Any good software for learning a foreign language?
 

I've seen a couple, but they have pretty mixed reviews.

Any recommendations or experiences with them?

b

edit: Title edited. Just a little reminder to everyone to put a little thought into making titles clear or interesting.

Re: Any good software for learning a foreign language?
 

My friend swears by Rosetta Stone, although I have no personal experience.

Do you have a specific language in mind - you might get better answers.

Re: Any good software for learning a foreign language?
 

Rosetta Stone is grossly overrated. It will teach you basic words fairly well. Anything more advanced or conversational is pretty much hopeless.

I'm going to guess that living in the country of the language you want to learn isn't possible? I'd try to get a tutor who is a native speaker. That will at least be close.

It's incredibly hard to teach yourself a language correctly.

Re: Any good software for learning a foreign language?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Do you have a specific language in mind - you might get better answers.

[/ QUOTE ]

This would be extremely helpful.

Re: Any good software for learning a foreign language?
 

I'm interested in this as well. I've been thinking about taking a class at a local private language school: boston language institute. The classes are pretty small (around 2-4 students), but I suspect what really matters is how good the teacher happens to be.

I'd like to learn vietnamese. Anyone have any experience?

Re: Any good software for learning a foreign language?
 

What's good for Spanish?

Re: Any good software for learning a foreign language?
 

I have Rosetta Stone and it is great! It costs alot compared to other software for a reason. It works better than any other method I have been through including high school classes for three years. Doesn't hurt to get it on the company dime though.

Re: Any good software for learning a foreign language?
 

[ QUOTE ]
My friend swears by Rosetta Stone, although I have no personal experience.

Do you have a specific language in mind - you might get better answers.

[/ QUOTE ]

Korean or Spanish for starters.

b

Re: Any good software for learning a foreign language?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Rosetta Stone is grossly overrated. It will teach you basic words fairly well. Anything more advanced or conversational is pretty much hopeless.

I'm going to guess that living in the country of the language you want to learn isn't possible? I'd try to get a tutor who is a native speaker. That will at least be close.

It's incredibly hard to teach yourself a language correctly.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've heard very mixed stuff on Rosetta Stone. It really doesn't seem to favor either way.

As far as conversational, to me, the only real way to get that fluent is to live there. So I'm not aiming my sights that high. To me, it would probably sound more broken than foreigners coming here. Yet, even those foreigners can get their points across. Complete fluency is way on the back burner.

b

Re: Any good software for learning a foreign language?
 

As others have said, it is very difficult to gain any sort of real competency in a foreign language just studying by yourself. The next best thing to actually living in the country where the language is spoken would probably be to find a college with a good language program, one in which only the language being studied is spoken in the classroom (in other words, no English).

Re: Any good software for learning a foreign language?
 

Ive taken 3 years in high school and 5 semesters in college and I was shocked at how little I understood when I arrived here in Spain however what those classes do is give you a base to start from and once you are immeresed in the language you can catch on very fast

Re: Any good software for learning a foreign language?
 

When you are already at some level, listening to news on the radio has been useful for me, look if you find a web news channel or something with 24 hour news. You have some clue as to what the subjects can be and they also keep repeating phrases and reports etc.. They also usually speak very clearly so you can hear the different sounds clearly. After a while your brain manages to figure out what some words has to mean and then phrases and finally most of it.

Re: Any good software for learning a foreign language?
 

I will bump this thread on September 1st because I am going to learn a second language this summer using some sort of software as a jumping off point (with tutoring to come if I like it). Still not even sure which language.

My school language progression looked like this

7th- Intro to Latin
8th- Latin II

Then go to private HS:

9th-Intro to Latin
10th-Latin II-Honors, Greek I
11th-Latin III-Honors
12th- Latin IV-AP

Then I go to college!

Freshman yr- Intro to Latin.

Re: Any good software for learning a foreign language?
 

rosetta stone is the best software you can get for learning a foreign language; however it's just a start. You will not be fluent when done.

Re: Any good software for learning a foreign language?
 

http://lomastv.com

Not a software, but I have found it very useful when learning Spanish. I think there's French version too.

Re: Any good software for learning a foreign language?
 

I researched this heavily last month, and the overwhelming consensus of users who had purchased both was that Plimseur audio only cds are far better than Rosetta Stone and all other types of software. Go check out user reviews of Rosetta Stone software and Plimseur cds on Amazon. By a huge margin, the customers who had purchased Rosetta and then Plimseur said Rosetta was crap in comparison. If money is no object, then a combo of both coupled with a tutor to run everything by seems the best formula. There are now online tutors who are very cheap and speak to you via skype from their home countries with English as your common language. Obviously to learn the written language you are going to need a more comprehensive approach. The Plimseur cds are very expensive, but are sold and resold on ebay, and hold their value very well. You might have to dish out like $500-$800 depending on the language for the entire set but can resell them on ebay and recoup probably 80% of cost.

