Simviation Forums

I've been considering the Rosetta Stone software to study German, and I was curious if anyone else here has used the Rosetta Stone program?

As a Brit living in Germany all I can say is to repeat exactly what the Germans say, "deutsche sprache schwere sprache"!
I am always sceptical of these types of courses because unless you get out and use a language you will not really learn it. When I moved here over 10 years ago, I took some evening classes to get the basics, but after that it is learning my doing and having some very patient friends and work colleagues

Matt

Supposedly Rosetta Stone is one of the best computerized learning tools for languages.  That being said, what Matt has to say is absolutely true....at least from my experience. 

I speak (and read) a bit of Japanese.  I study at home using multiple books, CDs, and online offerings.  I just returned from 2 months in Japan (I am over there somewhat frequently) ..... and I find I gain FAR more in that 2 months than if I were to spend many hours per day for that same 2 months "hitting the books".

Catching language usage "in context" is very important.  And few people speak "textbook language" in the real world.

Past experience has shown me that I also will LOSE a lot of the proficiency which I gained now that I m home and not using it on a daily basis.  Even though I watch TVJapan on satelite TV.

You need to find some way to do conversational German on a regular basis.

That advice is worth exactly as much as you paid for it.   ;)

best,

.................john

You need to find some way to do conversational German on a regular basis.

Switch your SimV

You need to find some way to do conversational German on a regular basis.

Switch your SimV

I have the Mandarin Chinese version of the program.

I am always sceptical of these types of courses because unless you get out and use a language you will not really learn it. When I moved here over 10 years ago, I took some evening classes to get the basics, but after that it is learning my doing and having some very patient friends and work colleagues

Matt

True. I agree with you. But short of moving to Germany to learn the language, i'm going to have to settle with books and some sort of computer course, and practicing with relatives of mine who are also studying German

I have the German and Spanish versions...

...I know quite a bit of German, and I can tell you that the program is awful at teaching grammar. That's something that you just have to learn either through daily use, or hours and hours of books and practice.

I use the German version as a review from time to time...but nothing more.

...and the Spanish is just collecting dust (I don't speak Spanish, and its not teaching me any...)

I would recommend buying a plane ticket to Bayern, and skip out on the software. If you're good with languages, you can easily be fluent after about 6 months in the country.

I am using it now to re-learn all the Russian I learned (and then forgot) in college.

I wanted to  use it to learn Arabic before going over seas, but the training schedule just did not allow the time to study.

It does move fast at first. It is based on immersion learning.