![]() ![]() Even after an entire unit with Rosetta Stone, I still don't understand the verbs "to be" or "to wear" or "to read" fully - I have only partial knowledge of their many forms. So instead of "The man is wearing a blue shirt," I could only say "Man? Blue shirt." It's almost as if traditional language instruction is designed so that you can say a complete sentence no matter how little (or much) you've learned. Compared to traditional language instruction - where you learn structure and syntax and essential verbs and endings first to open more doors into new nouns, verbs and tenses - learning things in piecemeal meant I couldn't really speak properly immediately.įor example, during my Studio session, I couldn't speak in complete sentences - just words and phrases. What that means is that the software's "natural" way of learning is more difficult to takeaway in incomplete pieces. That means you don't necessarily know how to build sentences and speak with people in the early stages - your knowledge base is as patchy as a newborn's hair at that point - which can be frustrating. (Rosetta Stone e-mails you a congratulations when you complete the first unit.)Ī note about the Rosetta Stone method: The "immersion inference" way of instruction is a great way to keep your native language out of the equation, but in doing so, it mixes new nouns and verbs and endings all at once in batches without teaching you the rules outright. I found myself drifting away from Rosetta Stone and getting wrapped up in my other weekly activities, and I wish the company had been more persistent - pestering, even - in e-mailing me with reminders. The problem with such freedom, of course, is that you need to have the personal conviction to keep going. Compared to the price of your antivirus software, TOTALe's $999 retail price is enough to make you choke on your lunch.īut compared to a college-level language instruction course - which requires you to be in the same place, same time, every week, in person, with other people - it's a relative deal, particularly for executives who want to learn a language on the fly or for people who want to learn a new language as a hobby. Rosetta Stone TOTALe works on all major browsers, for Mac or PC.Ī four-digit price tag is a major hurdle with Rosetta Stone's TOTALe, but it all depends on how you look at it. But after a year, your $999 expires, which is disappointing but understandable as software moves toward a subscription pay model. You can go back in and reuse all features in TOTALe for a year, and the software allows you to reset your scores and start over with a fresh "install," if you will, as many times as you like. It's also not easy to simply whiz through the units - like an intensive class, it becomes exhausting enough after a point to need to give your brain some fresh air. In practice, it took me about a week or two to finish the unit, working the instruction around my personal schedule. Each level has four units, and TOTALe includes three levels' worth of instruction. To give you a sense of what you're buying with this software, I completed Level One, Unit One, which consisted of two hours and 10 minutes of instruction divided into four core lessons (themselves divided into 30 sub-lessons) and a final milestone review. ![]() The Rosetta Stone software is incredibly comprehensive. Instead of linking the new language's words with your current language, it links them to visual and aural cues - just like real life. It's interesting to note that Rosetta Stone never gives you the translation of the words you just learned. Each section itself uses repetition to reinforce learning, there are review sections built into the overall progression, and best of all, the software automatically prompts you with a five-minute "adaptive review" if you've spent more than a week away from the software, which I found quite helpful. Then a "milestone" narrative slideshow review of the entire unit, which I found very difficult.Īs you can see, Rosetta Stone does a good job ensuring you review what you learned.Then writing (typing words out onto a screen, like an e-mail). ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |