Rosetta Stone, or other language software?

[deserat]

I concur with what ha said about the Spanish speakers and the dialects are different, too. I did immersion training in Ecuador and then I went to Spain and they looked at me funny and said I used South American words and had a South American accent. Additionally, the colloquial usage versus what is formally taught can be quite different - I see that here in Germany as well. Just as we use our language as a tool to communicate ideas with nuance, the same is true of other languages. To me true fluency is being able to understand those subtleties - *very* few people can do that well.

Trek - thanks for the DeutscheWelle info - I had forgotten about that. I live in a small town just outside Stuttgart which is south of Wurzburg - that's a beautiful city, by the way and I prefer the Neckar wines to the Rhein wines - cool place outside of Wurzburg named Castell has awesome wines.

[harley]

Well, I doubt I'll have an opportunity to go to Costa Rica anytime soon and do an immersion program. My motives are more to understand the people standing behind me in the grocery line, as well as to be able to give clear directions to people working on my house or whatever, and maybe to get the right order at McDs. It would be great to go somewhere and really become fluent. I'm hoping many hours of Rosetta Stone and Telemundo will accomplish a similar result.

[Nords]

Thanks again, everyone. She's been playing around with Pimsleur and much prefers it to Rosetta Stone. She's also finding better prices on Pimsleur, too, an enjoying the other websites' free podcasts.

[tuixiu]

That doesn't surprise me... everyone is different but I couldn't imagine dedicating the time necessary to excel at language learning by sitting in front of my computer with my headphones on. That's too much like work or school.

Wanna try funny go look at Pimsleur Eastern Arabic, it's great they say stuff that I can rewind 50 times and still not hock spit that sounds close to it.

[haha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by haha I used a set of cartoon books and tapes about 20 years ago to refresh for a trip back. I can't remember the name of this course. It was excellent. It showed a panel, a short written description or comment in spanish, and the same was given on the tape. No English was ever spoken or written. You never have to try to remember what to say- it just comes more or less naturally after a while. To me this is ideal. If Rosetta Stone is a lot like this it should work pretty well. It would still be a partial solution, but after finishing it you could see how you wanted to proceed. Ha

I found this course. It's called the Learnables.

Welcome to International Linguistics Corporation, home of The Learnables!

About 25 years ago I used the Spanish and liked it. One of my sons did all the levels of German and tested into 2nd year German at university without any high school German study, or any access to native speakers other than the Learnables tapes.

To us it was not boring. Another good feature from my POV is that you hear no English at all. Pimsleur and many of the other popular programs spend a fair amount of time talking to you in English, and that slowed my learning down.

ha

[steelyman]

I'd wondered about Rosetta Stone for a few years. I'd like to make a better showing for Americans when with my French-speaking friends.

Amazon dropped the price by $100 (I'd had it on my wish list, maybe there's a new release coming?), so I ordered and will give it a try.

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by steelyman I'd wondered about Rosetta Stone for a few years. I'd like to make a better showing for Americans when with my French-speaking friends. Amazon dropped the price by $100 (I'd had it on my wish list, maybe there's a new release coming?), so I ordered and will give it a try.

I hope you follow up with a post about what you think of it!

I would like to learn Mexican Spanish, but to be brutally honest, right now I am not too interested in working very hard at it. Maybe your review will inspire me.

[steelyman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R I hope you follow up with a post about what you think of it! I would like to learn Mexican Spanish, but to be brutally honest, right now I am not too interested in working very hard at it. Maybe your review will inspire me.

I will, but don't expect anything soon 😄.

I was glad to find this thread still open, as it is a little old but still relevant.

I'd probably benefit more from learning Spanish in the real world too, but I chose French.

I'm appreciative of how forgiving people from other countries are with Americans who speak only English (in some areas of the US, even that's questionable too).

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by steelyman I will, but don't expect anything soon ��. I was glad to find this thread still open, as it is a little old but still relevant. I'd probably benefit more from learning Spanish in the real world too, but I chose French. I'm appreciative of how forgiving people from other countries are with Americans who speak only English (in some areas of the US, even that's questionable too).

