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Author Topic: Rosetta Stone vs Fluenz  (Read 2087 times)

Offline raka_dier

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Rosetta Stone vs Fluenz
« on: April 27, 2011, 10:36:39 am »
I'm dying to learn a new language - yes yes I don't have Korean down yet, but will be leaving in August and have always wanted to learn a European language.

I understand the very popular language software programs Rosetta Stone and Fluenz take different approaches to language teaching.
Has anyone ever used one or both of these programs?
Any advice on which is better?

Thanks. Dankie. Graci. Danke.
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Offline Damien

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Re: Rosetta Stone vs Fluenz
« Reply #1 on: April 27, 2011, 10:39:39 am »
Personally, I hate both of those programs. I think they are garbage. What language do you want to learn? There are many free websites, videos on youtube, and other various ways to learn. If you let me know what language you want, I can point you in a general direction.
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Offline Aadi

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Re: Rosetta Stone vs Fluenz
« Reply #2 on: April 27, 2011, 10:42:30 am »
In my experience both Rosetta Stone and Fluenz are inferior to Pimsleur.
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Offline JimmyJenkins

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Re: Rosetta Stone vs Fluenz
« Reply #3 on: April 27, 2011, 10:49:56 am »
I would highly recommend anything by Michel Thomas for German. He also does many other languages: http://www.michelthomas.com/
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Offline wazure

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Re: Rosetta Stone vs Fluenz
« Reply #4 on: April 27, 2011, 10:51:28 am »
i heard from my friend who has learned 5 or more languages in her life that Fluenz is the best. they only have a small handful of languages, but it is very interactive and EXPLAINS things to you. the problem with Rosetta Stone is you are just thrown to the sharks and forced to learn how to swim. although some people say they find it useful when they already have a base level knowledge of the language. Fluenz helps you with everything though. speaking, grammar, spelling, fun activities. there are a lot of free sites out there, but they are more boring and require more work to learn the language. if you have the discipline and really want to save money, then use them. but if you need that extra support and want a fun interactive tool, then Fluenz is your best bet. there are a few other software programs that got high marks too.

here are some review sites:
http://www.givemeareview.com/Language-Learning-Software/reviews.html
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2381904,00.asp
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Offline SpaceRook

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Re: Rosetta Stone vs Fluenz
« Reply #5 on: April 27, 2011, 10:52:04 am »
I used Rosetta Stone for Korean.  I was not a fan of the program at all .  (I used it for several levels, so my opinion is not just based on a 5-minute try out session).  I think their basic approach is very flawed.  As adults, an immersion-only approach is a waste of time.  With a few key English explanations, you can quickly understand something that Rosetta Stone takes forever to teach you.  Furthermore, I never felt like I could review what I learned.  I wanted to review vocabulary, but could not find a way to do it.

I am not against immersion.  I'm taking a Korean course that is 99.99% in Korean.  But in that course, our grammar books and dictionaries have English explanations.  That helps a lot.




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Offline raka_dier

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Re: Rosetta Stone vs Fluenz
« Reply #6 on: April 27, 2011, 01:05:16 pm »
Thank you all for your opinions.

I'm South African and my first language is Afrikaans. I was a language major at university and have a bit of working knowledge in Dutch and German. I'd like to continue this to be fluent in the biggest Germanic languages.

I've never heard of Pimsleur and will now look in to it.
Fluenz does not yet have programs available for German or Dutch, and I spent the morning reading up on Rosetta Stone. I agree that it's not the best way to learn a new language, or at least not what I had in mind.

Any suggestions for German and Dutch? Especially Dutch, as Afrikaans is very close to it and I'll be able to pick it up the quickest..?
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Offline JimmyJenkins

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Re: Rosetta Stone vs Fluenz
« Reply #7 on: April 27, 2011, 01:26:54 pm »
like I said: Michel Thomas for German, worked wonders with me
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Offline Damien

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Re: Rosetta Stone vs Fluenz
« Reply #8 on: April 27, 2011, 01:38:12 pm »
I have a degree in German and lived in Germany. I will look at some things I have on my laptop at home. I LOVE Afrikaans. I listen to my South African friends talk sometimes and laugh. I usually understand what is going on. If you know Afrikaans, Dutch will be easier to learn, but German will be easier also. I would recommend German. It has a more general usage world-wide over Dutch. It just depends on your goals with using the language. I can speak English with an American or German accent and I can speak German with an American or German accent. I like mess with people at times. I will speak English in my German accent and switch it later to see how people react ㅋㅋ.
« Last Edit: April 27, 2011, 01:40:54 pm by Damien »
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Offline Mark van

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Re: Rosetta Stone vs Fluenz
« Reply #9 on: April 27, 2011, 01:44:57 pm »
I'm also South African and I used Rosetta Stone before coming to Korea and it was very very difficult to learn from it. After being in Korea for a few months and after learning some basic vocabulary (and hearing the lingo) I tried Rosetta Stone again and it was much easier! But to be honest I'm still trying to learn Korean and I'm not motivated to use Rosetta Stone.

