Rosetta Stone?

[Mike Pinkerton]

I've started using the Rosetta Stone Japanese software, but I'm having a hard time getting into it. I understand it's supposed to be immersion, but they show pictures that could be any number of things and you're left to guess what they're talking about. They also give different forms or slightly different phrasing for things without any indication of why, so you either forget it, or memorize just the difference for that one lesson since it's meaningless as to why.

Am I missing something? Should I continue to give it a shot? Anyone have any experiences with it? Thanks!
-Mike

[Raevin]

I'm going to be using Rosetta stone later in the year. From what i've heard and seen of it it seems pretty cool. idk

[RandomClown]

I never used Rosetta Stone.
I do have a Vietnamese one though.
My sister was suppose to learn.

[Raevin]

Cool. Was it to hard?

[Strawberry]

i had this same problem. in my opinion, Rosetta Stone (at least the Japanese version) is only good for nouns and MAYBE a little bit of adjectives.

[Raevin]

I just ordered 1 and 2 a few minutes ago. If I don't like it they have a 60 day return.

[Tachibana]

I have Rosetta stone Japanese and find it sorta useful.
But all it really is, is a bunch of pictures with japanese words on them.
It'll say something like Otokonoko (boy) and then give you selection of pictures to point out which one is the correct answer.

[Mike Pinkerton]

I finally gave up on it and have been listening more to JapanesePod101 material.

I did get a lot out of the repetition for some vocabulary (nouns, numbers) but the constant "are they running? oh no, they're dancing....or jumping?....I think" got old quickly. Hearing the multiple voices was helpful as was the writing practice in hiragana, but ultimately it's overpriced and you can do better.

I did spend a lot of time on each lesson, making sure i understood everything, so it's not like i just flipped through and gave up. I still don't believe that you're getting what you pay for. If you are still interested, first check with your local library. I got the online version FREE from my library. Even at that price, I wasn't satisfied. :-)

-Mike

[Raevin]

Thanks for the advice guys (^_^)

[Beth P]

I'm actually using Rosetta stone to learn Arabic and I am having the exact same problem. I hate when they use the same picture a few different times too and use different phrases. There should be a guide somewhere that says the exact phrase so that you can reference it when in need. I'm not sure if they have it for Japanese, but I found Pimsleurs CDs very helpful and you can get it from amazon or target for $14. I listen to it in my car.