| Re: Question on Rosetta Software |
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| Dewey, Chetham & Howe (spam@TAKEOUTwjsavage.com) |
2003/12/24 15:54 |
On Sun, 21 Dec 2003 16:19:18 GMT, Kevin Wayne Williams
<nihongo@paxonet.kom> wrote:
>El Durango wrote:
>
>> Rosetta Stone Japanese Level 1 & 2 Personal Edition is listed at $300+
>> dollars and I was wondering if anyone had used it before and if they can
>> comment on it.
>>
>> I know the best thing for learning japanese is to go to the country or hire
>> an instructor to teach you, but I'll guess that those 2 options will be more
>> expensive.
>> I just need to know if this is worth the $300 or not and I am serious about
>> learning the language.
>>
>> Thank you for any help.
>>
>>
>I used it, and will give it a mixed review. The quiz technique is easy
>to cheat with, and you have to make concious effort to learn Japanese
>instead of learning how to pass the quiz. You should be prepared to
>attack each lesson with a set of drills not called out in the course
>(like going back over each section when you are done, and actually
>reviewing each sentence and parsing it out). The speakers in the
>advanced course are too slow, and make the advanced course less useful
>than the first.
>
>All told, I am glad I used it. The vocabulary I learned from it sticks
>with me well, and it helped my listening comprehension considerably.
My $0.02, or, rather, $80 worth--
Got a notice in the mail. If you go here:
http://www.rosettastone.com/ind/hd2003
they give you $80 off if you purchase both Level 1 and Level 2 before
1 January 2004.
I agree with what Keven said above. These lessons are IN ADDITION TO,
not INSTEAD OF, regular academic study. Their value is in being able
to tirelessly drill you in spoken nihongo. As I've progressed in my
Japanese studies, I've gone back to repeat lessons as a listening and
grammar 'refresher'. I'm amazed at how much I missed the first (and
second) time I 'learned' a lesson. I've gotten better at
parsing-on-the-fly and have a better understanding of grammar and
such, so I notice more on subsequent trips through the material.
For me, the cheating aspect is that you start listening for keywords
rather than listening to the whole sentence. Sometimes, you may
recognize the sound of a keyword without really understanding its
meaning, and use that to answer correctly.The "Giving Directions"
lessons in module 8 are one place where you 'get through' the first
time by 'cheating'. My third trip through I'm finally starting to
'get' the whole sentence, rather than just keeping track of key words
and which questions I've already answered.
Yes, when I started Level 2, at first I thought there had been some
mistake -- the speech was so slow as to sound slurred (I thought for a
bit that maybe the voice talent was all on 'ludes or something...)
The voice rate did pick up somewhat by the middle of lesson 10, with
the exception of one female voice who kept popping up in various
lessons. But I agree with Kevin that NOT having the dialog presented
at normal speaking speeds makes the material ultimately less useful --
especially when the software includes a module that lets you slow down
the audio without altering the pitch.
BTW, the material on Level 2 is actually OLDER than the material on
Level 1 -- Level 2 sound files on the CD have dates in April/May 1998,
while on the Level 1 CD, the soundfiles have dates around April/May
2001. Maybe that explains (but doesn't excuse) the drastic change you
notice going from Level 1 to Level 2. I wonder if Rosetta Stone has
gotten round to fixing this "problem" with Level 2, or are they
continuing to 'recoup their investment' on the initial production?
Is Rosetta Stone useful? Yes. Does it contain mistakes? Yes (I
remember one lesson where I doscovered they used the kanji for
"intestines" to go with a picture of folded firehose. My NSoJ tutor
cracked up when I showed her!) Will you get anything out of it? Yes,
depending on what you bring to it (conventional study) and how much
time and effort YOU are willing to devote to it. Just don't expect it
to work by osmosis. You have to discipline yourself to not cheat
through the lessons and to actually learn from it.
BTW, the Rosetta Stone website is announcing an American English Level
3. I hope they are planning a Japanese Level 3...
Warren J. Savage
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