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If you've used Rosetta Stone, has your child had success learning the language?


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Thinking of this for dd12. I've read it doesn't have enough grammar, but I can't find any other program that looks wonderful, so I thought we'd try RS.

 

We do have a local family we're close with who are native French speakers that she could go hang out with to practice.

 

I guess I'm worried because she did NOT do well with whole to parts Latin. But maybe I should just trust the RS to get her up and speaking and fill in grammar gaps later.

 

Has your child successfully learned a language with RS? Do you think it depends on the child and how they learn-because I've read that some people just not do well w/ RS at all.

 

I'm also considering Tell Me More, but read that it's boring. Also going to check if our library might have Mango Languages. I read that both of these are similar to RS but have better grammar.

 

We basically want something independent to get her speaking French! It is not for academics or high school credit or anything-she just wants to learn it and is very motivated to do so. Thanks!

 

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We used Rosetta Stone and if I had it to do over again I would NOT use it. This year we broke away from it just getting Spanish books from the library (how to learn Spanish) and my oldest, academically talented, son has informed me he feels he has learned more in just this one year than he had during the 3 years with Rosetta Stone.

 

Oldest had done Rosetta Stone for 3 years and couldn't place out of first semester Spanish at college.

 

It's one subject (the only one) where I feel I need to chalk it up in the "oops, sorry" column for my boys.

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Thanks, Creekland. I just don't feel comfortable teaching it myself, and I want to make sure she has plenty of oral practice (listening and speaking) rather than with strictly a book. And while she will get some practice with this family, I basically can't ask them to teach her. I need the oral/auditory part to be taught step by step by some program first.

 

I am glad to know good solid info like you gave about 3 yrs of RS/1st yr college. That is very disheartening. It is a lot of money to spend to not have it work!

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Oldest had done Rosetta Stone for 3 years and couldn't place out of first semester Spanish at college.

 

 

Creekland, this actually doesn't suprise me at all. Back in my high school/college days it was common knowledge that even 3 years of high school foreign language was not going to be much help with college foreign language classes, they were just way harder. I had several friends that took 4 years in high school, took 1 semester at college and did poorly, then didn't continue.

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Ds 15 is using Rosetta Stone French. I have mixed feelings about it.

 

Here's our situation: He chose French as the language he wanted to learn. We bought all five levels at once. He is on track with it, currently a little over half way through the second year of it. Particularly at the beginning, I felt the need to go over vocabulary with him, make him write down conjugations of verbs in his notebook, and explain a few "mysteries" of the grammar to him. I also chose to supplement with Breaking the Barrier and the French in Action videos at learner.org. I felt he needed to spend more time practicing writing out sentences in French, and Breaking the Barrier provided some good exercises for that. So my negative thoughts are that I'm not sure Rosetta Stone would be all that great without any supplementation. But my positive thoughts are that it is something that he can continue to work on steadily on his own, totally independent of me now, and as I look back over his study of French so far, I do see where he has really learned a lot. Oh, and he enjoys it better than the Breaking the Barrier.

 

A year ago, I probably would have said that it was a mistake to purchase it, but now if I had to do it all over again, I think I probably would still go ahead and get it. I'm in a comfortable rhythm now of having him work on Rosetta Stone on his own for a unit or two, alternating with me working more closely with him in the Breaking the Barrier book. That way I feel like he's getting the needed practice writing, but the independent time in there keeps me from having too many plates to keep spinning all at one time.

 

Finally, I agree with cheryl h's comment that it's not uncommon to take a lot of language in high school and still find it difficult in college. I took four years of French in high school (straight A's) and so had met the requirement

to not have to take it in college. I signed up for a conversation class, though, just b/c I thought I'd enjoy it. Talk about "deer in the headlights" . . . :-0

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Creekland, this actually doesn't suprise me at all. Back in my high school/college days it was common knowledge that even 3 years of high school foreign language was not going to be much help with college foreign language classes, they were just way harder. I had several friends that took 4 years in high school, took 1 semester at college and did poorly, then didn't continue.

 

But my middle son informed me he didn't even know enough to converse with his ps peers or read basic passages in his ps peers books. He didn't know the days of the week until he got his first book from the library.

 

We used the homeschool version and it was mostly graded online (except for quizzes). He had all high As (as did oldest).

 

It's sort of like my ps with math... they know RS well (A's after all), just RS doesn't have a very common or deep/transferable foundation - meaning in the "real world" they did poorly. It frustrates me quite a bit. I expected a bit more. We try to make our homeschooling college prep.

 

I no longer have him even touching Rosetta Stone. Instead, he varies books he checks out from the library and he feels he has learned a LOT more.

 

If RS was good for anything, it might be learning pronunciation, but there are easier and less expensive ways to get that IMO. (Spanish Sesame Street comes to mind. ;))

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We tried it and my girls did not like it at all. I kept trying but eventually just gave up. On a good note - the company was great about taking it back. I got a 100% refund after almost 6 months. That was a huge relief because I had purchased the first 3 modules! We wanted so much to like it but it just wasn't for us. So, you could always try it and know that they will take it back no questions asked...

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