[des]

Hi,

Yesterday I got a CD demo for Rosetta Stone. I did ask for it. This is language software that looks unique in that it is totally in the language you are trying to learn. There is no translating at all. Each lesson is done in audio, pictures, text; audio only, verbal (speech recognition), and writing.The writing portion is particuarly interesting. It is pricey as this sort of thing is ($200) but lessons would no doubt come out to more, and it looked more involved than the usual language software I have seen. I tried to refresh my Spanish with a book but didn't get so far.

The CD demo has many different languages-- had fun playing with Welsh (Corgi means little dog in Welsh) and English (UK). :-)

http://www2.rosettastone.com/en/

--des

[October's Autumn]

Any more thoughts on it?

[des]

I was hoping anyone else may! I did talk to someone who used it for Hebrew of all things. Said it was basically really good for conversation, so I wasn't sure about conversational Hebrew. I did think that the way it integrated reading, speaking, listening and writing is brilliant. I have never had an experience with language taught like that, but it is how we teach dyslexics to read-- integrating multiple modalities like that. You read, listen to, speak, and write the same things which reinforces your learning in each area.


--des

[October's Autumn]

I struggled for a long time to learn Hebrew and Greek. I could decode but never translate accurately (I could get the base words but not the endings). That is why I wondered what you thought of it if you had more experience. Maybe something similar could help me with Spanish!

[des]

They have a free CD demo disk. I think it is actually very good. I may do it, but there is another expensive thing that I think may have priority. There is no one to correct your pronunciation (the thing older learners would have the most trouble with) but I am thinking it is pretty brilliant in its approach.

--des