View Full Version : Rosetta Stone.
villageillness
2008-08-15, 21:47
I recently heard about these knew video training tutorials by Rosetta Stone to master a language and apparently suppose to be effective. I've been interested in the Arabic language for sometime now, and only studied what i know from books. I would like brush up on it more and develop a little more.
So have any of you tried these videos by Rosetta Stone, are they any good?
DerDrache
2008-08-16, 00:17
Videos? They have a picture-based course (I'm pretty sure it's been discussed quite a bit here before), but I haven't heard of video-lessons. Link?
check the resource thread for some good Standard Arabic links and a couple dialects. also check out the book ″The Arabic Alphabet: how to read and write it.″ It's by far the best guide to the script. You can learn it in a matter of hours.
As for rosetta stone, no matter what the mall kiosk people or the ads tell you, you won't learn with that alone. It's a good vocab and memory builder but I see it as just a supplement. The fastest way to start conversing is audio courses like pimsleur.
villageillness
2008-08-18, 15:34
Oh right yea, it probably is picture based, i seen a video where a man was learning with it and thought it was video based.
Yea i wanted to move more towards Quranic Arabic, so I'll definitely check out those links.
..but with Rosetta Stone, don't you have to repeat the words into a microphone and the software tells you weather or not it was correct..but with pimsleur it seems like you just repeat the words with no indication that it was correct. Wouldn't Rosetta Stone be more better because of this feature? Unless I'm mistaken about pimsleur?..Or maybe pimsleur has a more effective method?
Oh right yea, it probably is picture based, i seen a video where a man was learning with it and thought it was video based.
Yea i wanted to move more towards Quranic Arabic, so I'll definitely check out those links.
..but with Rosetta Stone, don't you have to repeat the words into a microphone and the software tells you weather or not it was correct..but with pimsleur it seems like you just repeat the words with no indication that it was correct. Wouldn't Rosetta Stone be more better because of this feature? Unless I'm mistaken about pimsleur?..Or maybe pimsleur has a more effective method?
There are many reasons you'd want to use pimsleur, or even better, Michel Thomas. Rosetta stone gives you an image, and you associate the word or phrases with that image. It's not ineffective, but you'll be learning phrases like " The boy is on the plane, red ball, the man runs, the fish swims"
The aim of pimsleur and michel thomas is to get you speaking and conversing immediately. You don't just rotely repeat mindless phrases, you are asked questions, supposed to pause, answer, and then listen for the correct answer. You are given a crash course on greetings, asking for things, asking questions, giving some simple commands, you quickly cover past and present tense, etc. A big part of it is negation to, it essentially doubles the amount of expressions you can make. With MT in a matter of hours you are intuitively making complex sentences like " I do not want to go because I already went, and I prefer this"
As for the differences between the two audio programs, I'd say michel thomas has a better approach. It's a lot faster and you don't forget as much as you do with pimsleur. Pimsleur is designed to be spaced out into 30 minutes a day for 90 days, with phrases coming up at pre-designed intervals. Way too slow and unstimulating for my tastes. MT is less rote repetition and more hands-on work with verbs, adjective, pronouns, etc. You actually get grammar explanations in-lesson.
Have you picked a dialect? OR are you going for standard? I'm afraid neither of the two programs will be able to help you. Pimsleur teaches egyptian and eastern(syria, jordan, lebanon) arabic. Michel Thomas teaches Egyptian.
villageillness
2008-08-18, 16:44
Yea Zay, I'm yet to pick a dialect, but I'll probably end up choosing one of them any ways. I think once i get a good based understanding of whatever dialect I choose, I'm sure it wouldn't be too difficult to continue my study and migrate over to quraic Arabic...because I'd rather learn with a tool such Rosetta, Pimsleur or Michel in a good speedy effective way, then take what I know as a platform for another dialect.
Thanks for the advice, I'll definitely look into Pimsleur and Michel.
If you don't me mind me asking, if you have used these tools, how have you got on with them?...In what time span have you found yourself being able to master a particular language and speak it fluently?
static_void
2008-08-20, 07:34
Did not read the replies. This question has been asked a million times. The consensus: Rosetta Stone sucks, though it can teach you a good deal of vocab. You should not really on it alone to learn a language.
IMO, the best way to learn a language is to obtain the following things:
-A professional instructor (if possible, not necessarily necessary)
-Pimsleur tapes
-Grammar / Vocab books
-A friend / coworker / acquaintance / etc. to speak to.
