RosettaStone language software.
 

Has anyone here used it before? Did you like the results? All input on this software is appreciated.

It's good, but somewhat difficult, doubly so for language that do not use a Euro-Roman alphabet such as Arabic, Chinese or Hebrew. Many of the sections of the courses will have pictures and a word or small phrase from the picture written in the native hand and spoken in the native tongue. This can make it pretty tough to distinguish a) what the actual phrase is describing (individual words are not as difficult), b) how the writing translates to the spoken.

Case in point, before I was deployed here, were took some Rosetta Pashto classes online (the Army has a full library of Rosetta classes online, which I really should take greater advantage of). The words were simple, and though I never picked up the writing (arabic script) I was more concerned about spoken Pashto anyhow. After the third of fourth section, the phrases kicked in. Some of them, despite having a knack for languages, just kicked my ass. It wasn't the language that was harder than others, but the approach that I found obtuse.

In the end, however, I was able to work through it. If you have them available to you, then by all means they are good tools. Just expect some learning curves as you go along. It's not like other language software or learning labs out there, but in the end it may work better.

i have a DVD, it's pretty cool but i haven't spent a lot of time with it

i progressed through some basics. learning begins by educated guessing. given 4 images, you must select what is being described. you move on based on your performance and build vocabulary.

Thanks for the (detailed) input, folks! Yeah, I have to say what intrigued me the most about Rosettastone when I first heard about it was the style of teaching. It seems very much like the way you would learn your first language as a child. It would be very cool if you could learn second languages, not as 'second languages' that are referenced to your first language, but almost as an auxillary first language (although that may be a bit of a pipe dream on my part) using Rosettastone.

I've never used the software, but I hiked up a mountain in Virginia one time with my then-boss and his best friend, who is the President and CEO of Rosetta Stone, and who developed the learning method and wrote the first several versions of the product. I don't know anything about his product, but he's a really neat guy.

It's not a bad program... I strongly suggest NOT trying to learn Norsk, French and Arabic all at once tho...*shudders* very bad idea...Did NOT work well...

LOL. Will do, Midnight. I think I'll stick to one language at a time.

ratbastid: Good to know I'm using a product created by a good guy, rather than a you-know-what. ;)

i tried this program for japanese just to see what it was like only spent a hour or two basicly looking it over but i was really impressed. if you are willing to put the time into it im sure it will work. and most likely much faster then normal classes would be.

I have used the Rosetta Stone Arabic program and it was a big help. Much better than the arabic class I was in concurrently.

Awesome! I'll be sure to use it then, folks.

i'm getting rosetta stone mandarin, and my brother who is in the military is going to help me get access to the military online stuff.

I'll post an update when i get and use it.

skill level: i went through 3 years of spanish in High School, got B's mostly, and forgot all of it. I don't speak any other languages.

I haven't used the software but am interested in it as well. I'm currently taking Spanish in college, but I'd really like to be trilingual and if this software works well...it would be less expensive than taking a college class!

I am currently using the French version, and my wife the Arabic. It's definitely the best language software that I've used. As Suave said, the way of learning is the same as when you pickup your first language.

After the first couple of lessons it gets harder with complex phrases, but then everything clicks and you take off again. It's very similar when a toddler crosses the language threshold.

I just got done using it for the second time today.

The best thing about this program is that it makes it fun, like a game. It allows you to use your deductive reasoning to figure out the correct answer.

The other great part so far is that it has a scale of how hard or easy you make it on yourself. So one exercise is actually many more. For example, you can do the first exercise by matching the pictures to the spoken phrase as its spelled out phonetically in english, you can match the spoken phrase as its spelled out in the chinese alphabet, or you can just use your ears and pick the right picture as the spoken phrase won't be seen.

A unique part of this so far is that it just abandons the english language outside of phonetically spelling out the words for you. THis part is great because it keeps you from making connections to your own language, and instead forces you to understand the language on its own terms, rather than understanding the language in the terms of english. I believe this is the biggest fault with other language programs so far.

(what i'm trying to say is that it doesn't say, "The boy is running" then say the same phrase in chinese. It just says the chinese phrase and that's it).

I'd like to use it maybe 20-30 minutes a day. That's ambitious, hopefully i can keep it up.

Great program. Was a bit easier for me to start learning spanish because I can speak french. But it follows a very logical sequence that can get tedious at times but gets the job done.

I use Pimsleur Spanish. It has provided me with better results overall than RS