rossetta stone

[magic]

Has any of you good people used the Rossetta Stone language course, if you have is it worth the large expense.

[MicAni]

I have read a review somewhere magic that it is extremely overpriced for what you get. I was considering it myself until I saw this review. Have you considered the Michel Thomas method? Personally, I found this brilliant!

Anita

[osie]

Hi

Michel Thomas: I found this really good to build my confidence to say anything I wanted using the fomal way in a specific and basic way.

However, it needs to be followed with practical use to fill in all the missing gaps of grammer, non formal, tenses etc.

thanks

osie

[MicAni]

It lays down the foundations & structure for the correct use of the french language and verbs (advanced) but can be followed up with the Michel Thomas method 'French Vocabulary Course' by Helene Lewis or any other 'Language Builder'. The foundation course however is an excellent starting point and cheap compared to Rosetta Stone

Anita

[DerekJ]

I've been using the Michel Thomas courses. I started with the 8 CD Foundation course, then went on to the Advanced course and then the Language Builder. I've really enjoyed using all of these and I seem to be making decent progress.

To get the flavour of how he teaches it's worth going onto his site and getting the free download of the first of the Foundation class CDs. It is a different approach to anything I've previously heard.

However, I also have the MT vocabulary course. I'm very disappointed with this. It isn't Michel Thomas who is teaching it and the method used is not the same. The approach used seems very patronising and certainly gets me annoyed very quickly. If you go on to the forum section of the MT site you will find that this seems to be the general view of the Vocabulary course.

[cowoman]

Ive got Rossetta stone and I think its rubbish.I cant get on with it.I think Michel Thomas is much better and I have Pimsleur on my Ipod.This is great when I am walking the dog,except you have to walk somewhere where people cant see or hear you muttering to yourself.The BBC have some good free courses for the Pc but you need a quick broadband speed.I thought because R S was Expensive it would be good but I havnt got the patience with it

[Just Katie]

As said, with Michel Thomas, I think you need something to plug the gaps.  I have found the Hugo Method excellent for this.  There is a beginners, intermediate and advanced packs with book and cds.  I think they are about £25 per pack and, it goes right into the fundamentals.

[DerekJ]

[quote user="Just Katie"]As said, with Michel Thomas, I think you need something to plug the gaps.  I have found the Hugo Method excellent for this.  There is a beginners, intermediate and advanced packs with book and cds.  I think they are about £25 per pack and, it goes right into the fundamentals.[/quote]

Katie. I agree. I started off using the Hugo in 3 months followed by Hugo Advanced. I made some progress but still struggled in some areas. Then I got the Michel Thomas courses I posted about previously and that has helped tremendously. Now I find myself going back to the Hugo material for more in depth written explanations whilst still replaying the MT CDs.

The combo of MT and Hugo seems pretty good.

[Just Katie]

Yes Derek, I am glad you agree.  However, nothing beats actually living there does it?  I have a feeling that, when I speak french, my accent is like the Belgian policeman on allo allo [:D]

[DerekJ]

Katie.  I'm still hoping I can fix the "live there" (at least part time) this year.  As to my accent, my wife who speaks reasonable french tries to (subtlely) correct my prononciation.

I'm at the stage where I can probably express quite a bit of what I want to say, and read and comprehend a lot of written material (with dashes off to the dictionary) but I'm still really struggling to understand spoken french.

I have my car radio permanently tuned to France Inter (LW 162). Sometimes I can understand a reasonable amount but if it's a studio discussion with several excited speakers then after the first sentence I'm lost.

[Just Katie]

Derek, you sound much like myself.  Be careful though, this level of knowledge can get you into alot of trouble. [:D]

 

[Just Chris]

We use the Rosetta Stone programme, and find it quite helpful.  You have to be in the mood for it, and there's little or no English help, which I've now recognised as a good thing.

I've been through the course twice now, and because we also go to French classes and supplement it with all three Michel Thomas units (and other computer based learning), I found that the second time I attempted the course I'd grasped considerably more than I realised.

It's a good little programme, especially if used as a supplementary tool in the armoury, rather than the definitive method of learning the language.

Chris

[Bones]

I've downloaded most stuff for free off the internet (except a lot of the Michel Thomas stuff).

Rosetta stuff is okay but I wouldn't pay for it, Pimsleur is very good and moves along quickly.

Thomas is great for beginners and gets pretty advanced later on - perhaps a little too late and not quite enough.

Would like to try out the Hugo stuff now. I've lived here for three years now and my French is still pretty garbage, it helps if you're outgoing, which I'm not. [:D]