Language Learning Software

[CVBrassil]

Hey a quick post as I am in a rush.

I am interesting in learning French, however it is not practical for me to learn it the "good way" by actually going to a French speaking country, so I am interesting in some software for it.

However, I have no clue which software would be the best to invest in.

I am leaning towards Rosetta Stone simply because it is the most mainstream and I can get the most information about it, but I know there are better out there, I just don't know what to trust!

Any of you have any expert opinions on this matter?

 

[JustBusiness17]

If you ask me, Rosetta Stone sounds like the Wal-Mart of language softwares. They're just pumping usable products onto the market without much regard for quality. I have never used it or any other program, but it will probably work in a pinch. Here is the criticism from the wiki page.

Frequent criticism of the program arises in its lack of sensitivity to the differences between the various languages it comes in and their respective cultures. All programs present the same concepts in the same order, using the same images taken mostly in the Washington, D.C. area near the company's headquarters at the time in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Furthermore, the program is well-received for teaching various nouns by matching pictures with words, but it is harder to learn from a grammar and syntax perspective.

Another frequent issue is the use of more formal vocabulary than that regularly used by native speakers. MacWorld reviewer Cyrus Farivar noted that the Persian CD he had been using used khodrow for "car", although most native speakers use a French loanword, ma:sheen. He called the company regarding the picture sets, and was told that four are in use, one for Western languages, another for Asian, and two sets unique to Swahili and Latin.[8]

I would start by checking out that review by Cyrus mentioned in the quote above.

 

[Abi]

Rosetta Stone is a bunch of over-priced bullshit. It's just an interactive flashcard program. Also, don't be so quick to discredit books and audio courses.

There are several online and off-line language learning courses that are very good, but just remember it's always good to have speakers to talk to and practice with. Here are some good resources:

http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/e/index.html (great forum about learning languages in general with lots of polyglots)
http://www.unilang.org/forum (go to the french sub-forum, lots of help there!)
The Teach Yourself... book/audio series is usually pretty cheap ($10-20 on amazon for a ~200 page book and 2 audio CDs), but the quality can vary. I got a norwegian course and is was great, but I've heard others like arabic are very lacking.
Anki is a realyl good flashcard program that's designed for maximum memory efficiency
Wikipedia is always good for phonology, grammar, etc.
http://french.about.com/ has free grammar overviews
http://edufire.com/ has some free, some paid live video lessons with teachers, free to sign up

 

[Aught3]

It sounds like you are just starting out so I would suggest looking for some free resources and seeing if you can stick with it before you put any money down.

In a happy coincidence I decided to give French a go recently and the best resource I have found is http://learnfrenchwithalexa.com/. The first 15 lesson are (compeetly) free and start at a basic level (hello, how are you, check out the whether, etc). Bonne chance with your endeavor.

 

[Salv]

I know this is an old topic and there's probably not much point in replying to it anymore, but I thought I'd provide my input in anycase.
I've used Rosetta Stone (v2 and v3), Plimsleur (did about 55 lessons out of 90), Michael Thomas (the first few audio CDs around 30 lessons), Assimil (about 90 lessons so far) and some FSI, mainly just to see what it's all about.

The only program I've really stuck with is Assimil. You have 113 lessons to get through. French on the left side of the page and English on the right hand side of the page. Exercises, etc. The first 50 lessons is passive only. Then from lesson 51 it's active. After the exercises, you go back to lesson one and translate the English on the right hand page, into French.

Rosetta Stone version 2 had rubbish audio, so I couldn't stick with it for very long. Rosetta Stone in general just runs you through billions of drills and it gets really boring, really really fast. I tried to stick with it, but after a week I felt brain dead. Michael Thomas is alright for a quick start, as he coveres quite a lot of the language quickly, but it also gets boring really quickly as you progress through the lessons. Plimsleur was great for a start but gets tedious quite quickly as you're not really learning anything about the language, just a bunch of phrases really. I quite like the memory interval recall. FSI is great because it's free and relatively extensive.
I wouldn't stick with one program, I tend to jump around quite a lot. What matters I reckon is that you immerse yourself in the language as much as possible. Thanks to the Internet this has never been easier.

http://how-to-learn-any-language.com - nice forum, they cover a lot of different language learning techniques. This is especially important (I think ) when discovering whether you favour a sequential learning system or a spacial. IE, visual or spacial memory. L-R, passive and active, etc.
http://www.litteratureaudio.com/notre-bibliotheque-de-livres-audio-gratuits lots of free audio books for all levels, very often with accompanying text. Really excellent site.
http://fsi-language-courses.org/Content.php FSI, lots of languages not just French.