Kathryn regarding Rosetta Stone

janie1234

janie1234

Cathlete
Hi Kathryn. I was wondering if I could get your thoughts on Rosetta Stone. I know that you mentioned you are a French professor. My family, . . kids, and husband want to learn French and Spanish since we live in an area where both languages are commonly used in the community and the work force. My kids are still young but I heard kids are able to learn quicker than adults. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. :)
 
Not Kathryn here, but I have Rosetta Stone for Chinese. It's great! You work at your own pace and you start remembering pretty much right away. It's especially progressive when you have someone to speak with regularly once you've done lessons! My DH and I really like it!

Hope you don't mind me chiming in!
 
Janie,
I don't have personal experience with Rosetta Stone, so I can't be much help there. A colleague of mine who tried it out mentioned that every program uses almost the same visuals, so to teach "to dance," for example, all the programs show a Spanish flamenco or something like that.
 
syzygy314 said:
Not Kathryn here, but I have Rosetta Stone for Chinese. It's great! You work at your own pace and you start remembering pretty much right away. It's especially progressive when you have someone to speak with regularly once you've done lessons! My DH and I really like it!

Hope you don't mind me chiming in!
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Cool Chinese is HARD to learn thanks for the feed back!
 
kathryn said:
Janie,
I don't have personal experience with Rosetta Stone, so I can't be much help there. A colleague of mine who tried it out mentioned that every program uses almost the same visuals, so to teach "to dance," for example, all the programs show a Spanish flamenco or something like that.
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Okay, . .thanks Kathryn.
 
Hi Janie,

I teach French part-time at a community college, and I've recently checked out the RS. I think it's a good solid program. Engaging and fun. I really like that there's a component where you use a headset with a mic to work on pronunciation. Like any program, there's time and work involved. RS doesn't offer any magical shortcuts, but by presenting the language in an engaging way it will be very useful to someone with the motivation and the time to learn. It won't be useful if you don't have the time or energy to commit to it.
 
pixiesis said:
Hi Janie,

I teach French part-time at a community college, and I've recently checked out the RS. I think it's a good solid program. Engaging and fun. I really like that there's a component where you use a headset with a mic to work on pronunciation. Like any program, there's time and work involved. RS doesn't offer any magical shortcuts, but by presenting the language in an engaging way it will be very useful to someone with the motivation and the time to learn. It won't be useful if you don't have the time or energy to commit to it.
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Hi Amy, . . . oh great, . . good advice to know. I guess anything you want to excel at you have to practice. I think we'll give it a try. Thanks Amy.
 
I figured you were asking because Rosetta Stone seems to advertise on every one of Cathe's FitTV programs. That and EcoCanteen and VideoProfessor. I almost have the Rosetta Stone commercial memorized.
 
Werqout said:
I figured you were asking because Rosetta Stone seems to advertise on every one of Cathe's FitTV programs. That and EcoCanteen and VideoProfessor. I almost have the Rosetta Stone commercial memorized.
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Hmm, . . no actually I don't watch Cathe's Fit TV programs because I have all her DVD's and I hate that Fit TV has commercials. I only picked Rosetta because my sister in law has the spanish and french version, . she home schools her kids who are in high school and I was wondering if it would work on younger kids. It is a really expensive program so it would be nice to be able to borrow it.
 
Hi Janie! I am posting a link for you from a home school review site concerning Rosetta Stone. I, personally, have heard only great things about it in our home school community and was planning to use it for my kids once we are finished with Latin and they enter middle school. I would take the time to go over all of the reviews if I were you because it is expensive and you want to make sure that this is something that fits for your family.

http://homeschoolreviews.com/reviews/curriculum/reviews.aspx?id=317

Good luck and have fun!!! If you do get it let us know what you think. :)

Melissa
 
pink_fortitude said:
Hi Janie! I am posting a link for you from a home school review site concerning Rosetta Stone. I, personally, have heard only great things about it in our home school community and was planning to use it for my kids once we are finished with Latin and they enter middle school. I would take the time to go over all of the reviews if I were you because it is expensive and you want to make sure that this is something that fits for your family.

http://homeschoolreviews.com/reviews/curriculum/reviews.aspx?id=317

Good luck and have fun!!! If you do get it let us know what you think. :)

Melissa
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Oooh thanks Melissa, . .this is just what I needed!
 
My DH has been using RS for Spanish for over a year now. He got it through his work and for work. He got a new computer and had to have the program put on his new computer and it takes at least an hour on the phone with RS to get it on the new computer (and also took that long to get it on the 1st computer). I guess they want to be sure nobody is using it without permission of RS.

The program is good but it doesn't really teach you to put sentences together and be fluent in the language. You can say stuff like "I need to go the the restroom" which is a good thing to be able to say. But if you didn't learn in the program, you don't know it. He puts alot of time in and he studies other spanish books to try and get was RS doesn't give him. He reads spanish childrens books from the library which is also helpful. And he has visual link which is another similar program.

Like the previous poster said, you have to commit to the program in order for it to be beneficial. It will work if you put the time and effort in.

Tracy
 
Have you checked with your local library? Mine has an online learning language program that we signed up for and now we have access to all the Rosetta Stone programs through the internet at home. Then if you check on the Rosetta Stone home page they have all the workbooks and tests that can be downloaded and printed off.

HTH!

Diane
 
firedawg4 said:
Have you checked with your local library? Mine has an online learning language program that we signed up for and now we have access to all the Rosetta Stone programs through the internet at home. Then if you check on the Rosetta Stone home page they have all the workbooks and tests that can be downloaded and printed off.

HTH!

Diane
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Really? My library? I'll try that, . . thanks.

Thanks everyone!! :)
 
The initial program levels are very basic. You won't get into fluency until you move up to the more advanced levels. What helps is learning the sentences which teach you your nouns and verbs, then you can start to put your own conversations and sentences together using things in your home and with each other based on what you learn. It's not about memorization, but utilization of what you learn and mixing it up when you practice.

Also, regarding loading the program, it only took me about 15 minutes by myself. I didn't have any problems. Of course, I have a Mac and everything is easier on a Mac! (yes, I'm biased ;))

Anyway, good luck with your research! I wish you success!

Adios!
 
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