Rosetta Stone

Has anyone ever used Rosetta Stone? I recently got it and have been using it, but wondered if anyone actually finished it and felt confident about the language they learned.

I seem to be picking it up pretty well but am having trouble with the fact that there is no English translation at all, only pictures. That works fine until you get to pronouns and helping verbs, then I have to use google translation to help with those. :blink:

I believe the main reason why they do not have a direct English translation is because for many languages there simply isn't one so when you try and translate it to English it won't make any sense.

For example my origin is Greek Cypriot. There are many instances of the Greek language that if you try to do a direct translation it simply will not make any sense.

On top of that the Greek Language language only has 24 letters in the alphabet.

So it is actually easier not to try and relate the 2 languages as if you do it becomes a lot more confusing and makes life more difficult.

This is what Rosetta Stone does, or tries to do anyway. There are quite a few languages like this.

I spent 5 years learning German and 2 years learning French in High School (all High school students in England will learn at least 1 other language).

To begin with I found it found very difficult as I was always trying to do direct translations. Once I stopped myself from doing that it become a lot easier. My advice would be to anybody trying to learn a different language is not to do direct translations but to simply learn the language by itself.

You never learnt English by comparing it to any other language

That makes sense, but it would be helpful for some translation. For example: 'The' in Italian can be le, il, i, la, l' or gli depending on gender or singles/multiples. I didn't realize that until I looked it up. Luckily I took Spanish in high school and it is similar in that way. I remember enough of that to know about multiple words for 'the'. There are six pictures of people holding flowers and I am totally confused about which words go where.

Learning a second language has been on my bucket list for a while. Time to do it! I admire mulit-lingual people and wish the US would teach languages like they do in some foreign countries. My daughter has a friend from Germany who could fluently speak four languages by the time she was 18.

Best Language to learn is Latin.

Master that and you will be able to learn most other European languages with ease.

What language are you learning, Sandi? Italian?

If I were going to take up another language it would be ASL [American Sign Language] - it would be much more useful over other languages except maybe French [because of our neighbors to the north] and Spanish [because of our neighbors to the south]. And personally I feel it should be offered in our schools curriculum as a language.

Our one son was very proficient at it and it came in handy many times [even when he was a volunteer in the ER] - same with his Spanish.

Our other son knew some ALS from his brother - and that little knowledge was used a few times helping others.

European countries share borders with many different countries with different languages - I think that is why they learn a number of different languages, they use those languages.

Melinda - I do know some ASL. I actually used to teach it years ago at a workshop for the mentally challenged. I am by no means fluent. I can finger spell and only taught words for basic needs which was all they needed to learn anyway. I would like to learn more of that and you're right, it would be helpful! Maybe after I get through this that could be my new goal.

Cindy - yes, I am trying to learn Italian. It was a toss up between French, German or Italian. My husband and I plan to both learn and he preferred Italian, so we went with that. We thought it would be hilarious to learn the language and not tell anyone. We want to learn it and one day start speaking to each other in front of our kids and shock them. It could take years! Maybe if we do learn, we might consider going to Italy.

Ghost - I never really considered Latin, not sure why. That would be a good language since so many English terms are based on Latin.

Our older son was fluent in ASL - so proud of him!

Latin - hated it, hated it - but then the nun who taught it was a mean nasty woman, my goal was to get the 2 years over with and get far away from her classroom!

Sandi you can go to Italy without knowing how to speak Italian Go now!

Sandi,

It's great that you are learning a 2nd language.

My boyfriend and it moved to Arizona and he got a job in a part of Phoenix with a huge Spanish speaking population. He is using a program called Behind the Wheel. He has been doing it since February. There are cd's and books. He picked this program basically because of the cost.He is about half way done with the first level. He said he is able to communicate with his patients on a very basic level. He is also using some apps on the iPhone.

Out all the ancient dialects of Italy, the Italian language was standardized by the poet Dante. Perhaps that is why it is such a beautiful language. Unfortunately, I learned French, so I get to sound like I have a clothespin on my nose.

Melinda - ha, it would take a lot to get me on a plane as it is! As much as I would like to see Tuscany and Venice, I'm not so sure I could do a 10 to 12 hour plane ride. My daughter has done it and I have no problem living vicariously!

Valerie - I looked at other programs and they all seemed to have their drawbacks. I hadn't heard of that one but if it's any good, I might check it out if I want to learn another language. Not sure my brain can retain that much though.

Rob - I think French is beautiful.

Was just going by what you said Sandi:
Maybe if we do learn, we might consider going to Italy.

Yep, I did say that. If I learned the language, I'd have more reason to try to force myself. I'd have to be knocked out like Mr. T.

My co-worker used it to learn spanish for a trip she was taking. She now uses it at work with those who can speak it because she is afraid she will lose it! She claimed it worked.

I have not tried it but have seriously wanted to because I would like to learn other languages. Everyone I have met that have used it said they loved it!

Sandi,

It does seem to work for Scott. From a teaching perspective I think it's great because it will teach something new and then review and everything builds on top of it. I think being forced to have to use it has been motivating. I took Spanish all through high school and college because I was always told I would need it. I haven't really needed to use it, however I've been doing some practicing with Scott and it's slowly coming back, You are right though if you don't use it you lose it....so Sandi you need to make some Italian speaking friends.

Vdeutsch85 wrote: ..so Sandi you need to make some Italian speaking friends.

I'll get right on that!

Julia - I'm glad to know that people you know have liked Rosetta Stone.

Have you tried Mango languages? It is a great program teaching many different languages free from our public library. Perhaps your library has it also, or you could probably use our local library.

Should have added it is internet based so you don't have to go too library.

No, I haven't tried it but if Rosetta Stone doesn't work out, I may look into that.

I am currently using the Rosetta Stone Latin Spanish. It is decent. It has been a great help in business. I also speak a fair amount of Mandarin. I picked that up at IU in the 80's. Ok there is an opening there!

Jeffrey