Learning French - Rosetta Stone

[migo]

So I've acquired the French 1 and 2 levels of Rosetta stone and I've started going through the exercises...I might point out that I DO know a liiiittle bit of French, but it's just random bits and pieces (I took a class when I was much younger, and I can understand rudimentary bits of it, it's just my speaking/writing that is lacking)...

I was just wondering if anyone here has used this system and if they know how quick (or slow) it is. So far I'm doing about 5 or 6 exercises a day. I need to find someone I can speak it with, obviously, I know from learning German that my speaking will not improve from just this sort of thing. I'm just hoping to expand my vocabulary, mostly, and to get better at understanding it when it's spoken.

I apologize for the very broken up post...I'm sleepy

 

[ghulkhan]

If you took a year or two of French at GW or any language class..chances are the youll learn much more with Rosetta Stone. This is not coming only from me (I have used the program myself) but some professors as well...

 

[GQgeek]

I'm working with pimsleur and a textbook for spanish. I find the CDs quite useful although it takes a while to go through them since there's lots of intentional repetition. For example, for level 1 there's ~30 lessons at 30min each and then there's levels 2&3. It takes a while. I Find that I remember everything however and I can practice with a couple of my salsa instructors and a girl at work. Overall I think it works pretty well.

I should note that I always have a dictionary and verb cojugation book out when I'm listening to the CDs. Every time a new word is mentioned I looked it up to see the correct spelling and conjugation. I find that I can follow along with the tapes an read dictionaries at the same time without any problems, which is nice since I don't have to stop.

My biggest problem is that i keep falling asleep! I do this laying down on the couch and I keep dozing-off because I get too comfortable! Even so, I'm making very good progress. This is really just a prelude to spending a month in peru taking intensive spanish classes. I expect to have a very good command of the language within 6 months. But then, I'm a smarty-pants and I learned french just as easily.

 

[evilgeniusdan]

Originally Posted by ghulkhan

If you took a year or two of French at GW or any language class..chances are the youll learn much more with Rosetta Stone. This is not coming only from me (I have used the program myself) but some professors as well...
That good? It sounds like you're quoting the infomercial.

 

[ghulkhan]

haha its pretty good....


Its more that the GW language programs just plain out suck. Theyve made some improvements over thepast couple years, but two years ago it was pretty bad

 

[migo]

Originally Posted by ghulkhan

haha its pretty good....


Its more that the GW language programs just plain out suck. Theyve made some improvements over thepast couple years, but two years ago it was pretty bad

Have you ever checked out the Global Languages group? Their free lessons are pretty cool...I don't think they have them over the summer, but basically they're taught by native speakers.

I took third year German here at GW last year and I agree, they aren't amazing. They pack it into a semester, so you don't have time to absorb the stuff..I dunno

never took French here...I took it in like 8th grade for a bit, but I find, for some reason, that I know a lot more than I realize hah