Rosetta Stone Latin?

[rae.e.bates]

I am a little sticker shocked at the cost of Latin through Memorial Press. Not to mention the fact that it only seems to get more expensive the higher the level.

 

Just out of curiosity, I looked up the cost through Rosetta Stone; 1 year of MP Latin is close to the cost of 3 years (or levels I should say) of RS Latin.

 

Has anyone gone down the RS lane with Latin or any other language? Thanks for your thoughts. 

[Laura Corin]

I haven't used Rosetta Stone for Latin, but isn't it essentially a spoken language course?  Although there are immersion courses for Latin, at some point the intricacies of the grammar need to be mastered.  Others should know more about RS.

[HomeAgain]

I used RS once and decided I wouldn't give them my money anymore.  They're not that great a product.

 

There are plenty of Latin programs out there.  Latin's Not So Tough is pretty inexpensive per level.  Rainbow Resource carries several different programs you can browse through and find one that meets your budget.

[rae.e.bates]

I haven't used Rosetta Stone for Latin, but isn't it essentially a spoken language course?  Although there are immersion courses for Latin, at some point the intricacies of the grammar need to be mastered.  Others should know more about RS.

 

That's a really strong point. I imagine that's why RS Latin only has 3 levels instead of the usual 5.

[rae.e.bates]

I used RS once and decided I wouldn't give them my money anymore.  They're not that great a product.

 

There are plenty of Latin programs out there.  Latin's Not So Tough is pretty inexpensive per level.  Rainbow Resource carries several different programs you can browse through and find one that meets your bud

 

For my own understanding, why did you think it wasn't that great of a product? I haven't had any personal experience with it outside of seeing the commercials. ;)

[luuknam]

That's a really strong point. I imagine that's why RS Latin only has 3 levels instead of the usual 5.

 

 

Nah, the number of levels has more to do with how many customers they think they'd get. So, for languages with fewer speakers like Dutch (and Latin), they have only 3 levels, whereas for bigger languages like Spanish and Russian they have 5. 

 

I haven't used RS Latin. I have completed RS Spanish (5 levels) and am about halfway through RS Russian level 2, and my kids are somewhere in RS Dutch level 2 (a little further along than I am in Russian). IMO, using RS for Latin is defying the purpose. Also, for languages like Latin and Russian, you're *really* going to have to supplement the grammar (Spanish is not that bad, but I've studied quite a number of languages, so I'm probably better at figuring out the grammar from immersion than people who have never studied a foreign language before... I'd still (strongly) recommend supplementing RS Spanish). Anyway, wrt Latin, you've got to decide what your goals are for teaching Latin... but realistically, odds are that speaking Latin with the locals when visiting the Roman Empire and being able to understand movies in Latin are probably not your primary reasons for studying Latin. There's not a whole lot of use in speaking Latin and being able to understand spoken Latin (and I'm not sure what pronunciation RS uses... I think the classical one, not the ecclesiastical one?). Personally, I think Latin is a great language to show kids how to study language through studying grammar and vocabulary, rather than through immersion - i.e. to show them a completely different approach to language learning. And, of course it's great for reading stuff that's written in Latin. 

[HomeAgain]

For my own understanding, why did you think it wasn't that great of a product? I haven't had any personal experience with it outside of seeing the commercials. ;)

 

It's often buggy.  It would take multiple times to restart and get it going.

 

You get 2 or 3 licenses.  You don't own the product, you own the license.  It makes reselling difficult or impossible, and even just trying to load it onto a new computer can be a lot of frustration and back and forth with a customer service rep to make sure your license is clear.

 

Their customer service needs a lot of work, and their website isn't international.  It will route you to a localized website, so if you're a person learning overseas and need the U.S. support, you can only get the country you're currently in.

 

It's a lot of money for something that isn't as competitive as it could be with all the other products out there, especially Duolingo.  I've done intensive language training, self education, and night classes.  If I learn at home I want something that is going to meet my needs.  RS is at the bottom of the list because of the cost vs. what you actually get.

[PixieLittle]

Don't get it for Latin! You can tell that it's cookie cutter from conversational living language courses, which is not useful for Latin. I tried it and they have you learning how to ask for the toilet, where the telephone is, and the words for automobile and computer. What??? And no explanation of grammar, no macrons.

And after all that you can't sell it, it's against the terms of service.

 

Worse than useless. I'm mad just thinking about it 😡

[rae.e.bates]

Don't get it for Latin! You can tell that it's cookie cutter from conversational living language courses, which is not useful for Latin. I tried it and they have you learning how to ask for the toilet, where the telephone is, and the words for automobile and computer. What??? And no explanation of grammar, no macrons.

And after all that you can't sell it, it's against the terms of service.

 

Worse than useless. I'm mad just thinking about it 😡

 

Holy cow! That's horrible! You officially made me regret even thinking I could use it. 

[shadah]

I am doing a course for Latin on Memrise. It uses the vocabulary from Wheelock's. Basically, I am front-loading vocabulary, which is what alot of children's Latin courses do. But, it gets me only so far. I bought Wheelock this last weekend to actually learn something. Without learning how to put the language together, I am just memorizing random vocab.

[CadenceSophia]

I really like Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata. I haven't done it with kids so I don't know if it is "fun" enough for some age levels but it would definitely give you enough material to last a long time. I was thinking about making up lessons for my kids out of it this year and tacking them on just a few minutes a day after geography. 

[shadah]

I am doing a course for Latin on Memrise. It uses the vocabulary from Wheelock's. Basically, I am front-loading vocabulary, which is what alot of children's Latin courses do. But, it gets me only so far. I bought Wheelock this last weekend to actually learn something. Without learning how to put the language together, I am just memorizing random vocab.