I'm going to have a look at Fluenz now.. thanks for the tip  ;) But yeah, there are many good websites to learning any language you want!
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Offline scedlund

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Re: Rosetta Stone vs Fluenz
« Reply #10 on: April 27, 2011, 01:53:42 pm »
I've never heard of Fluenz! One of my co-teachers started using the Rosetta Stone for Chinese. She says she really likes it because it shows how accurate her pronunciation is. And there are 'role-play' scenarios where she has to talk as if she were really in that situation. I actually have the Rosetta program for Korean, but...I've never used it... I've been in Korea for over a year now too  ::)
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Offline duchessrachel

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Re: Rosetta Stone vs Fluenz
« Reply #11 on: April 27, 2011, 02:07:54 pm »
Quote from: Aadi on April 27, 2011, 10:42:30 am
In my experience both Rosetta Stone and Fluenz are inferior to Pimsleur.

Totally agree. I've never used a better language program than Pimsleur.
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Offline kyndo

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Re: Rosetta Stone vs Fluenz
« Reply #12 on: April 27, 2011, 02:21:49 pm »
       I used Pimsleur to learn Japanese before working there, and while my Japanese is incredibly sucky, that's no reflection on the program. It's well set up and generally tends to present the most useful and simplest vocabulary first, unlike some other books and CDs.
       I've heard good things about Rosetta, and have never heard of Fluenz, but my recommendation would still be Pimsleur. ^^
      Oh, if you're looking for usefulness, go for Spanish, German, or French. If you're just looking for general awesomeness, go for dutch. :D
Tot ziens!
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Offline raka_dier

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Re: Rosetta Stone vs Fluenz
« Reply #13 on: April 27, 2011, 02:56:36 pm »
Yeah, I agree that German is a better bet in terms of usefulness. Dutch is quite close to Afrikaans as Afrikaans is its decedent. So both aesthetics and usefulness will drive this ambition.

Thanks again for all the tips. From what I gather most people think that Rosetta Stone is not the simplest program. I'll look in to the others besides Fluenz.
I just did the French trial lesson on Fluenz (Fluenz.com) and it really is awesome. But like I said, they have yet to make a Dutch and German program.

Baie dankie almal!
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Offline Summer

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Re: Rosetta Stone vs Fluenz
« Reply #14 on: April 27, 2011, 04:52:42 pm »
I used Rosetta Stone for Korean and I was so confused with the program. I thought I skipped an entire volume or chapter.  The method it used to teach was baffling. It just started throwing random phrases and words at me. I think it would be a good program if you have the basics of the language down (alphabet and basic grammar rules) and you want to learn some vocabulary and sentence structures. But if you're just starting, it isn't very good.
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Offline SpaceRook

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Re: Rosetta Stone vs Fluenz
« Reply #15 on: April 27, 2011, 05:09:17 pm »
Something I forgot to mention about Rosetta Stone: it makes it too easy to accidentally cheat. 

For example, it will show you 4 pictures.  Each picture will have a different type of person in it: woman, man, boy, girl.  Then, the sentence below will be something like:

kjdfk jsdfjksdjk dsjjkjs sdhhdsfhj uyuyuy MAN jkdjkdjkd ueuieru djkjksdfj wqetyqwty

Gee, I wonder which picture goes with the sentence? 

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Offline bella4041

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Re: Rosetta Stone vs Fluenz
« Reply #16 on: April 27, 2011, 05:33:16 pm »
I used livemocha.com when I was trying to teach myself German and Spanish. It is free, which is probably the biggest benefit, but it's also an online community with native speakers reviewing your submissions. Good luck and have fun!
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Offline Koenji

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Re: Rosetta Stone vs Fluenz
« Reply #17 on: April 27, 2011, 05:42:24 pm »
can`t comment on Fluenz but Rosetta Stone is a big waste of money....don`t buy it. It looks like a few others in this thread have agreed already on that part ;)
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Offline drborde

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Re: Rosetta Stone vs Fluenz
« Reply #18 on: April 27, 2011, 08:25:24 pm »
I used Rosetta Stone, I think its good for word memorization but ans some basic sentences. If you are good at learning with audio it is not a bad program. At least I think so. :)
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Offline hiphopopotamus

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Re: Rosetta Stone vs Fluenz
« Reply #19 on: April 28, 2011, 07:53:54 am »
I used Rosetta Stone for about a year before coming to Korea. In fact, I'm still on Level 3 of the program. I think it's a fine program if you utilize it with other material. Standing on its own, it might not be worth the price.

When I go through Rosetta Stone, I keep one page in a notebook for all the new vocab/grammar points in that lesson. Then I slowly write down each and every sentence/word that is presented and I make an English translation next to it. I make sure I understand all grammar (by referencing other books and/or asking Korean friends) before moving on.

Rosetta Stone works as a self-paced program. It's not a video game like some people treat it, where you speed-click through the screens because you recognize a word like "MAN" (mentioned in a previous post).

One of the complaints I always hear about Rosetta Stone is that it teaches you senseless phrases. I don't agree with this criticism. For example, there might be a picture of a boy laying down with a rubber toy ball on top of him. The sentence is: "The ball is on the boy." The critics say they will never have to say that sentence in real life. True. But, they learn the word for boy, ball, and the preposition "on". Rosetta Stone isn't about learning stock phrases, but about opening your vocabulary and constructing your own.

Since you're in Korea, I recommend taking actual classes. Use the native resource while you're here. Save the computer programs for supplemental study (what I do now with Rosetta) or for when you go back home.

That aside, I have heard great things about Pimsleur, but have never looked at it.

Also, have any of you seen this new Rosetta Stone? It's a fully-interactive, online version. $1000. Yikes!

--BMV

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