As a person who has seriously studied 10 languages from four different language families, I believe that Rosetta Stone is a waste of money and that there are better options.
I believe that I am qualified to offer an opinion on this subject because of my experiences in learning foreign languages and knowing many others with similar experiences. I have seriously studied one or more languages every year of my life for more than 5 decades. I have used many methods, including high school classes in four languages, university classes in four languages, intensive government classes in two languages, tutors whom I have hired, audio self-study courses, Internet resources, etc. While other people count sheep to fall asleep, I recite French or Italian verbs.
My opinions about Rosetta Stone are based on the following:
1. I looked at a free Rosetta Stone demo CD on behalf of a friend who requested my opinion. I was also curious in view of my continued study of languages and Rosetta Stone's ubiquitous advertising. After examining the approach used in the demo CD, I quickly dismissed it. As Rosetta Stone advertises, it approaches language learning from the way children learn language. Adults do not have the luxury of spending thousands of hours learning the way children learn language - constantly being coached and corrected by adults. For example, a young child can quickly learn that adding "ed" to the end of a verb can change the tense of the verb to past tense. However children then try to apply that observation to all verbs; e.g., "teached" instead of "taught," "throwed" instead of "threw," etc. It takes them a long time and a lot of correction to learn irregular verbs.
2. Rosetta Stone advertising suggests that the Rosetta Stone method allows one to learn language without a lot of memorization, drills, etc. Even though I am very experienced at language learning, it requires a lot of work and memorization on my part to learn a language. It is ridiculous to suggest that language learning can be done without a lot of work.
3. I have run across an interesting government study on Rosetta Stone. It was conducted by the Center for the Advanced Study of Language of the University of Maryland. Check it out - http://www.casl.umd.edu/sites/default/files/Nielson08_RosettaStoneFindings.pdf There are also many other unfavorable reviews of Rosetta Stone on the Internet. Don't pay attention to reviews like those found on Amazon. I'm not convinced that the positive ones are genuine. Look instead for very detailed analyses.
4. There are many, many great free language learning resources on the Internet. They teach pronunciation, conversation, reading, writing, etc. One of the many resources is free podcasts. There are many at the iTunes store and they are free.
When I study a language, I like to use a strategy that involves a combination of
- a teacher who is a native speaker who is as close to my age as possible, and preferably the same gender, so I don't sound like someone of a different age or gender. A native teacher also allows me to develop listening comprehension and learn about the culture of the country of interest
- Internet resources like podcast and YouTube. For example, one great practical learning strategy is to listen to YouTube videos of weather broadcasts in the foreign language. Weather vocabulary is limited and weather maps add to comprehension.
- Smart phone resources. The most incredible Japanese dictionary I have ever seen is Kabuto, which I have installed on my phone. The same company also produces the fantastic King Kanji software for learning Japanese Kanji.
- Books
I hope to add more postings on language learning in the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment