Rosetta Stone for learning a language

[Yellow#5]

A couple people have mentioned they are trying to learn a language before starting grad school. I am wondering if anyone has ever tried Rosetta Stone programs to learn a language cold. I've played around with it a little for Russian, a language I've studied, but speak badly. Since RS is mainly listen and learn, I felt it didn't lend itself to Russian all that well. Has anyone used it for say, Italian or any romance language? I'm wondering if it could really work for a language whose grammar you haven't studied before.

[hadunc]

Although I haven't personally ever used Rosetta Stone, I have a friend who swears by it. I think she used it to learn Spanish, but I could be wrong. Anyway, she has been studying languages for years so I would consider her a fairly reliable source. But they are really pricey, unless maybe you can download it for free somewhere.

[Yellow#5]

Did she JUST use Rosetta Stone, or did she augment classes with the Rosetta Stone?

[guenevere01]

I've wondered about RS too, since my German is incredibly weak. Does it just prepare you to function minimally in the culture, e.g. ordering food, getting a taxi, etc, or do you come away actually able to read a scholarly article in the language? It seems geared more toward people who want to travel, but then again there is a Latin one, so maybe not...

[commoner]

I've been using it for French, which I took two years of in HS, so I'm not entering cold. It's not just listen and learn, though. It uses voice recognition as well as writing so you do learn to actually use the language on a communicative level. From what I've read, if you go through all three levels, it is equivalent to two semesters of college classes.

[Jcar]

It's good for learning pronunciation and basic vocabulary.

It's bad for teaching things like the intricacies of grammar, however, so you most likely will not be fluent after completing all three levels (and no, you will not be able to read an entire novel in your selected language after finishing them. The vocabulary focuses on mostly everyday tourist type stuff).

It's still a good tool despite this, you just have to use it in conjunction with a more traditional style instructional book.

It's definitely not worth 500 dollars for all three levels, so if you do decide to use it I'd recommend just downloading a cracked version of the internet. They are readily available if you know where to look.

[Yellow#5]

Hmmmm like where would one look?

[Jcar]

Type "Rosetta Stone" + "Language you want" + "Rapidshare" into google.

You'll find one that works eventually.

Otherwise just search a torrent site.