Anyone here ever learned a new language with Rosetta Stone?

[Raine1967]

Is it worth it? Does it work? What was your experience?

We are going to Paris later on this year and I want to be able to understand French.

Thanks for any input you have!

Raine

[OffWithTheirHeads]

1. Tried Spanish. Learned a little. Hardly fluent.

[petronius]

2. Not exactly answering your question, but I've made some German progress with Duolingo

http://www.duolingo.com/

Might be another option to look at (they have French, as well as other languages)...

[Raine1967]

3. Oh, wow! Thank you!

I had not heard of this before. Thank you!

if it works and is free, that is all the more money I can spend in Paris!

[IrishEyes]

10. Duolingo is really great.

I have learned some Italian, French and Irish on the website. I try to go on it a little bit every day. There are currently 9 languages that you can study. French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, German, Swedish, Danish, Dutch and Irish. I tried Rosetta Stone to learn Japanese. I learned a little but it cost me a ton of money. I learned more with Duolingo for free.

Also, check if your public library has Mango Languages. The New York Public Library has it. I can sign in with my library card and study for free. I think there are 60 or so languages to choose from including French, of course. I agree with the person who recommended that you watch French movies. It helps you learn the language plus you get to see some great movies that you may have never heard of.

I hope you have a great time on your trip. I've been to Paris twice and I loved it there.

[Raine1967]

12. Thank you!

I;m really happy I asked this question in the lounge.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

4. I spent 11 years as a language teacher, and Rosetta Stone is a crock

You may learn to understand a bit, but the only way to learn to speak is to speak with other people. As an adult, you also need explanations and someone to correct your mistakes.

If you're not an experienced language learner, this is terribly difficult to do on your own.

If you're going later this year, you have time to take a community college course in French. Or if you live in a large city, you may have an Alliance Française (both Minneapolis and Portland do). They're a bit on the pricey side (although not that much more expensive than a complete set of Rosetta Stone), but they know what they're doing. I don't know your local circumstances, but in addition to community college courses, the Minneapolis public schools also have adult continuing education courses, which are much cheaper than either the community college courses or the Alliance Française.

I've done the sample lessons from Rosetta Stone, and I was underwhelmed. It puts all languages into the same mold and doesn't account for differences in structure. (Something that is easy to say in one language may be difficult to say in another.) It doesn't teach the kinds of things that tourists need to know.

One day at the Y, I encountered a boy about ten years old who attended a charter school that used Rosetta Stone to claim that it was "bilingual" French/English. After three years at the school, he could not carry on a simple conversation with any of the adults who spoke French (I minored in French in college over 40 years ago, haven't done much with it since, and could still speak better than that kid, as could the 80-year-old man who was relying on French he learned growing up among French immigrants as a child.)

A further advantage of taking a community college or Alliance Française course is that you feel obligated to study. You've paid good money, and you will want to look good in front of your classmates and teacher. (And don't get all knotted up about making mistakes. Everyone makes them, and the teachers expect it. That's how you learn.)

Whatever you do, take time to watch French movies (with subtitles, of course--you can actually learn a lot from subtitles) and the French programs on MHz Worldview (check their website to see if there's a channel near you that carries it).

[Raine1967]

5. Thank you. This is really appreciated.

I think you saved me some money.

I have not met a person that spoke a second language via Rosetta stone.

I will be firing up plenty of French films on Netflix in the coming months and I will look into your other suggestions. I want to be able to read and understand basic things when we get there. This will be my first trip to Europe and my second trip outside of the United States.

I really can't believe this is happening!

[GOLGO 13]

6. Please, please, please go to the Apple App Store

& download the Michele Thomas method of learning to speak French. He breaks down speaking French into small bites & gradually adds more words until your rattling off entire sentences in French before you even realize it.

I spoke English & Spanish at home and I quickly realized all the similarities in French. It all became a question of pronunciation & stressing your vowels differently. Really great & easy to grasp method for beginners.

Good luck & enjoy France!

[Generic Brad]

7. She did not go to my school

I have not had the pleasure.

[mackerel]

8. Really I thought you went with her?

[Raine1967]

9. WELL PLAYED!

[DFW]

11. Get the film "L'homme de Rio" if you can find it

It's an old Belmondo film from the 1960s, and IF you can find it, it should be available with subtitles. Once you know a little French, it is a hoot to watch and follow.

You might want to avoid following in the footsteps of "Clark Griswold" and family:

But I used a lot of French in my book, "The Time Cellar," and it apparently didn't faze any of the English-speaking readers I have (yet!) heard from, and one of the readers on Amazon even said it was perfectly worked in. So it IS perfectly possible to get a grasp on it, and there are a LOT of words (despite Chevy Chase's deliberate mangling of it) that are, in fact, quite similar to their English counterparts.

You'll find that THE best teacher is contact with native speakers who don't understand much of anything else. THAT is THE best crash course you will ever have, and nothing you can order online comes anywhere close. I learned more at age 18 in two weeks with a French girlfriend than I learned in all the high school and grade school courses I had ever had cumulatively up to that point.

[Raine1967]

13. I Will try to find it. The griswold school is what I most fear! nt

[DFW]

14. As well you should!

But knowing what NOT to do is a very good start!