<p>I know you folks can help me on this one. Right now I can get Russian 1,2,3 for $500 no ship/no tax. Looked around a bit and can’t seem to find it cheaper.</p>
<p>This is expensive. Is this a program that once you have used it you can sell it to someone else?</p>
<p>Are these programs worth this much money?</p>
<p>Thanks for any comments.</p>
<p>I tried a download of Chinese by Rosetta Stone (library free download) and did not like the method of teaching at all. I then borrowed a CD set by Pimsleur from my library and really liked that. I was just looking for enough words to understand a little Chinese for our trip and wasn’t going to invest big money for that. Have you tried your library to see what they have so you can try before you buy?</p>
<p>You can usually buy these on e-bay for a better price once you decide what you want.</p>
<p>I teach French and Spanish. I have seen, but have not used Rosetta Stone. $500 seems pricey, and since you are willing to spend that amount of money, I would suggest, instead, enrolling in a language course at a local school, if that option exists for you. There is nothing that beats a live environment for learning a language. If you can’t find a school near you that teaches Russian, I should think that studying online with other live people could even be better than a computer program. You can’t really talk to a computer, at least not in the same way. Plus, you may not really be motivated to do each lesson on a computer, the way you are in a class room.</p>
<p>Sax, what do you want to use the program for? Full disclosure- I used to work for RS. Unless things have changed, you cannot resell it legally. Have you checked at your local library to see if they have it available free? Many libraries do. If you have studied a language previously in an academic environment, I don’t know if you would enjoy the method. They do offer free “sample” CDs or trials - if you haven’t done that I would recommend doing so.</p>
<p>I tried Pimsleur Mandarin from local library and just didn’t like it. Ended up buying (didn’t have in the library) Rosetta Stone Mandarin 1 and gave up after a few weeks. The vocabulary is odd-i.e. the boy is under the airplane, etc. Ultimately, found an inexpensive Chinese language school with small classes and lots of opportunity to speak. Absolutely needed it to get started and external discipline. I’m still taking lessons but now use the Rosetta Stone for help with my abysmal accent. Would absolutely second franglish’s suggestions.</p>
<p>We bought Italian and couldn’t get it to work on either Apple or PC. The first set of disks had glue on them from the packaging and the second set of disks didn’t work at all. You can’t take them back to the kiosk where you bought them…you must send them back to the manufacturer. </p>
<p>They do offer a sample disk to try. I’d do that first to see if you like the teaching style.</p>
<p>DS used the on-line subscription service for a few months to learn Japanese. You might want to try the on-line lessons and see if you like the teaching style.</p>
<p>How disciplined are you? I have Rosetta Stone (Spanish) and seem to find every excuse in the book not to sit down at the computer and use it. I need a real human being to motivate (i.e., intimidate/threaten) me, so instead I take a half hour private lesson every week, and complete homework assignments given by the teacher. $500 covers five months of private lessons, which—for me, anyway—results in a far better grasp of the language than the instructional CD.</p>
<p>Echoing Katiep–tried Rosetta Stone (gift from a friend) and found it frustratingly random in terms of vocabulary and learning useful verbs and phrases. Had much better luck with Pimsleur language CDs, which I can use on my commute. I really like their method of building competence–verbs and phrases are used over and over again so that you can’t help but internalize them. After about 6 weeks I was able to use the target language almost exclusively (with many grammatical errors, I’m sure!) to communicate with my very tolerant hosts on a trip overseas.</p>
<p>3Trees,
How did you find time to study a language and make 4,294,967,295 posts?</p>
<p>In all honesty, there is no major language in existence that you couldn’t learn solely from using the internet. There are so many resources available on the internet, I don’t know why ANYONE who’s not filthy rich would pay $500 for something you could get for free.</p>
<p>College Confidential unfortunately does not allow me to post any direct links (stupid, I know), but search Youtube for the users “babelyak” and “usenetposts”, and check out the Mahalo website on “How to Speak Russian”. Lastly (not chronologically, but lastly in my list), check out Wikibook’s online Russian textbook.</p>
<p>These are all completely free and completely legal.</p>
<p>Here is a good website that looks at language learning and offers some pretty good reviews. He used to recommend rosettastone but not anymore (he posts his review and those of others). Also discusses other software language programs. Have a look at Fluenz…one I’m thinking of getting.</p>
<p>[The</a> Best Language Learning Resources, Tips and Advice Available on the Net](<a href=“http://www.language-learning-advisor.com/index.html]The”>The Best Language Learning Resources, Tips and Advice Available on the Net)</p>
<p>Have a look too at about.com for free resources online</p>
<p>I was not able to learn grammar with Rosetta Stone. </p>
<p>I then used a standard “Teach Yourself” book and CD (about $15) and did much better.</p>
<p>Wow. Thanks to each and every one of you for taking the time to post your experiences. I think you just saved me from making a big expensive mistake.</p>
<p>The program is actually a request by my son for xmas.(He doesn’t have a clue of the price). He is financially independent so I would have no problem spending this much money on something great. However that does not appear to be the case. You folks gave me many options I had not even thought of. I was just totally focusd on Rosetta thinking it was the best. Thank you all very much. I’ll head to the library and also check out the other program. </p>
<p>I love CC. Where else could I get all this great experience 
at the push of a button.Thanks.</p>
<p>I second Yawn’s recommendation to search the internet. There are countless free resources available. You can download audio clips and entire lessons onto your ipod, which is great for commutes. </p>
<p>It really only works as an adjunct to a class or private lessons though. One other thing that keeps the motivation up is to do a language exchange with a Russian speaker who wants to learn english. Depending on where you live, you can find/search someone in the activities section of your local craigslist. I’ve done this a few times and it’s a fun way to improve your language skills and make a new friend.</p>