Rosetta Stone Language Learning

[Dhar_2]

Re: Rosetta Stone Language Learning

move to a new country IMO. worked for me with french and its more fun

french sucks!!!

but i have to agree the only way to learn a language to a proficient level is to live there.

[Miroslav]

Re: Rosetta Stone Language Learning

^ any suggestions on how to immerse oneself in foreign-speaking cultures without having to travel?

i could probably get away with russian in that respect, as that is where the gf is from, and she and her family still speak it fluently

Definitely sounds like a good plan for your Russian language-learning interests... Do you live near a big metropolitan area? You might be able to find various language interest groups that get together, have a mini "class" session, and then just do small group social interaction over beer (all in the foreign language, of course)... I know we've had such things around here, at least, for German.

Just to clarify - I'm not saying that Rosetta Stone is bad - just that I would approach it with a certain level of expectation. In combination with other opportunities to practice with people, it could move you up the learning curve much more quickly than traditional language classes...

[day_for_night]

Re: Rosetta Stone Language Learning

only if you buy it.

wait...you mean there are alternatives to paying for software?! wish someone would have told me that years ago...

[Jenks]

Re: Rosetta Stone Language Learning

Problem with RS is that it is freaking pricey.

only if you buy it.

[tiddles]

Re: Rosetta Stone Language Learning

move to a new country IMO. worked for me with french and its more fun

[toasty]

Re: Rosetta Stone Language Learning

BTW, the Rosetta Stone webpage has an interactive demo that shows how the software works -- I was actually just trying it out over the weekend. You might want to give it a go.

Problem with RS is that it is freaking pricey. Makes it hard to justify taking a flyer on it just for fun to see how it works.

[toasty]

Re: Rosetta Stone Language Learning

^ any suggestions on how to immerse oneself in foreign-speaking cultures without having to travel?

There are parts of St. Louis that I could visit where very little English is spoken -- I'm sure there are Chinatown-esque areas in your neck of the woods, too. Biggest problem, if you look like me (read: standard issue white guy), is getting people to not speak English to you -- I guess you could just tell them you're learning and ask them to speak in their native tongue. Of course, then you're limited to whatever ethnic areas are in your area. I'd love to learn another language or two, but Bosnian isn't really high on my list.

[88Mariner]

Re: Rosetta Stone Language Learning

^ any suggestions on how to immerse oneself in foreign-speaking cultures without having to travel?

i could probably get away with russian in that respect, as that is where the gf is from, and she and her family still speak it fluently

[Miroslav]

Re: Rosetta Stone Language Learning

I have not used this product, but as someone who has developed real fluency in something other than English, I can tell you...

This seems to offer a better way than typical high school/college courses to gain a basic introductory foundation...but don't expect it to take you much further than that.

Experience and intuition suggests to me that the only way you can actually attain fluency in a foreign language is to practice using it it on a regular basis - putting yourself in circumstances where you have to utilize that language to interact with others, read things, etc.

And so buying this product and expecting it to truly provide you with a robust interaction ability in a foreign language is like buying those ab machines they advertise on TV and expecting to look like the chiseled supermodel in the commercial on just 3 minutes of effort a day. It's just not going to happen.

As with anything in life... if you really want to get good at something, there is no shortcut to the time and effort you have to put in actually practicing it.

[Dhar_2]

Re: Rosetta Stone Language Learning

so has anyone used these?

i' was intrigued by them aswell.

it seems everyones thought about it, but never done it!!

[res0nat0r]

Re: Rosetta Stone Language Learning

highland in anderson

[88Mariner]

Re: Rosetta Stone Language Learning

which high school did you go to btw?

[res0nat0r]

Re: Rosetta Stone Language Learning

took japanese for 2 years in college and 2 in highschool. it really isnt that hard to learn the language if you study. it really is just how good you are at memorization which i was terrible at. since you can kind of guess what someone is saying in spanish without knowing the language since the languages are somewhat similar, where as japanese you cannot and therefore have to be good at straight memorizing what words mean, or use the language alot to keep your skill up imo.

[palmer]

Re: Rosetta Stone Language Learning

I've heard it's really good.

I think I want to learn Japanese and have been eyeballing this shit....

[day_for_night]

Re: Rosetta Stone Language Learning

ditto. contemplating learning mandarin, cause clearly i'm a bit masochistic...