Rosetta Stone - anyone learned a lanuage with them??

[EK993]

I'm want to have a crack at learning Chinese Mandarin and have been looking at the various computer based training you can purchase. Rosetta Stone is obviously the market leader, however I read mixed reviews on the web.

My girlfriend is Taiwanese which is why I feel I should try to learn some basics - to help when speaking with her family. Also it helps in that I can practice conversation with her.

Has anyone here actually learnt a language using Rosetta Stone. Am I wasting my money?

[DocJock]

Used it when learning Dutch.

It works for my way of thinking, which is not very language oriented I'm afraid.
I think you perhaps wnd up with better vocabulary than grammar.

[sensa]

I asked this very same question (albeit without the girlfriend etc) a few months ago.

The general response seemed to be that, whilst it was a very good program, there were better ways to learn for less money, and that the price difference did not reflect the quality difference.

Livemocha is the one I use for Spanish and German, and I think it's ace. Not sure they do Chinese though.

I'll have a look for my thread.

ETA: Found it...

Edited by sensa on Friday 1st October 19:26

[DocJock]

I bought it 2nd hand from Amazon.

£20 instead of £200

[big dub]

sensa said:

I asked this very same question (albeit without the girlfriend etc) a few months ago.

The general response seemed to be that, whilst it was a very good program, there were better ways to learn for less money, and that the price difference did not reflect the quality difference.

Livemocha is the one I use for Spanish and German, and I think it's ace. Not sure they do Chinese though.

I'll have a look for my thread.

ETA: Found it...

Edited by sensa on Friday 1st October 19:26

Yep, they do Mandarin Chinese

[EK993]

sensa said:

I asked this very same question (albeit without the girlfriend etc) a few months ago.

The general response seemed to be that, whilst it was a very good program, there were better ways to learn for less money, and that the price difference did not reflect the quality difference.

Livemocha is the one I use for Spanish and German, and I think it's ace. Not sure they do Chinese though.

I'll have a look for my thread.

ETA: Found it...

Edited by sensa on Friday 1st October 19:26

Thanks for the livemocha link - looks interesting, I am going to investigate further.

Reading the various reviews for RS on the Internet, seems the biggest issue is to teaches you vocabulary, however is no use whatsoever for teaching grammar.