Rosetta Stone

[onekatietwo.livejournal.com]

Hi.

I've decided that it's (past) time for me to start learning a new language and i've decided on Russian. With any luck, i'll be able to take classes at school starting in the fall. Although i'm wondering if i should have taken on a language more similar to English (easier to learn), i'm also extremely excited by the idea of being able to understand and speak Russian.
Anyway, i decided to buy the Rosetta Stone software to supplement the classes and also to get a little head start before school begins in the fall. I haven't had it running for very long (it just barely works with Windows Vista) but from the few lessons i've done, it seems to be pretty effective for learning how to understand and read the Russian language.
Has anybody else used this software at all? Do you think it's at all beneficial or would i have better luck if i just stuck to the classes mostly?
I'm curious as to how effective it could possibly be once i get past the simple noun and verb lessons.

Also, the writing section of the software seems to be a joke. I think it could be effective for learning a language if i already knew the alphabet, but Russian is completely new to me. Should i abandon the writing section completely? Or at least until i can learn the alphabet through other sources? I'm also having difficulty with the speaking/speak recognition. But, i suppose that is to be expected.

Basically, i'm just wondering about this software and other people's experiences with it. Should i keep trying to use it every day? Will that help me speak the language more quickly? Will it help me with my class in the fall? Is it going to make me think i'm saying/hearing totally different things than i actually am?

Comments

[russian-bob.livejournal.com]

I have no experience with Rosetta Stone software, but I thing it would not hurt to use as a supplement to your classes.
In general if you want to “understand and speak” foreign language, classes alone would not be enough. When I studied English I used "submersion" method, which means that I did many things in parallel, namely:
- study text books for alphabet, grammar, etc.,
- listen cassettes with lessons and “talk to myself” in a car
- even better, listen real radio, - it’s okay that it sounds as one long sentence, in 6 months or so you will have breakthrough and will notice that you understand something.
- same thing: watched TV and video with no subtitles
- memorized and sing my favorite English songs (Beatles), or any poems for that matter (rhyme helps you a lot to improve your speech, makes your tongue use to produce different sounds )

Nowadays you can add to this list Internet, discussion groups, spell-check and on-line dictionary/translators.

Even it sounds like a lot, otherwise you language will not developed quickly enough, you will get bored and will stop learning it at all. Also different activities help each other, today you learn new word, and tomorrow you will hear it on the radio.

Good luck, and come here often. 

[ex-roumor.livejournal.com]

RS Spanish is cool. RS german is awfull.
never used russian soz.

[vargtimmen.livejournal.com]

The RS for Russian is excellent, even when you get past simple verbs and nouns. You don't just learn the vocabulary by immersion, you learn pronunciation rules (sometimes ones even the books leave out) and the word endings for different cases by immersion. You can memorize the correct endings that go with each gender number and case, but you will never be able to speak quickly unless you get an intuition for it.

You are right about it being a supplement, it is not intended to be used by itself. I would cry like a little girl if I tried to learn Chinese using only RS, since in the very first lesson they have you using present-progressive verbs and measure words stuff you wouldn't learn for months in a Chinese class. For most of the RS language packs, you need to learn the basics on your own. For Russian that means getting a book from the library and learning the Cyrillic alphabet, and maybe reading the Wikipedia article on Russian (Language). I think the one for Hindi actually makes you learn the entire writing system before you start it, no transliteration provided.

[archaicos.livejournal.com]

You should not abandon writing. After all, if it's only for the alphabet, it's got 33 characters of which you already know 7 (AEЗKMOT), confuse other 6 for their appearance (BHPCУX) and only really need to learn the rest 20 (БГДЁЖИЙЛПФЦЧШЩЪЫЬЭЮЯ). I think one needs to learn many more words, phrases and other bits in a language than 20. Doesn't make sense to ignore reading/writing as you could just as well ignore the whole language altogether. Do it. If you need help, seek for it.
Use as many tools as you can for learning the language (books, software, internet, radio, TV, and so on and so forth). It'll pay off eventually.
Sure recognizing sounds and words is hard in a relatively different language. But it's what happens all the time to those who embark on learning a language. You aren't any special in having difficulties.
And yes, you really want to practice almost every day, doesn't matter exactly what you're doing - reading on grammar, memorizing words or practicing whatever you've already learned. Alternate them. Don't give up on things you don't get - at least keep track of 'em to find out/ask later. If you have big gaps of no language use, learning will be painfully long and inefficient - you'll be forgetting stuff.

[khathi.livejournal.com]

I haven't used RS, actually, but I heard mostly good things about it. Anyway, all these software is best used as a supplement to actual language course, that's my firm opinion, so don't worry much -- you won't be able to learn the language by it alone anyway.

About writing -- well, most language learning software I've ever used usually assume thet you've already learned the basics, such as alphabet and phonetics. So you can pick up some basic textbook and do it on your own, before proceeding with software.

