rosetta stone worth the investment?

[pinknic38]

ahh so the new thing now that everyone I work with has seen every TV show and movie ever made (we have a networked media server with all that stuff on it and since January we've watched it all) is everyone has been buying Rosetta Stone. Through the Army we can do it online for free (level 1 only), but the internet is PAINFULLY slow and the website doesn't work anyway because you need some macromedia plugin and because we don't have admin rights on Army computers we can't just go download it (story of my life during this deployment).

anyhoo, it started when me and a few of my coworkers were discussing how to pursue our dreams of marrying a foriegner (one of my coworkers is adamant on marrying Central American royalty - LOL - and is even making a trip when we get back in June to Honduras and Costa Rica I believe)... and me, I feel like maybe I might marry a German diplomat (don't crush my hopes and dreams). but now like 4 people in my office have bought levels 1-3 of different languages... we've got Spanish, Greek, Russian, and I believe Japanese in here at the moment.

I have the dream of learning German. It was my father's first language and his whole side of the family speaks it so when I am there for holidays and they make their little jokes in German, I'm over there on the couch with my sister like "oh good one... NOT". I planned on taking German when I started at OSU next fall, but I thought maybe if I learned a lot from RS, I might be able to test into intermediate level German and wind up with a minor. Plus I am going to Germany to see Celine in June!

The thing that blows it how much it freaking costs...for all 3 levels it's like 430 bucks. I can afford it at the moment but it's like making myself spend that much money on something. But then my boss put it into perspective, he said levels 1-3 of RS is like taking 2 semesters of a language if you're disciplined and taking 2 semesters would cost more than taking RS. He told me to get it and just get a German-English dictionary and one of those German Spark Charts for grammar, and just go to town.

So yeah, I know this RS thing has floated around these boards (so apologies for a repeat), but just wondering everyone's thoughs. I don't just want to plunk down the money if it's not going to be a good thing. In the past I have excelled at language courses (taken both Latin and Spanish), but this is the first "on my own" sort of deal.

thoughts?

EDITED TO SAY: I tried the 20 buck "teach yourself german" cds but just sat there confused as I listened through it. so I am done with the cheap remedies haha

[Sijuki]

Is it possible to start with level 1 and then if it works out buy the rest? I'm not particularly familiar with RS. I did buy a language thing for Mandarin Chinese, which is back in Michigan, so it's doing a lot of good. I just never had the time to really get into it. Although I think a European language would be easier to get into. Although German is rather 'interesting'

But I say, if you have the drive to learn, it's definitely worth it. Even just picking up a basic understanding at first, it will be that great help and you'll probably grasp more after using it.

[pinknic38]

Originally Posted by Sijuki

Is it possible to start with level 1 and then if it works out buy the rest?

you can, but you save like 200 bucks by buying all 3 levels cos each level is like 200 each (ouch, I know, but still a lot less than a college class). I have it in my amazon.com shopping cart right now I am just waiting for the convincing haha.

[Sijuki]

Ah, well then if you got the cash, I would definitely invest to save the $200. What do you get with that? I'm gonna have to look this up.

[Sijuki]

You know what, with a 6 month money back guarantee... I say go for it. Worse case by time you get back to the states you don't like, get your cash back.

But it looks like it's pretty impressive. If I had $400 I might get one. :P

[pinknic38]

here's what I am buying (possibly):

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000P4FYES/ref=pd_luc_mri/104-5665616-4659903?%5Fencoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance

I've done the tutorials in spanish before, before the deployment. it's a cool way to learn the language. you learn it as if you were a child instead of how they teach you in regular language courses. I know it comes with several CD roms. I have an english-german dictionary and one of those german grammar spark charts as well from whe nI tried to learn the first time.. so I'm sure that kind of stuff helps since you don't have a teacher to answeryour questions.

here's some other info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosetta_Stone_(software)
http://www.rosettastone.com/

[Sijuki]

I was looking at the RS website... it definitely seems like a cool bit of software. I've always been fascinated with learning new languages, so while the price tag seems impressive at first, it really isn't quite so bad.

I was thinking about asking for one for christmas... although I would probably go with Spanish just cause of where I live and I think Spain might make for a good trip. (yeah I know slightly different use of language, but close enough)

(Just Do It)

[pinknic38]

well I am hoping if I get it then when I am done I can trade with my coworkers and learn Greek or Russian. I think as the potential wife of a foreign diplomat this makes me more marketable. oh and I suppose in the job world too. heh.

[Sijuki]

You are really on that whole diplomat's wife thing aren't you?

