Rosetta Stone - Mandarin

[Juette]

Has anyone here used the Rosetta Stone software package to learn Mandarin? I just got a copy and I hope that it is as good as it is hyped up to be. Please share your experiences with this product.

[chrisnhong]

It goes ok, but then I'm not really someone who learns easily off a PC. As a rough guide:

 

Pimsleur: Absolutely perfect for beginners. Gives perfect pronunciation and pushes you hard to speak Mandarin. Nice slow learning curve. The main problem? It covers a small section of the language extremely well, but only a small section. You will be able to make yourself understood, but listening is difficult due to the fairly small range of vocabulary that you've learned.

 

FSI: Dull as dishwater and a little old fashioned. Free. Covers a much wider range than Pimsleur.

 

Chinesepod: The biggest current thing in learning Mandarin. Podcasts are free, web based lessons aren't. Probably the most easy to listen to. There is a mass of lessons of various levels available. Comprehensive.

 

Rosetta Stone: Computer based so I have a little bit of a difficult time there. It has a reasonably steep learning curve, but it's pretty good. You'll need a dictionary.

 

Plecodict: Best electronic dictionary out there for English speakers learning Mandarin. It must be run on a Palm or a Pocket PC. Don't buy one for your Chinese SO, others are more suitable.

 

Best option: Sign up for chinese classes at a university in China or Taiwan.

 

I think I've written this already, but there's a quote out there, "learning Mandarin is a five year lesson in humility. After 5 years your Mandarin is still terrible, but you've got humility down pat".

[phxcapital]

Generally, my experience with the Rosetta Stone program is good. I still use it and I am planning to get the level 2 pretty soon. I have used for about 2 years now with no problems.

 

I do agree with chrisnhong about Pimsleur. If you are just starting out learning Mandarin, start with Pimsleur.

 

If you are planning on learning Mandarin I would recommend to use a couple of sources, like Pimsleur, Rosetta Stone and local tutor/teacher. I have studied Mandarin for nearly 2 years and found as I used 2 or more sources my improvement was accelerated.

 

Good luck in your studies.......

[homer j]

I have used it and I agree with the other, you should get some other learning material to go with it.

 

Sometime, I couldn't understand if I was saying "under" or "over" and there's no guide so I had to look it up on the web to figure out what I was saying.

[clayton2103]

I use them both along with a couple of translation dictionaries also.

 

Began my learning of the Mandarin language with the Rosetta Stone program. I found this system fun to learn with and gained knowledge of many words. Then someone had a Pimsleur program that they spoke highly of and allowed me to make copies of each CD for my own use.

 

By far, I have found Pimsleur to be the superior learning program. I am not only learning the words and the correct pronunciation of them, but also full sentences and phrases.

Learning these sentences and phrases through this program I now have a much better understanding of the proper grammar used when speaking Mandarin which I struggled with while learning with Rosetta Stone.

 

I still continue to use both, but two thumbs up for the Pimsleur learning program.

 

Not to worry of your purchase though. The total immersion of the Rosetta Stone learning process with no assistance of help being guided in English, will force you to learn on your own and I also found this to be fun and helpful.

 

Clayton

[mercator]

I have Pimsleur and Rosetta Stone. I like both, but it is harder to make time for Rosetta Stone than for Pimsleur. Pimsleur is tapes so it is pretty passive.

 

Best of course is my wife, though her GZ Cantonese/Hakka accent differs greatly from the software's Beijing book accent.