Re: Any good software for learning a foreign language?
 

[ QUOTE ]
The Plimseur cds are very expensive,

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually, they seem to be about the same price as Rosetta stone.

[ QUOTE ]
Go check out user reviews of Rosetta Stone software and Plimseur cds on Amazon

[/ QUOTE ]

This is where I was looking for reviews of Rosetta and they were very mixed. Which is what prompted the inital question in the post.

Thanks for throwing in the other one. I'll check that out.

b

Re: Any good software for learning a foreign language?
 

[ QUOTE ]
What's good for Spanish?

[/ QUOTE ]

Back in my day, a few mushrooms and you were basically fluent. Even real good pot did the trick. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Re: Any good software for learning a foreign language?
 

I'm learning thai w/ rosetta stone right now and I think it's about as good as a high-school class was. It doesnt appear to be very conversational, unless I want to talk about the dog jumping over the fence, or the young man being inside the red car.

My wife is thai and i'm going to depend on her for the conversational instruction I need....

Re: Any good software for learning a foreign language?
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The Plimseur cds are very expensive,

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually, they seem to be about the same price as Rosetta stone.

[ QUOTE ]
Go check out user reviews of Rosetta Stone software and Plimseur cds on Amazon

[/ QUOTE ]

This is where I was looking for reviews of Rosetta and they were very mixed. Which is what prompted the inital question in the post.

Thanks for throwing in the other one. I'll check that out.

b

[/ QUOTE ]

Hey Bernie,I mispelled his name.It's Pimsleur. I meant expensive for audio only cds. Rosetta Stone from what I gathered is audio and visual. Good luck.

Re: Any good software for learning a foreign language?
 

Donkey,

After using Pimsleur did you feel fluent? Or at least moderately comfortable in basic conversation?

Re: Any good software for learning a foreign language?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Donkey,

After using Pimsleur did you feel fluent? Or at least moderately comfortable in basic conversation?

[/ QUOTE ]

I used this and Rosetta Stone in addition to a Danish girlfriend/friends to learn Danish. I learned about 1000x more from the actual people. Pimsleur taught me some really basic phrases but I was corrected multiple times using the stuff they taught me because the Danes told me they were incorrect or awkward ways to say things. The Rosetta Stone was okay for basic verbs and nouns, but wasn't all that gret. I finished both programs and I still don't feel even remotely close to fluent in Danish. Even conversational is stretching it with anything remotely advanced.

The only way to truly learn a language well is to have a tutor who is teaching you their native tongue. It helps even more to be in that country, but if you can't at least get a native speaking tutor.

Re: Any good software for learning a foreign language?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Donkey,

After using Pimsleur did you feel fluent? Or at least moderately comfortable in basic conversation?

[/ QUOTE ]

I haven't started yet.Like I said in my first post, I did a bunch of research just last week. I want to tackle Japanese and almost purchased Rosetta Stone, but changed my mind after reading reviews on both. I am simply going on exhaustive reading of many reviews and not from practical experience. I bought Pimsleurs whole japanese course, but just got it yesterday. From what I gather it is going to be a very long process. A tutor I spoke with suggested it will take at least 18 months of study,tutoring, and eventually a few month stay in Japan for immersion. While being a very quick study at most things,my gut tells me I am not going to be a natural at this. Being truly fluent in a language seems to be quite a process, but I look forward to it.

Re: Any good software for learning a foreign language?
 

it's not that hard to find torrents for all the pimsleur cds btw.

Re: Any good software for learning a foreign language?
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The Plimseur cds are very expensive,

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually, they seem to be about the same price as Rosetta stone.

[ QUOTE ]
Go check out user reviews of Rosetta Stone software and Plimseur cds on Amazon

[/ QUOTE ]

This is where I was looking for reviews of Rosetta and they were very mixed. Which is what prompted the inital question in the post.

Thanks for throwing in the other one. I'll check that out.

b

[/ QUOTE ]

Hey Bernie,I mispelled his name.It's Pimsleur. I meant expensive for audio only cds. Rosetta Stone from what I gathered is audio and visual. Good luck.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think Pimsleur also has DVDs available for like $20 extra. They're selling something in a package deal. The amazon reviews seem to be mixed on these as well.

b

Re: Any good software for learning a foreign language?
 

pimsleur is good because it teaches you how to say certain sentences overly formally and with pretty perfect pronunciation, so you feel confident saying the few sentences you actually know constantly; this is good because it gives you opportunities to talk to people who are native speakers of that language by using the few sentences you know as an icebreaker.

I assume if you want to learn a second language you are fairly open to talking to random people; this is a great way to keep improving conversationally.

If you want to read literature, you'll probably have to take a university course or something at some point though.

This has been my experience, anyway.

Re: Any good software for learning a foreign language?
 

My girl used Rosetta Stone for a little while trying to learn Italian-- I wound up learning a bunch of words just sitting there with her. It seems like a good way to learn a bunch about a language, especially if you are an analytical type of person.