[pinknic38]

hey go big or go home, I say. I mean, royalty would be the the ultimate goal of course, (I could be the next Princess Di!), but I would settle for a diplomat, just fine.

[lost in texas]

Rosetta Stone is the way to go! I've used it for a couple of different languages, and it's amazing how quickly you start picking things up. Even though it's cheaper to buy them all together, I wouldn't do it! The program is great, but most people don't have the discipline to get through it all, or lose interest (I know I don't). If you finish the first level and still want to learn more, buy the others. I've even seen them on eBay

[Sijuki]

I'm just going for happiness. I think royalty has scores of underlying unhappiness.

[bibowj]

I didnt read your whole post, but I think I got the jist of what you were asking.


Im a language obsessive, and right now Im learning Japanese (for obvious reasons...well obvious to me, Im moving there). I own all 3 parts of the R-Stone for Japanese, and have used it some....


Heres my input: Is it worth it .... YES. Will it teach you German or whatever language you want to learn? NO.

ALl it will REALLY do is fatten up your vocab greatly, which everyone needs at some point. However, I would not suggest starting out using Rstone. What you need to learn is basic conversation first, because that will motivate you to learn more.... if you can name every known noun in German, what good is it going to do you if you cant string a sentence together?


So what I did/am doing is that I acquired the Pimsleur audio series for Japanese, which I installed on my ipod, and I started working through that. once I got past the 2nd version, I was able to start my Rstone stuff and had far better success with it... so in a way, Rstone just augments everything else...


I can give you more info on Pimsleur if you want, just PM me..

[joe7f]

^You may be interested in Japanesepod101.com

It is a daily podcast in Japanese for all levels. I am on a similar site for Chinese at the moment (Chinesepod.com and its sister site, Spanishsense.com)

It is fairly affordable and breaks up the monotony of CDs

--Joey

[Canadian Bacon]

Dude just download it. I did.

And its an awesome system, I was well on my way to learning basic arabic until I got lazy and stopped =)

[pinknic38]

I think I am going to buy it, but just buy the level 1 at first, to see how it works out. the way I see it, education is always a good investment, and even if I just stick to level 1 or go to level 3, then in the least, I won't look like a huge tool when I go to germany and even if I don't test out of the 100 level german courses, I will be the star of my intro classes for reasons besides my stellar personality.

I'll let ya'll know how it works out! thanks for the advice guys!

[SGRHewitt]

I've seen them on BTorrent sites. You might want to check that out, though I don't condone piracy.

[Rathma]

Originally Posted by bibowj

ALl it will REALLY do is fatten up your vocab greatly, which everyone needs at some point. However, I would not suggest starting out using Rstone. What you need to learn is basic conversation first, because that will motivate you to learn more.... if you can name every known noun in German, what good is it going to do you if you cant string a sentence together?


So what I did/am doing is that I acquired the Pimsleur audio series for Japanese, which I installed on my ipod, and I started working through that. once I got past the 2nd version, I was able to start my Rstone stuff and had far better success with it... so in a way, Rstone just augments everything else...

I use rosetta stone for japanese and yeah, I can only seem to point at things and say what they are in japanese. I can't put together a sentence. I'm going to try out that Pimsleur audio you mentioned.

[LiveFreeorDie]

I have heard excellent things about Pimsleur.

[pinknic38]

as a follow up, I ended up buying all 3 levels (my coworkers are a really bad influence on me... I was sitting there on amazon.com having an anxiety attack until my boss pointed out that I would drop the cash to see Celine Dion or buy designer shoes but not to learn a language? he tried to call me shallow but before the words escaped his mouth I was already selecting my shipping method. come on he practically dared me.)

I've done the first lesson and I like experiencing this from a language I don't know a lot about. I asked the advice of a mentor who is fluent in the language (he was stationed in Germany for 8 years and married a local girl from Germany and is fluent and his 2 little girls are bilingual as well) and he did all 3 levels of the course and said it was good stuff and even though he was fluent it helped him to clean up some of his mistakes. Anyway it's cool because with spanish, as Americans we know much more than what we think we do, so doing this whole German thing I think I can accurately gauge my learning in this whole thing.

I did all the little mini lessons in the first section and came out with a 95%. The whole thing comes with some high speed headphones with a microphone attached and also stickers for your keayboard to help you type/write in the language... it isn't so helpful in language that use the english alphabet but would be incredibly helpful for those learning Greek or Arabic or Russian.

Anyhoo, I'm just a beginner but so far, two thumbs way up!