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Q: How's Rosetta Stone for learning Chinese?
I'm sure I can find it somewhere in Shanghai for cheaper than what it sells on the net...
anyone tried it?
11 years 17 weeks ago in Teaching & Learning - Shanghai
It's alright if you stick with it. It's very rigid in teaching pronunciation so even if you master it you likely won't understand many kinds of Chinese accents but if you can get it for cheap then it's worth the time and effort.
I haven't tried it personally, but I know this married couple who are religious about it, and I have to admit their Chinese has gone from absolute beginner to functional much faster than with most foreigners.
it is ok, get it on torrent (only where legal and not violating any copyrights) "i know someone" who got the entire language pack 27 gigs.
damn it the fbi is banging on my door
crimochina:
i forgot to mention, the speech was a little too fast for me, chinesepod was best. but i'm a shatty student
Rosetta Stone is good, but I found that their vocabulary was rather limited and the learning curve between lessons was rather steep. I would often have to repeat the lessons at least a dozen times before I felt comfortable with them.
ChinesePod was okay for me, but I thought that they spent way too much time explaining things and too little time teaching you new words. I think it would be great if they dumped about 75% of the English chatter.
I have been using Pimsler language approach.
GuilinRaf:
Pimsleur helped me a TON!!!! If I did need to repeat a lesson, rarely did I need to repeat it three times. What worked best for me was to just listen to the lesson in the morining on the way to the school, then listen to it again in the evening repeating what they say.
Pimsleur only has me learning the language not looking at pictures or tring too learn to read it . I want too speak it first , that is most inportant too me
It depends people learn differently. If your one of those people that can learn on your own and make lessons up for yourself and follow a rigorous schedule then sure it would work. I wouldn't say it works for everybody but if your the type that likes doing things on your own than sure Rosetta Stone could be good.
I think that Rosetta Stone is great for review, but I think it's horrible for learning new language. It doesn't explain any of the grammar it uses, and doesn't give any definitions for the words. The beginning lessons don't give you much to use for every day speech. I don't know if the advanced lessons are any better, I never got that far.
Maybe you can try the book
<<A Practical Chinese Grammar For Foreigners(Revised Edition)>>
Beijing Language and Culture University Press
...I am a Chinese teacher, by the way.
I know this is ages old but I use a podcast.
If you have an ipod or anything apple then you should check it out.
It's called Learning Mandarin Chinese and it is from www.melnyks.com
go through itunes and it's free.
It's really good for step by step learning with new vocab and situational dialogues.
They are between 15 and 25 minutes for each lesson and I like the way it is structured.
You can pay for the transcripts on the website if you feel it's necessary but can work well enough without them. Just means you write a lot more down which is never a bad thing.
Again, my apologies for this being ages ago and nothing to do with Rosetta Stone but hopefully someone can find some use in this.
Rosetta Stone seems to cop a fair bit of criticism bit for me it worked wonders. I must admit I was a little frustrated initially not really knowing what the pictures were actually trying to convey but it is a program that I can get very absorbed in...which for me is key.
The other program I would highly recommend is Fluenz. It is very user friendly and is particularly suitable if you want grammar explanations as you go.
Happy learning!
Buy it on taobao.com for less than 50rmb. I have it and used it a little helped my chinese
Hotwater:
You've only posted 3 times....and all of them have been dragging topics up from the distant past. Why?
A mate of mine gave me 3 discs of Rosetta Stone a couple of years ago and I've never had a look at them. What does that make me?
I can't speak Chinese at all. Except to get a grog. Enough, I reckon.
I should look at them.
I think a language exchange partner is far more effective.
