Alternatives to Rosetta Stone

mx=headroom

mx=headroom

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Aug 15, 2009
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I remember a thread here that recommended something other than Rosetta Stone for learning foreign languages. If anyone has any recommendations or remembers the thread it would be greatly appreciated. (Yes I know how to use the search function and da Matt Cuttz run Gurglz)
 


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Try googling Pimsleur. Thats the course I took for Thai and appears to be a major competitor for rosetta stone but through a different learning method.

Hope that helps.
 
Michel Thomas is pretty good. I've used the German one and found it was pretty easy to pick up the basics. He has a different teaching style where you aren't supposed to study or think ahead.
 
Tobias Funke said:
Michel Thomas is pretty good. I've used the German one and found it was pretty easy to pick up the basics. He has a different teaching style where you aren't supposed to study or think ahead.
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Nice. Checking this out as well. Keep 'em coming. Where's Dresden when you need him? Probably out banging married chicks at the dirt bike track.
 
I'm in Costa Rica now doing 4 hours a day of Spanish classes, and I've found pimsleur to be incredibly helpful.

I think if you could learn just a couple of weeks worth of "traditional" language learning to get a good understanding of how to use verb tenses, masculine/feminine, and the alphabet type of stuff then using pimsleur after would be all that you would need.

I tried Rosetta Stone as well, and while it did help me, pimsleur has been much better.

Edit: when I mention the "traditional stuff" it's not that you really need to know it, it just seems to help me make more sense of what I hear. More ah-ha moments.
 
mx=headroom said:
I remember a thread here that recommended something other than Rosetta Stone for learning foreign languages. If anyone has any recommendations or remembers the thread it would be greatly appreciated. (Yes I know how to use the search function and da Matt Cuttz run Gurglz)
Click to expand...

Absolutely none of these lame gimmicky programs beat flash cards and a one on one tutor.

I use:

Flashcards+ app
An English <--> Chinese dictionary app
A daily one on one tutor from echineselearning.com

I recommend that you troll less and study more.
 
i've found the Instant Recall audioprograms useful in helping me learn languages phoenetically from a native speaker, which helps eliminate your accent. also, the Foreign Service Institute has free written/audio downloads for just about any language imaginable.
 
I was thinking of trying to learn japanese for fun. Listening to so much of it I got pretty good, and have a vocab of close to 100 words but didn't feel like paying much for it.
 
bluechinagroup said:
Absolutely none of these lame gimmicky programs beat flash cards and a one on one tutor.

I use:

Flashcards+ app
An English <--> Chinese dictionary app
A daily one on one tutor from echineselearning.com

I recommend that you troll less and study more.
Click to expand...

You mean like do actual work? Fat chance!

On a serious note I appreciate the feedback, but this is for my wife and 3 year old. Getting a tutor is a great idea though.
 
Tobias Funke said:
Michel Thomas is pretty good. I've used the German one and found it was pretty easy to pick up the basics. He has a different teaching style where you aren't supposed to study or think ahead.
Click to expand...

I'm learning Italian and I used Michel Thomas part of the time. MT courses are good, very pragmatic, get you working with the language within a few minutes of listening. His stuff sticks in the brain but ... he cuts corners with grammar (e.g. in his Italian course he completely avoids the second person, which is a bit of a disaster) and has a bit of an attitude. Michel Thomas is an interesting guy though. There's a documentary on him here:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8jhy7ZQC38]Michel Thomas, The Language Master Pt 1 of 3 - YouTube[/ame]

I hated Rosetta Stone and gave it away in the end. Similarly Berlitz. I think a good mix is MT with an evening course.

If remembering / memory is an issue check-out Mnemotechnics.org: Memory Techniques Forum and Training There are a lot of helpful though seriously memory-obsessed people on that forum who are only too glad to help you find ways to remember weird sounding foreign words. They always helped me out especially with adjectives.

The other thing I did was implement in Excel a spaced repetition plan into my learning. PM me if you want a copy of my spreadsheet.

I combined memory techniques with spaced repetition and it helps me even though I am pretty damn old to be learning a foreign language.

Nearly forgot - I tried using Anki for a while but didn't like it. You might though.

Good luck! My girlfriend is Italian and translates German (and English) and she loves the language.
 
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wezcountry said:
I'm learning Italian and I used Michel Thomas part of the time. MT courses are good, very pragmatic, get you working with the language within a few minutes of listening. His stuff sticks in the brain but ... he cuts corners with grammar (e.g. in his Italian course he completely avoids the second person, which is a bit of a disaster) and has a bit of an attitude. Michel Thomas is an interesting guy though. There's a documentary on him here:

Michel Thomas, The Language Master Pt 1 of 3 - YouTube

I hated Rosetta Stone and gave it away in the end. Similarly Berlitz. I think a good mix is MT with an evening course.

If remembering / memory is an issue check-out Mnemotechnics.org: Memory Techniques Forum and Training There are a lot of helpful though seriously memory-obsessed people on that forum who are only too glad to help you find ways to remember weird sounding foreign words. They always helped me out especially with adjectives.

The other thing I did was implement in Excel a spaced repetition plan into my learning. PM me if you want a copy of my spreadsheet.

I combined memory techniques with spaced repetition and it helps me even though I am pretty damn old to be learning a foreign language.

Nearly forgot - I tried using Anki for a while but didn't like it. You might though.

Good luck! My girlfriend is Italian and translates German (and English) and she loves the language.
Click to expand...


Good shit. +rep and PM sent.
 
Anki or mnemosyne for vocab (or any spaced repetition program). I have played around with memrise, but I prefer to make my own decks. Another option is supermemo, but it's difficult to use.
 
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