rosetta stone

[bigtenchamps1899]

i language shopped in college, i took at least a year of five different languages and mastered none. i did take four years of latin, though, so i understand how languages work very well (and appreciate grammar).

i am thinking about buying the russian course from rosetta stone. has anybody used it before (rosetta stone in general)?

[MrGopher]

U of M Linguistics senior to the rescue!!

I highly recommend rosetta stone. I've used it for Spanish, German, Latin, and Arabic. I've also messed around with the french and russian ones.

It is a very good way to learn vocab and simple grammatical constructions, and to maintain practice in listening to native speakers. It's quite user-friendly, and convenient.... more so than other teach-yourself language programs or formal classes.

However, it is, in my opinion, best served as a supplemental language learning tool. You will need to have some formal training at a high level, and lots of real-life interaction, if you plan on becoming fluent in, say, Russian.

Is it worth the money? If you're serious about it, yes. Otherwise I would try to find it at your local public library and give it a test-run just to see if it fits you.

[bigtenchamps1899]

U of M Linguistics senior to the rescue!!

I highly recommend rosetta stone. I've used it for Spanish, German, Latin, and Arabic. I've also messed around with the french and russian ones.

It is a very good way to learn vocab and simple grammatical constructions, and to maintain practice in listening to native speakers. It's quite user-friendly, and convenient.... more so than other teach-yourself language programs or formal classes.

However, it is, in my opinion, best served as a supplemental language learning tool. You will need to have some formal training at a high level, and lots of real-life interaction, if you plan on becoming fluent in, say, Russian.

Is it worth the money? If you're serious about it, yes. Otherwise I would try to find it at you local public library and give it a test-run just to see if it fits you.

thanks, great info! i hadn't thought about trying the library, i shall have to take a look.

[WadeHokenson]

My brother is using the Dutch version of Rosetta stone, with zero prior experience, and he's beyond satisfied with it thus far--I think he's been using it for a couple months.

[MrGopher]

thanks, great info! i hadn't thought about trying the library, i shall have to take a look.

Yeah. Public libraries are pretty much the best things ever.

[ruralgopher]

Yeah. Public libraries are pretty much the best things ever.

"They should have a place where you can go and rent books, then return them when you're done reading them, like they do for movies"- Joey Tribianni

[diehard]

U of M Linguistics senior to the rescue!!

I highly recommend rosetta stone. I've used it for Spanish, German, Latin, and Arabic. I've also messed around with the french and russian ones.

It is a very good way to learn vocab and simple grammatical constructions, and to maintain practice in listening to native speakers. It's quite user-friendly, and convenient.... more so than other teach-yourself language programs or formal classes.

However, it is, in my opinion, best served as a supplemental language learning tool. You will need to have some formal training at a high level, and lots of real-life interaction, if you plan on becoming fluent in, say, Russian.

Is it worth the money? If you're serious about it, yes. Otherwise I would try to find it at your local public library and give it a test-run just to see if it fits you.

Having made a couple trips to the Defense Language Institute (waiting to hear from jammer to dispute this), MrGopher is accurate. Remember also that the training and is perishable and needs constant work to maintain your skill level. You may also find that believing you are very good in a classroom environment can go out the window quickly when you end up operating in that culture with native speakers. Vocabulary and grammar go out the window quickly and idiomatic conversation can take over.