anyone here use(d) rosetta stone?

[mopinko]

thinking of biting the big one and buying it for my youngest for christmas. she is a sophmore in high school, and the best part of it for her was learning french. she had a great teacher last year, and had the highest grade in the class. she never broke a sweat. she just has the gift.
so, this year, that teacher is in france, and they were supposed to get an exchange teacher. instead they got one from.... indiana. with a horrid accent, and, rumor has it, with only a 2 year degree. she has made many errors in the class. she has ruined the kid's only real bright spot. (this is a gifted school, and she is still bored out of her gourd.)

so, thinking about getting this, and maybe she can at least learn. she has been bugging and bugging. her sister is also taking french in college.

i do have a specific question, which is, how many computers can you install this on?

but i wonder what people who have used it think about it.

[Tikki]

1. kick...'cause I'd like to know, also.

Tikki

[tandot]

2. Another kick because I'd like to know, too.

We were thinking about buying it but it is so expensive.

[Droopy]

3. I've never used Rosetta Stone, however

I have used a couple of do-it-yourself type language tutorials and they both sucked. I've also been in a classroom setting and I found that is much more effective. I paid a lot of money for the do-it-yourself stuff and it's just sitting collecting dust right now.

[mopinko]

8. i have used them too, but

this is supposed to work differently. kiddo has been nagging, and oldest daughter said she checked it out and thinks it is pretty cool. i can see how a pictorial approach would work better. especially for me. that part of my brain still works.
should work well for kiddo and middle kid. they did language stuff on the computer when they were little, and hopefully there is a little of that wiring left.

[Greyskye]

4. My wife and 10 year old son use it.

I've watched over their shoulders a few times. They really like it. I suck at languages, and I think I'd actually do well with the approach that Rosetta Stone takes. They do a lot with pictures and the speech recognition tools that make sure that your pronunciation is correct.

I'm pretty sure that my wife has installed it on at least 2 laptops, so that both of them can use it at the same time.

[mopinko]

10. thanks

i am hoping to take a stab at it, but they want french and i want spanish. but.....
we had one years ago that was just starting at good language recognition, but the damn thing never worked.

[Deep13]

5. I know just how she feels.

When I was in 8th and half of 9th grade in Oxford, MA, I had the privilege of learning French from Virginia Green, a consumate professional and the best of the best, at least in my limited experience, of language instructors. That was not an easy class, but I had a B+ and was learning the material.

Then I moved to Leicester where I was put in a class with an instructor who was just marking time until retirement with no actual teaching skill and who could not care less. Consequently, I don't know shit about the French language.

So yeah, I totally understand.

[mopinko]

9. school sucks.

i hate factory schools. it should be harder to teach high school than to be a navy seal. sigh.

[bikebloke]

6. Local library

My local library has it online for residents. You could give yours a check.

[mopinko]

7. that's cool.

not practical in this case, but that is cool that your library has it.