subject: Don't use the Rosetta Stone software ?? [print this page] Don't use the Rosetta Stone software ?? Don't use the Rosetta Stone software ??
I just read an interesting book review today, about Rosetta Stone software today. Someone claimed himself as member of a program company who is working with Language Teaching Program, and he critically showed his points of disadvantages of Rosetta Stone software compared with the stuffs from his company. (However, i totally don't want to refer the name of the company, nor the name of the programm).
I picked up some of his points here for they are so ridiculous that i can't agree with. On his opinion, he thinks people who learn a foreign language with Rosetta Stone are children, however they should not be children, as the Rosetta Stone company claimed that the program teaches the language the way people learn the first language, starting from learning words and phrases. And this kind of method makes this software kidding. Sound interesting! But I disagree with this guy's points, because learning any language should start from words and phrases. Is it possible for people to speak a long sentence without knowing words and phrases, but with only grammar ?
From his another opinion, this is the most ridiculous one, he insists that Rosetta Stone software is useless because of their low prices!! He believe the value of learning a foreign language is huge, and the Rosetta Stone Totaled program prices at $999.00 is amazingly cheap! I am now hardly curious about what price will be the teaching programs from his company. And here, I would like to say, it is not the price to define the use of the program or class. Some one can obtain a language by his hard working, at low price through reading books, listening to the foreign language movies, speaking with foreigners through MSN, or Yahoo. And some people may not learn much, not matter how high price of the teaching program of classes they take part in.
I disagree with this guy's points because they are ridiculous. But this doesn't mean that there are not disadvantages in Rosetta Stone software. I received many letters from the learners and some of them complained that some pics and words aren't printed very clearly, and the pronunciation somewhere don't speak clearly, too. The really problem I think is that, pictures don't show their exact meaning to learners. (There are no many words under the pictures, people should guess which one is the correct of the pictures would like to should to them. E.G. they could show you a picture of a man sitting at a computer in an office building. The sentence meaning could be he is working, or it is nighttime, or it could even be something in the room like the computer. Or it could be the color of something like his shirt is green, or it could even be the type of clothes, like a coat, or his coat is brown. There are so many meanings in one picture. )
However, although the disadvantages of this design of software exsit, i do believe they work for people in their learning a foreign language, for they can offer the main words and top-use sentences to learners.