I am just curious to know what is being said in other languages! I guess curiousity is a major theme in my life.

I already know enough French to get by. That is convenient here, although the French spoken in south Louisiana is very long way from Parisian French. It's sort of like the pidgin English spoken in Hawaii, where I grew up; a combination of words from different languages, with an accent all its own. So, I can't really speak the local French dialect here but I can get the main idea of what is being said.

[Birdie Num Nums]

I was in my local Costco the other day and saw they had some software that supposedly compared well with Rosetta Stone but at a much, much cheaper price. I didn't note the name or see it offered online at Costco. You might want to look into that.

[steelyman]

Well, it's easy to say what I paid: $199 for French levels 1-5. No online subscription.

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by steelyman Well, it's easy to say what I paid: $199 for French levels 1-5. No online subscription.

Wow, that was a good price! Hope you enjoy studying French.

[steelyman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R Wow, that was a good price! Hope you enjoy studying French.

I already do a mean Pepe LePew. That kind of behavior would probably earn me a slap!

[Philliefan33]

I haven't read through the whole string, so forgive me if this was mentioned in 2009.

Last weekend I was poking around the website of our county library and saw a service called Mango. It runs on an app on my iPhone or iPad, and is an "audio" language class. It's free- I just needed to log in with my library card. I'm trying the Mexican Spanish class; I went through one chapter on my commute home today. (At least when I'm alone in the car I'm not embarrassed by how bad my accent is when I say buenas tardes)

It's definitely worth looking into the availability of Mango through your favorite library. The price is perfect!

( Not to hijack the thread, but I am amazed at the amount and quality of entertainment and educational possibilities that can be accessed for free with my library card, Kindle, and iPad.)

[anethum]

For those who would like to practice with a native speaker of another language, the following completely free website (hosted by Dickinson College) is excellent for finding partners for a language exchange via Skype:

The Mixxer - a free educational website for language exchanges via Skype | The Mixxer

There are huge numbers of folks out there who are eager to practice their English with a native speaker, so it's easy to find native speakers of other languages for an exchange.

[marko]

I bought Rosetta Stone online to learn Danish for work.

I found it very useful and effective, provided --like just about anything else--you apply yourself and practice every day. It gave me a fairly good basis for daily conversational use; however most Danes would switch to English which didn't help my practicing.

Ten years later, without having used Danish since, I still retain many phrases and words.

Not to get off track, but...funny story: I was in a store in Denmark buying something and a crazy/drunk man came into the store and started screaming something in Danish at anyone within earshot.

I was right next to him and, not really understanding what he was saying, I just looked at him blankly. He then went: "oh sorry" and started screaming in English!!

[sailor]

Not worth it IMHO. I have Rosetta Stone available for free at work.
If you have an internet connection, Duolingo is better (and free
Me and my 8 year old are learning Spanish, my 10 y.o. is learning Dutch.
https://www.duolingo.com/

[rodi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by marko Not to get off track, but...funny story: I was in a store in Denmark buying something and a crazy/drunk man came into the store and started screaming something in Danish at anyone within earshot. I was right next to him and, not really understanding what he was saying, I just looked at him blankly. He then went: "oh sorry" and started screaming in English!!

That is too funny!

[steelyman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by anethum ... There are huge numbers of folks out there who are eager to practice their English with a native speaker, so it's easy to find native speakers of other languages for an exchange.

That's true. If you live in/near a university, there are often people who meet informally over coffee (or something) to practice/share language skills. Foreign language department bulletin boards can help find out about them in addition to friends.

[FUEGO]

Quote:

Originally Posted by anethum There are huge numbers of folks out there who are eager to practice their English with a native speaker, so it's easy to find native speakers of other languages for an exchange.

+1 Very helpful to gain (or re-gain) fluency. It's also helpful to get those comments like "eh, that's the textbook way of saying it but no one says it that way. Say it this way instead".

And it's free.

italki.com is another good source for online foreign language conversation partners. Basic access is still free I think.