It's pretty simple once you've delved into the basics of any one language, really. Get the grammar down, speak to native speakers, practice, practice, practice, and then immerse. Only way to go, really.
DerDrache
2008-08-20, 11:34
Yea Zay, I'm yet to pick a dialect, but I'll probably end up choosing one of them any ways. I think once i get a good based understanding of whatever dialect I choose, I'm sure it wouldn't be too difficult to continue my study and migrate over to quraic Arabic...because I'd rather learn with a tool such Rosetta, Pimsleur or Michel in a good speedy effective way, then take what I know as a platform for another dialect.
Thanks for the advice, I'll definitely look into Pimsleur and Michel.
If you don't me mind me asking, if you have used these tools, how have you got on with them?...In what time span have you found yourself being able to master a particular language and speak it fluently?
www.syriancolloquialarabic.com
That's probably your best non-beginner resource.
villageillness
2008-08-20, 16:40
Damn you guys weren't kidding. I got the Pimsleur one, and I've only been studying it for about 3-4 min and i can almost say .."excuse me sir, do you understand english?" in Egyptian Arabic. :D
I'm using Rosetta Stone for Spanish and so far it's pretty meh.
In the beginning is VERY helpful as it's easy to deal with non-abstract quantities and qualities eg: red, big. But, once you get to level 3ish it gets pretty retarded with abstract qualities (like honesty and bravery).
My consensus is that it's a GREAT introduction to a language, it will probably get you to the point where you understand the grammar for the most part, but you'll be nowhere close to fluent. You'll need to read Spanish books and talk to Spanish people/ get a instructor to get much past the level of "working knowledge".
So long story short it's a great way to learn the basics, nothing more
chickenpoop
2008-08-26, 04:20
you can download Rosetta Stone on bit torrent for Free*. Good way to try it to see if you life the system they use.
Cpt.Winters
2008-08-26, 16:29
im taking arabic for my foreign language here in college
exciting
StoopidN00b
2008-08-30, 08:25
Pimsleur is they way to go
dfgremnantsunleashed
2008-08-31, 17:53
Well, to be honest. I am going to start on Rosetta stone,
I have at least 4 languages on it.
German,Arabic,Italian,Chinese,Japanese.
Although i don't want to fluent in any on of them, i just want to learn the basics. The total immersion method is good for me because i can associate things with pictures but i also understand the need for total visual immersion.
So, for me Chinese Mandarin/ Japanese would be good start. I actually watch tons of Anime the whole time and i am pretty much tuned to the dialect.
Anyway, it depends on the users. I would prefer watching movies and listening to music and audio books, That's the way i learned English.
Wow, I just checked the website and rosetta stone HAS changed a lot. I'll have to get the new version and re-evaluate it.
Actually it's almost the same thing, with a prettier interfere. Regardless I'll be getting a replacement for my 25-language superdisc. One pet peeve I've always had with rosetta stone is that if you're just going to be clicking on 4 pictures the whole time, they should have keyboard shortcuts. My hand gets tired of moving back and forth after several lessons. it wouldn't take more than 5 minutes to program hotkeys....
zebra head
2008-09-25, 21:31
I've used rosetta stone briefly a few times, and I can indeed say that it's a great program. It really does help quite a lot, and if you have opportunities to speak and otherwise communicate in the language, it'll pretty much be the best method to learn there is. The methods they use really do stick and stick VERY well in your mind. I tried to learn Dutch but realized it wouldn't have been a very feasible language for me to learn.. but I wager had I stuck with it I could have learned it well enough to communicate in Dutch :)
DerDrache
2008-09-26, 01:18
I just tried out Version 3. It's MUCH better than the previous versions.
Much more polished and interactive, and they've improved the teaching method. It's still essentially the "listen/read/etc. and click" style, but it's got more variations, and it's no longer just a set of interchangeable words and pictures. In fact, each part of the lessons have different pictures. It might seem insignificant, but it really makes a difference and forces you to think a bit. That's to say, you're associating words with an action or thing, not just the picture itself.
I particularly like the exercise where they show you two examples of a word, and then have you pick out another example from a set of pictures. I'm glad to see they're putting that huge price tag to good use.
demonicMAGE!
2008-11-02, 21:25
I need to learn Spanish if I download Rosetta Stone is that a good start?
edit: it's for South America not Spain
Highly effective with humorous pics and randomness all around, very effective to.