What about Rosetta Stone Spanish? Anyone do this?

[jail warden]

Do you love it or hate it? Thanks!

[In2why]

Do you love it or hate it? Thanks!

 

I LOVE the idea of it.....I hate the price of it (sigh)

[StephanieZ]

Well, we love it as a supplement. And I love it for 6-9 year olds before they are old enough to use the So You Really Want to Learn Spanish books that we've fallen in love with. For my olders, we'll use it as a supplement when we are between books. . .

 

I know some people use it as a full program, and with the workbooks, etc, I can imagine it working fine for that. But, I could never get the hang of scheduling/testing/coordinating with written. . . So, we didn't get very far using it as a primary resource.

 

I do think it is worth the $$, even as a supplement. It seems to me a powerful tool to acquire vocab and gain aural competency. My dd7 is really cruising with it since I've scheduled it every day.

 

I think the key to success it to schedule it daily for 20 min or more.

[Revwife]

Expensive, but love it!

[jail warden]

Stephanie, What are you loving about SYRWLS? (I think that acronym is right!) Where did you buy it? I'm trying to find something for my whole family to learn Spanish, above the level of La Clase. I will be checking this out. Thanks!

[Just Robyn]

I am not a huge fan of RS. It has been awhile since we used it, but I remember some things were unclear. For example, it would say "el escribe" and show a boy at a desk writing something on a piece of looseleaf paper. My ds thought that meant "he is doing homework" based off the picture. Maybe things get better and more clear if you use it beyond level one, but our experience made me feel that it could only be a supplement, not a whole program, and without my intervening the kids would have some stuff wrong.

 

Now, if it were $50 per level that might be ok, but I don't personally think this program is worth what they charge for it.

[2cents]

We used it for awhile when our library had it for free. We didn't relate to it so I was glad we didn't buy it. We are doing FLVS Spanish and it is a more traditional approach and we like that better than the immersion thing Rosetta has going on. I'd try to look at it first before buying since it is pricey.

[NoPlaceLikeHome]

We used it for awhile when our library had it for free. We didn't relate to it so I was glad we didn't buy it. We are doing FLVS Spanish and it is a more traditional approach and we like that better than the immersion thing Rosetta has going on. I'd try to look at it first before buying since it is pricey.

 

What is FLVS spanish? Thanks:)

[cbollin]

love it! (really don't like the price!)

 

I started using RS a long time ago (in version 2) to try to help my special needs children improve receptive and expression language skills in English. fell in love with RS then and the whole format and immersion. It really fit a need we had.

 

so.. when it came time to select foreign language, I was happy to buy it again (well.... ok... I wasn't happy to spend the money, I was happy with the product).

 

We're using it now for my 8th grader who wants to learn Russian. We're using daily lesson plans from My Father's World curriculum to use it for high school credit. That homeschool curriculum company doesn't schedule the workbooks because of several reasons: not all languages have a workbook in RS, and the workbooks seem to not really fit version 3 sequence. and it just seems to get in the way of it all.

 

so they make other substitutions and consulted with a high school Spanish teacher to make RS into high school credit level with other activities and how to use the audio companion more effectively.

 

 

Working for us. My daughter was able to understand real life Russian on Russian TV online streaming, and in a target store the other day in real conversation. We like adding in some children's books, and research projects that are in the lesson plans. (Oh, I should say that if you get their plans for it --- it will include an idea to do a research project involving Bible translation -- you can change it to be a report on other topic. But MFW is a Christian company, so they suggested a topic along those lines. but other than that, I think these plans of MFW could be used secularly if needed.)

 

I like that RS has "full curriculum path" and has other less intensive paths for younger students. I just wish the program didn't cost so much. But ended up getting Chinese for 5th grader (grandparents helped get it as birthday present). we're liking that too.

 

 

Our goals were to get speaking the language and we're enjoying how RS helps with that. I think the version 3 milestone sections are good.

 

 

-crystal

[EppieJ]

Love it. We are blessed to be part of an "alternative education" program in our district, which in essence means we've got the best of both worlds. That's another conversation. Because we're part of this we have access to Rosetta Stone for $25 per student, per year. I would be willing to pay full price for this program. Currently, we're not using the workbook, just the computer stuff.

 

I love that it is an immersion program and not a translation program. Because of this, learning a language is more complete because you learn to look at an object and think, "manzana" instead of thinking "apple - the spanish word for that is manzana". I understand what the pp was saying about not being sure what the picture refers to, but that does come with exposure. It's just like learning your primary language as a young child - you don't always know exactly what something means right away, but exposure breeds understanding.

 

You mentioned doing spanish - just be aware that there are two versions of spanish - castillan and latin american. You want to order the right one if you decide to purchase it.

 

HTH!

[KinderSafari]

We feel we can use RS and get the full understanding with it because both my husband and I are fluent in German (the language we chose for our kids). Like someone mentioned before, the pictures can be confusing at times, and there are not explanations for the concepts they are trying to teach. We have supplemented with brief grammar lessons occasionally so the kids KNOW what the point is and how to get it right.

 

We have the newest version (3) which we think is a BIG improvement over 2. Version 3 has speaking included and it is a huge PLUS to the program for what we needed. The problem is that my daughter's voice doesn't seem to be picked up as clearly (she also doesn't speak as clearly either, but still when she does, it is more difficult). Whereas my boys voices have no problems being picked up.

 

We were given this, so no cost involved. I think we would still purchase it but only because we are available with necessary supplements.

 

We borrowed a friends version of the Chinese RS and returned it after 1/2 a lesson. We didn't understand A THING and couldn't clarify when we were right or wrong, and there's NO WAY we could have helped our kids!!

 

I WOULD recommend the program if you have a knowledge (fluency not needed) of the target language and can assist for those times that are necessary.

 

Our kids have learned A LOT from the program.

[jail warden]

Thanks so much for all the replies. I have a lot to think about and will be checking this out at convention next weekend. Any more ideas, I'd love to hear them!

[Hedgehogs4]

we are using RS for my ds8 and myself and love it. it's very clear so far and he understands it. he was begging me to learn another language, and a friend of mine gave me the copy that her daughter used and completed. consequently i have no clue how much it costs.

[Hedgehogs4]

We feel we can use RS and get the full understanding with it because both my husband and I are fluent in German (the language we chose for our kids). Like someone mentioned before, the pictures can be confusing at times, and there are not explanations for the concepts they are trying to teach. We have supplemented with brief grammar lessons occasionally so the kids KNOW what the point is and how to get it right.

 

We have the newest version (3) which we think is a BIG improvement over 2. Version 3 has speaking included and it is a huge PLUS to the program for what we needed. The problem is that my daughter's voice doesn't seem to be picked up as clearly (she also doesn't speak as clearly either, but still when she does, it is more difficult). Whereas my boys voices have no problems being picked up.

 

We were given this, so no cost involved. I think we would still purchase it but only because we are available with necessary supplements.

 

We borrowed a friends version of the Chinese RS and returned it after 1/2 a lesson. We didn't understand A THING and couldn't clarify when we were right or wrong, and there's NO WAY we could have helped our kids!!

 

I WOULD recommend the program if you have a knowledge (fluency not needed) of the target language and can assist for those times that are necessary.

 

Our kids have learned A LOT from the program.

 

that's funny about the chinese...i speak chinese, but am not literate in the language, so i wonder if it would be hard for me...

[5forMe]

I wonder if RS Latin is any good?