Cainntear wrote:Jean-Luc wrote:Have you tried this language learning course? Based on a listening only method, I am a little disappointed with the free trial.
Most of us here have tried a free trial, and most of us hate it.
Rosetta Stone (RS for short) is generally considered pretty poor teaching, and extremely poor value.
Yep. The problem is not just the price. There are pirated copies floating around. It is just not worth wasting the harddrive space.
......
Jokes (truthful though) aside: a few forum members have had positive experience with RS in languages with very few resources. This pack of flashcards with good quality audio can be valuable to beginners, when they have little else to draw from (but of course they need to get their grammar elsewhere). From what I've read from these users, they rather liked the tutoring sessions, except their rigidity. They were so closely tied to a strict schedule based on the main content, that there was very little or no space for real practice of the matter and questions.
I tried the trial, read about it, and really didn't like it. The more that all those "success stories" presented are very fishy. None of the people in the videos actually speaks the languages on camera. None of the "content users" mentions any real level or exam, that would prove their claims. It is very different to lie "I learnt to talk in most everyday situations" and "I passed an official B1 exam" as the latter one could be verified, therefore I don't trust the vague claims.
So. If you are learning a language with few resources and don't mind the content being totally cdifferent from the target culture, go for it. It may be a helpful tool. If you are learning a langauge with a choice of resources, avoid this waste of money, buy standard good quality courses and good quality supplements. 600 dollars, that is actually a price of not too luxurious holiday in many target langauge countries, that is just an example of what sort of money we are discussing.