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Free Program Like Rosetta Stone Japanese 12
Babbel and Rosetta Stone are two of the most popular language-learning apps in the world. Most people looking to get started studying are likely to have come across these two programs early on in their search for the course they want to use.
Language learning videos are the forte of FluentU. More specifically, authentic language learning videos. The program takes videos like movie clips, music videos, inspirational talks and more and adds learner-oriented features on top of them.
Summary: I really like Marugoto and find it hard to believe the Japan Foundation offers this one for free. It offers scenario-based lessons, covers the relevant vocab of the lesson (with pictures and audio), and follow-up questions.
Summary: Mimic advertises a course that focuses completely on pronunciation (treating language like song). The program can be technical and difficult to get through, but if your only goal is to improve your pronunciation, it may good for you.
Japanesepod101 has a wealth of information, but it is the least user-friendly. I do like that you can download the audios and videos along with the lesson notes. One thing I don't like is, to get any kind of a decent price for anything other than the free option, you have to pay for two years upfront.
It's interesting to hear how Rosetta Stone is being used to revitalize endangered languages, I'm curious to see how this works out... I have tried Rosetta Stone (for Japanese) but I think it suffers from many of its problems you mentioned for Korean as well. Just not my thing I'm afraid, and the fact that it costs so much is another reason to deter people from using it. I also know that they recently lost their contract with the U.S. government, perhaps because of a lack of good results? Anyways, great (and balanced) review, it's nice to get a clear analysis of a somewhat controversial program like this so thanks for taking the time to review it in such detail.
I wanted to reach out to you from Rosetta Stone. We appreciate the enthusiasm about our product. The current price for TOTALe Version 4 currently ranges from $179-$499, depending on which level set you are interested in. We also have a free traveler app, offered in several languages, which we'd like you to try, review, and incorporate into your post. This mobile app includes the option to include translation if you would like. We appreciate your time and look forward to hearing from you. Listening to bloggers and customers is important to us. If you're interested in reaching out to me, I can be contacted directly at dlaplante@rosettastone.com.
I found the review open and considered. I am personally studying to teach ESL, and thought that the least I could do was attempt to learn a second language myself. Let me say that I chose Spanish, since it is prevalent in my area, and I found that those years of high school Latin I took so long ago helped make the program more relevant to me. The grammar and conjugations of the verbs started to fall into place, clearly displaying their reliance on Latin roots. Sometimes I have to think more than others to understand the meaning of the sentence or conversation, but that actually seems fair to me. I believe that there is probably a place for learning some vocabulary in addition to the program, to be able to get more out of the training in a shorter amount of time, but that doesn't diminish the fact that this form of immersion is very like going to a country without learning the language, and trying to pick up the key vocabulary based on need. My only criticism of Rosetta Stone is that there is not way to prioritize the vocabulary that YOU feel is important. I consider that a mild aggravation, not a condemnation of the program.
Learning vocabulary require memorization, so is a great place for interactive repetitive games like selecting pictures to match. Just now I tried RE's free demo of the learning process. I always got the answer right (I picked which student is drinking tea) but had no clue what part of each 13-syllable phrase I was picking was "tea", "drink" so couldn't memorize individual words, and had no interest in memorizing whole sentences that meant vaguely "child drinking tea" without knowing which words are what. But the intro claimed that after each lesson I'd be practicing the things I'd learned with live other folks online. Huh?
Really liked this review, I felt like a lot of reviews online are unfairly against it and as someone who started Rosetta Stone Mandarin a month ago but had previous experience with the language (studied abroad in college for a semester and ended up taking 15 hours of Mandarin by graduation), I find a lot of the complaints laughable, particularly the "no explanation" complaints. As someone who has used Rocket French and Pimsleur Mandarin, I was SO relieved to not be hearing so much stinkin English banter the whole time. There have been a few times where a word seems unclear to me, and yes, if you wanted to you could probably get through the whole course without learning much (for example, not understand why you're clicking a picture except you heard the word for "man" and there is only one picture with a man.) However, if you're going to spend the money on Rosetta Stone (I bought all 5 levels of Totale Mandarin for 264 as part of their Christmas special), I would assume you would WANT to know what was actually being said and it wouldn't take too much inquisitiveness on your own part to either use google or a chinese dictionary app to clear up any confusion. The Totale components are a bit gimmicky, particularly the online games because nobody is ever online available to compete against, but the live tutoring sessions are pretty useful in my opinion even though they are a bit too-structured (I've found that if I'm the only one in the session, the teacher will go off script pretty often which is nice). If nothing else, you are being forced to comprehend a native speaker and produce a response on your own. There is no substitute for that besides living in the country of the language you are learning. I've also felt a bit of a boost in motivation after finishing a session, regardless of how useful the session might have been. Not too be a Rosetta Stone ad, I do find some things rather annoying. For example, the order at which they decide to teach you some of the words or phrases doesn't make a lot of sense sometimes. This is definitely a program aimed at someone who is in it for the long haul and has a lot of time to devote to the language, not for someone wanting to quickly learn some useful phrases for a vacation (you may never get too them!). I also think the speech recognition is quite faulty, particularly on Chinese where tones are so important. All in all, Rosetta Stone is my favorite purchase so far (Rocket French, Pimsleur Mandarin) if nothing else because it is fun and makes me want to come back and keep "playing" if you will, because it does feel a bit like a game. And after all, if you aren't motivated or sticking with it, it doesn't matter how scientifically effective your program is.
I found RS great for an absolute beginner because it gave me simple sentences to guess and helped with building up my vocabulary from zero (we can debate the merit of learning the man is runningas first thing you learn in RS another time). It is fun, interactive and plays like a game. Of course not everyone learns the same way, but I think some people are too caught up on being perfectionists. Some people need to understand every single word in a sentence and cant allow themselves to move on if they dont. In this case RS is not suitable, since there will be a lot of times where you wont really know what is going on but have trust that you will, soon. RS has its own schedule. Ive read comments where some say RS doesnt spoonfeed you because it doesnt give you words and sentences in English, but in many ways, I think RS does baby you once you get past that point. You can fight it and think this program is crap, or accept it and get over the fact that you will be asked the same questions many, many times over, hidden in different units. I get impatient but then I realise, yes actually I REALLY know that word or phrase now.
I have been practicing French using rosetta stone ..and at first I thought hmm I wonder if this actually works? so I checked out the Spanish, and English courses..and I can honestly say they do a pretty great job. My native language is Spanish. When I came to the United States when I was 6yrs old I couldn't understand anything most of the teachers, students, at school would say...I would just hear people speak and see...I would watch pokemon..about a year later I can honestly say I could speak English pretty good.. I could easily understand other people and with the little things I did know I learned more :) and well I think Rosetta Stone does just that..they don't go telling you girl in french is fille boy in french is garçon with the c that has a little thing on the bottom NO you just learn it :D is amazing what the human mind can do.. I think the people that do not like this program are just ..kind of lazy and give up too fast. If you are a visual learner..Rosetta stone takes care of that..if you are an auditory learner..then it does so too..and what is even better is that you won't pass until you pronounce it correctly :) so when you say it right after many times its engraved onto your memory...and if you have trouble with it you can put an option that says the word/phrase slowly..and well if you keep failing your mind will remember is not the right way to say it..and when you get it right ta-da (most classes or reading books can't do that) most people I find nowadays however are just lazy and expect everything to just be handed to them..they expect with just some few classes they will be fluent -_- but as some people mention here it takes dedication and patience!:) I'm barely in level one in french and there is this part where the person just says something and they put me a picture...and I have to type what the person said :D and I actually knew without hesitation I would write..they passed me a horse and the person said un cheval...i typed it and I was right:) then it would go telling me Le garçon ne conduit pas. Not only did I understand what the person was saying but I could type it just by listening :D and the first week of trying the french course I could not say cafe right i would say it over and over until i finally got it right T_T i would struggle so much with that one word but now I can do it on the first try du cafe :) sorry for rambling on but if you are a person with dedication and really want to learn the language (whichever one u want) then I recommend Rosetta Stone...now if you are the type that just gives up on the first try, or get easily irritated right away...and can't figure stuff out and needs someone else to solve issues for you..then yea Rosetta Stone is not for you... 2ff7e9595c
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