Number 273 - February 2006

My New Year's Resolution
by Wayne Steen Q Bits Newsletter of Quad-Cities Computer Soc, Jan 2006
First of all, Happy New Year everybody! Have you made your New Year's Resolution? The past several years I have not done very well on my past resolutions (losing weight). This year I have decided on a new resolution. My New Year's resolution for 2006 is to learn a new foreign language. I am fluent in English and Spanish, but I will be going to France in the spring for a couple of weeks. Therefore, my goal is to learn French. Rosetta Stone www.rosettastone.com    Rosetta Stone is one of the most popular selling software foreign language learning programs in the world. According to their marketing materials their software is used by the U.S. State Department, the Peace Corps, and NASA.    Rosetta Stone is published by Fairfield Language Technologies. The software retails for $199.00 for Level One or Two of a language or $329 for both levels when you buy both levels together. You can also buy the product via an online subscription, but I would not recommend buying the online program. I will explain why not to buy it later in the article.    A brief historical note, the Rosetta Stone was discovered along the banks of the Nile River by Napoleon's troops in 1799. Engraved on the stone was a decree in three different scripts: Egyptian hieroglyphics, demotic, and ancient Greek. Twenty- three years later, it proved to be the key to unlocking the mystery of Egyptian hieroglyphics.    Fairfield Technologies therefore believes their product is the key for you to learn a new language. Rosetta Stone uses the Dynamic Immersion method to learning a new language. With Dynamic Immersion, you learn a new language by connecting words to objects and events around you. The Dynamic Immersion method does not want you to think of an object in English and then translate it into French. They want you to see a picture and know it is le chien saute'. They do not want you to see the picture and say it is a picture of a dog jumping. They want you to think of the French phase first.    This was the same method my high school Spanish teacher, Mary Maxson, used to teach her students. (She used the same teaching method but did not use the Rosetta Stone software. I was in high school a long time ago). Since I learned Spanish with the Dynamic Immersion method, I have decided to learn French with the same method.    The Rosetta Stone series offers more than 25 different languages to choose from, including Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), French, German, Italian, Spanish, and many more. In Spanish, they offer a Latin America version and a Spain version.    You will need a headphone with an attached microphone to use the software. Your computer should be running Windows 98 or later with a minimum of 128 MB RAM and 100 MB of free disk space. The Software Package    There are four components to the Rosetta Stone program. First, is Listening to understand the new language. The software uses native speakers to help you with your listening comprehension.    Second, you learn Reading skills by linking written language to real life objects, action and ideas. This also helps you with your spelling, grammar and punctuation.    The third component is Speaking: With the microphone you will be able to compare your speech with a native speaker using their patented dynamic speech recognition program. This is the best feature of the Rosetta Stone software in my opinion.	I live in a bilingual community of West Liberty, Iowa. In the downtown area you will hear Spanish spoken as often as English is. My challenge in learning and speaking French is to pronounce the words in French and not in Spanish. The speech recognition software forces me to learn and speak French correctly.    The fourth component is Writing in the language using dictation exercises. This is the part of the program that could use some improvement. However, you will probably not need to know how to write in a foreign language unless you expect to stay for an extended period of time in a foreign country. Conclusion    First of all let me say there is no substition to learning a foreign language in a classroom setting with a certified teacher in the foreign language you want to learn. However, with our busy schedules it is not possible for many of us to take a class in a foreign language. The Rosetta Stone software is the best substitUte I have found to learn a foreign language on your own.    The software is easy to install on your computer and you can always find an hour in your day to sit down with your computer and take a couple of lessons in French (or whatever language you want to learn).    You can also purchase an online version of the package from the Internet. You must be connected to the Internet to use this online version of the program. However, I have found their online version to be an inferior product to their software based program. Buy the software program!    With the software based program you do not have to be connected to the Internet and you do not have to worry about having a bad Internet connection. I have also found the speech recognition software just does not work well over the Internet.    The other problem with the Rosetta Stone software series is they use the same pictures for every language. For example, they use the same picture of a woman dancing in every language series. I know the company is saving money by doing this, but if you plan to use their packages to learn several languages this cost savings is counter productive to the user.    If you have used their program to learn Italian and then buy another package to learn French, you see the same pictures. Your mind has been trained to associate the picture with the Italian phrase. You will have to retrain your mind to associate the same picture with the French phase. Again, the whole point of Dynamic Immersion is to associate a picture, place or object with the appropriate French word or phrase.    If you only buy their series for one language then this shortcoming is not a problem, but I believe it is a real shortcoming if you plan to use Rosetta Stone to learn two or more languages.    At the time this article was written, the US Dollar was very strong versus the Euro (the European currency). Therefore, your dollar will buy more European goods. It looks to be a great spring to travel to Europe. Life is short, take advantage of the opportunity to see Europe if you can.    Bon Voyage!
Number 273 - February 2006