I've been wanting to learn to speak Italian for years. I have been looking at different programs and am wondering, has anyone used Rosetta Stone or other language programs? I took Latin in junior high and German in senior high, both for 2 years each. I remember very little. Any suggestions for language learning?

Jill

quote:

Originally posted by GoingSkiing:
[[...]"Dos y dos es quatro..."

I know enough to read it

2 and 2 is 4



I only know enough to be able to sort of follow what someone is talking about....if they go slow.

quote:

Originally posted by Tayhudson:
see if a university or community college nearby offers [foreign] language classes.

My mom DEPARATELY wanted to travel and every 6 months, she applied to every airline.

When I was about 7 or 8, she got the sets of Berliz records and played them all day, every day, for about 2 years and also took Spanish and German at the local community college.

She learned enough to: a) be hired as a ticket agent by United Airlines and b) communicate just fine while on vacations.

Some of the records had songs on them... and I can still sing them... "Dos y dos es quatro..."

FYI, today I got an e-mail from Amazon.com:

"As someone who has shown an interest in software, you might like to know that for a limited time you can save up to $100 off the list price of select Rosetta Stone language-learning titles,..."

I wonder if Rosetta offers Hindi-Indian, for Americans who need computer technical support.

Immersion! go live in italy for a month with dd--she will love it.

is there an active Italian community nearby? if they have a community center, post an ad on their bulletin board, asking for language exchange. 30 minutes you teach them english. 30 minutes they teach you italian.

itunes will oftne have free foreign language downloads. i download chinese and spanish for free. i listen while i workout at the gym.

Jill,

The libraries in Ohio even have downloadable recorded books available for learning new languages - maybe something similar is available for you.

Linda

Jill,
I bet you could check out a variety of cd's and dvd's from the library to see what might suit you the best before you make a $ commitment.

Sounds fun!

We have Rosetta Stone at the high school where I work in our ESL Lab. (I taught that class last year.) So, I have actually been through the Rosetta Stone training. Rosetta Stone has solid methodology and their program is designed well. It is about as close to emmersion as you are going to get in a computer program. I think it is pretty expensive though. One of the really cool components that Rosetta Stone has is the speaking component. It will actually record your voice and tell you how close you are to the correct pronounciation.

I will tell you though, the high school kids found it too boring. As with any program, you have to have the discipline to actually do it.

Another option may be a Berliz language school or see if a university or community college nearby offers Continuing Ed language classes. Continuing Ed classes are usually inexpensive. My DH took French for awhile that way.

A third option would be to find someone who speaks that language and hire them to tutor you. The problem with that is that if they just speak the language, but have NO training in teaching language or second language acquisition, then sometimes they don't know how to go about it.

Dawn

I like Rosetta Stone. DD gave the Spanish version to me for Christmas one year and I really enjoyed it. You can either buy the boxed set or your can subscribe to the classes on-line. My sister and our best friend did the online classes for Italian before their trip over there last year.

I have trouble with Spanish because I can't seem to roll my r's which is necessary in Spanish. I was not very disciplined and fell out of the habit of studying so I sold it to a friend on another message board to give to their friend who needed to learn Spanish.
I hope to buy the whole set (beginning and advanced) again some time in the future.