I don't know if you know how it works or whatever but they put up four pictures and a word or phrase and you have to pick the picture that corresponds. First you kind of randomly figure out that like uhh the word for chair is X through trial and error. Then it will show you maybe like a picture of a couch, a picture of a chair, a picture of two chairs, and a picture of two couches and it will say the word for "two" and the word for chair, so you now learned the word for two and so on.

It gets to be pretty complex where you get into entire sentences with tenses and what not and you have to figure the rules out as you go along. The fact you have to figure it out makes it really engaging so you can almost learn by accident.

The thing it won't do for you is make you be able to speak the langauge really well, but nothing will I think. It will give you enough to go around and talk like a caveman about what you want, which is probably enough to then go for something more complex.

Re: Any good software for learning a foreign language?
 

[ QUOTE ]
My girl used Rosetta Stone for a little while trying to learn Italian-- I wound up learning a bunch of words just sitting there with her. It seems like a good way to learn a bunch about a language, especially if you are an analytical type of person.

I don't know if you know how it works or whatever but they put up four pictures and a word or phrase and you have to pick the picture that corresponds. First you kind of randomly figure out that like uhh the word for chair is X through trial and error. Then it will show you maybe like a picture of a couch, a picture of a chair, a picture of two chairs, and a picture of two couches and it will say the word for "two" and the word for chair, so you now learned the word for two and so on.

It gets to be pretty complex where you get into entire sentences with tenses and what not and you have to figure the rules out as you go along. The fact you have to figure it out makes it really engaging so you can almost learn by accident.

The thing it won't do for you is make you be able to speak the langauge really well, but nothing will I think. It will give you enough to go around and talk like a caveman about what you want, which is probably enough to then go for something more complex.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for the review.

[ QUOTE ]
The thing it won't do for you is make you be able to speak the langauge really well, but nothing will I think. It will give you enough to go around and talk like a caveman about what you want, which is probably enough to then go for something more complex.

[/ QUOTE ]

So basically you'd be like many immigrants that you hear in the US as they're learning english. [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

b

Re: Any good software for learning a foreign language?
 

[ QUOTE ]
My girl used Rosetta Stone for a little while trying to learn Italian-- I wound up learning a bunch of words just sitting there with her. It seems like a good way to learn a bunch about a language, especially if you are an analytical type of person.

I don't know if you know how it works or whatever but they put up four pictures and a word or phrase and you have to pick the picture that corresponds. First you kind of randomly figure out that like uhh the word for chair is X through trial and error. Then it will show you maybe like a picture of a couch, a picture of a chair, a picture of two chairs, and a picture of two couches and it will say the word for "two" and the word for chair, so you now learned the word for two and so on.

It gets to be pretty complex where you get into entire sentences with tenses and what not and you have to figure the rules out as you go along. The fact you have to figure it out makes it really engaging so you can almost learn by accident.

The thing it won't do for you is make you be able to speak the langauge really well, but nothing will I think. It will give you enough to go around and talk like a caveman about what you want, which is probably enough to then go for something more complex.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have a full set of all the rosetta stone languages and I really like it. The "figuring it out" concept is definitely its greatest strength. They are trying to simulate an immersion environmment, and sometimes you will catch yourself thinking conceptually rather than translating; somehow, you'll just know the answer, without using the english middle-man. There are a lot of different modes that try to reinforce this sort of thing. Sometimes you will see a picture followed by hearing a phrase, or sometimes they give you the phrase, then the picture, sometimes they use subtitles, sometimes they don't, etc. The "guided tours" are definitely the best way to use it. It will definitely teach you vocabulary and give you a basic understanding of grammatical structure.

That said, the biggest problem with it is it doesn't teach you the actual formal rules. I tried to learn German with it about 6 months ago and I was bewildered by the German grammar. After I looked up some information on this internet thing, I realized that it would be almost impossible to teach those specific concepts with the Rosetta Stone method. So it seems that certain languages work better than others. Also, my other beef with it is that the course is exactly teh same for every language, so if you try learning more than a couple languages with it, you won't have to "figure things out" anymore, because you might remember from the last time you used it.

It works best in conjunction with other methods. It's a useful and fun way to learn lots of vocabulary and get a good intuitive understanding of the basic rules. Supplement that with some formal textbooks and/or real conversation and you should be set.

~MagicMan

Re: Any good software for learning a foreign language?
 

One good thing about Rosetta is they offer a 6-month money back guarantee with no questions asked. I inquired about a refund, they emailed me a return order number and instructions on where to send it. They didn't even ask why I wanted to return it.

I've been a little too busy to really get into it like I wanted to. Still not sure if I'll send it back yet or not, I still got a month or so to go with my guarantee.

They also have a pretty much fully functional demo on their website. It says you have 10 minutes to try it out, but when I did the demo, I took an hour going through the first Spanish lesson and wasn't kicked off or anything.