[spazzling21.livejournal.com]

To let you know where I'm coming from... I've taken 3 years of college Russian and that kind of takes you to the level where you abandon everyday language and start using academic language. But I'm studying abroad next year and so I decided to use Rosetta Stone to get some of that everyday language back.

I got the three month online subscription. I haven't used it a lot, but I do have to say I've learned vocab I didn't learn in any of my textbooks. However, if I were learning Russian from the beginning, I would probably rather kill myself than use this software. I tried doing the Japanese one (I don't know Japanese, but I have an interest in learning it) and I threw my hands up in the air and went back to the Russian because it. was. impossible.

Get yourself a textbook. Sit down and do some exercises. Learn the alphabet, learn the cases, learn the prepositions, learn the verb conjugations. Then start using the Rosetta stone. If you try and learn Russian only with the Rosetta Stone, you're only going to associate certain words with certain other words, but you won't know how they relate to each other. Spanish may be easy to learn with this because it's basically just English with a different vocabulary, but Russian has cases and verbs that English doesn't. If you don't learn these and just try to intuit them from a program, you're not going to learn it.

However, if you just want to learn some vocab and become familiar with the sound of the language before you actually learn all these things in your class, then go for it. But don't expect to be able to learn the vast intricacies of the Russian language from an over-priced piece of software.

And I also haven't figured out how to get the speech/writing part to work, but I'm not really worried about that. Let me know if you do get it working, though. :-)

Good luck with the Russian language. If you love it even half as much as I do, you'll be glad you learned it...

[onekatietwo.livejournal.com]

Yeah, with the internet at our fingertips, i guess it's probably easy to get a hold of a lot of those resources. Thank you for the tips!

[onekatietwo.livejournal.com]

I bet english to spanish would be a breeze with Rosetta Stone since they're so similar. Unfortunate about german. I'll hope for the best.

[onekatietwo.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the input! That was very helpful.

I certainly am not expecting to learn the entire language from the software, but the technique intrigued me. Anyway, the demo was fun. I had to try it out.

I'll look into at least teaching myself the alphabet this summer. It sounds very attainable and extremely helpful.

[onekatietwo.livejournal.com]

That's a really good idea. I think that's what i'll do. Plus, i'm sure that's one of the first things they would teach in a beginner class. It could help me out there.

[onekatietwo.livejournal.com]

That all seems like very sound advice. Thank you very much!

[onekatietwo.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the info! I'm definitely having fun with the software and i at least feel like i'm learning a lot in a relatively short amount of time.

But i'll be heartbroken if i don't get into the class this fall. I've gotten myself so excited for it.

[onekatietwo.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Will do.

[vargtimmen.livejournal.com]

If you really want to learn Russian it's not the end of the world, just pick up a textbook like Golosa and test out of the first semester of it. I'm actually trying to learn both Russian and European Portuguese right now on my own and the resources for learning Russian are immeasurably better. My Portuguese textbook, which is considered the leader of the pack, is rife with errors and misinformation and lacks explanations of important concepts, and all the resources online are for Brasilian Portuguese (which is extremely different, and if my poor grandmother heard me speaking it she'd think I'd become some young punk speaking in slang).

[http://users.livejournal.com/_asullengirl/]

i've used the golasa textbook too (though i was taking classes at the same time) and i find it very good.
in fact i'm going to continue my studies of the russian language this summer (it's been 2 years since i've practiced!)

[msk01.livejournal.com]

Well, Russian is my mother tongue, and I just want to wish you good luck! :)

[jadedpears.livejournal.com]

You know what would be an AMAZING addition to your Rosetta Stone program? Listening to the Spoonful of Russian podcast! Seriously, it is an amazing podcast, it's very helpful, it teaches you the alphabet and how to write it in cursive as well as culture and useful phrases. You can either search for it on iTunes or go to speakrussian.blogspot.com. She even has worksheets and other helpful tools for learning Russian. This was the way that I learned the Russian alphabet so quickly.

[onekatietwo.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for this! What an excellent resource!

[onekatietwo.livejournal.com]

Very kind.

[jadedpears.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! I'm learning Russian as well and this podcast really started me off so well, I'm so glad I found it!

[onekatietwo.livejournal.com]

I just jumped in and listened to a couple random ones, having basically no previous knowledge and i can already see that it's going to be helpful. Thanks again.

[miconazole.livejournal.com]

I can't say I like it much, it seems to progress at an excruciatingly slow pace (and this is from someone who LIKES to go far slower than average). 8 lessons on writing the alphabet?! And then when it comes to more complex things like gender she skims right over it. I guess it's okay as a basic language course, but the number of bites it's going to take to learn Russian at this rate is like the number of licks it takes to get to the centre of a Tootsie Roll Pop :\

[onekatietwo.livejournal.com]

I don't think i'd like to learn Russian purely from that podcast, but so far (having just listened to a few random lessons) it seems to be a good supplement for learning with Rosetta Stone. It's already kind of explained some of the things that i've already kind of been picking up with the software. I also picked up a book from the library, which is helping a lot in learning the alphabet but i'd hate to be trying to learn the alphabet purely from the book and not have any audio resources.