and I can't really speak any other languages so I don't know how effective a language program would be without the 'immersion' factor. I might do the 30 day free trial. It's like 150 quid though if we keep it, which is a LOT of dough.

[insertnamehere]

young is the time to do it


maybe take this opportunity to learn a new language yourself

[ms.peachy]

young is the time to do it


maybe take this opportunity to learn a new language yourself

Yeah, that's kind of what I'm thinking. Mr.p reckons she should learn Chinese, as he figures that will be the language of currency in the coming global economy, but I can't see myself picking it up! I'm thinking Spanish might be practical. German would be easiest (for mr.p and I) since we both have some basic foundation in it, but I don't know how useful it would be.

[ScarySquirrel]

I actually have the one for Spanish... but I don't use it nearly enough to actually be doing myself any good. I should dedicate like an hour a night to it or something, honestly.

But, I do find that it seems to be pretty effective and a great way to learn another language. Whether it lives up to its own hype about being "the best way to learn a new language" - well I just can't say. It's good though... and worth the money, I think. You at least get some experience speaking the language with this whereas a book will only just kind of throw stuff at you and you never really get any feedback. But, Rosetta Stone does (at least mine does) because it came with a mic to check your pronunciation and stuff like that.

Uh, so yeah, I say go for it.

[insertnamehere]

i'm a fan of french personally

japanese is also pretty awesome. actually japanese was my favorite foreign language class but i really fucked something up and had to stop taking it.

with either french, spanish or itallian, it would be easier to learn either of the other two later. dont you live in england? spanish is practical here because we have a large hispanic population but i cant imagine that to be the case over there.

also, german is fucking hard. i cant do it. also, i have a speech impediment in german. fuck german.

[ms.peachy]

We are in England but who knows how long we will stay. If/when we move back to the US, we're in the NYC area, so there's not shortage of spanish-speakers there. Plus from the UK, Spain is a popular tourist destination and place to buy a holiday home, so who knows.

[Loppfessor]

also, i thought you were army? you should be able to access it for free if you are though your ako account.

and theres always demonoid

Air Force actually...How the crap does the Army offer free access? I wonder if we do. Meanwhile what is demonoid?

[insertnamehere]

i think its online somehow. im not sure exactly how it works but its though the account they use to check their army email and pay shit. i could check into this further later on today if you like.

and i said demonoid but really any p2p site you could check out, if you're ok with that sort of thing. demonoid is generally safer than open access p2p sites. i'd give you an invite but i dont have any right now :( also, it would be a really huge download.

i believe the rosetta stone website has a demo you can try just to have a look at how it works. go take a look at that and you can get a better idea of whether or not its something youd want to buy.

[Loppfessor]

I know what the AKO is...we have something similar called the AF Portal...maybe i'll get on there and check it out. Thanks!

[insertnamehere]

http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123026700

[Echewta]

I buy and download Pimsleur's CD's. I like them.

Haven't tried Rosetta Stone.

Problem I've found with learning a language on CD is that its pretty formal and those who you are speaking to may raise an eyebrow and wonder why you are talking like their grandpa.