Amazon has a very nice deal that you may find too good to resist – $100 off Rosetta Stone language-learning software
Rosetta Stone is probably the premiere software program if you want to learn a second (or third) language. Everything I’ve ever heard about it has been very good. I have looked at buying this a couple times but, alas, it’s out of my price range. However, if a few of you buy your own copy, I might be able to get one of my own!
As a bonus, the Spanish version includes adjectives, so you can buy it for that special SCOTUS nominee in your life, too!
UPDATE: Linked by Obi’s Sister. Thanks!
Tags: The Sundries Shack
You know I love to support you…but, ouch! Still a lot of money…
They’re definitely not cheap, but from what I’ve read of how well the program works, each package is well worth the cost. That assumes, of course, we have the disposable income and the desire to learn a new language. I kind of have the latter but not much of the former.
You might try this program. It has a free download program, and another program you can buy very reasonably. The free program is adequate for lower level language, but if you want to get more advanced, you probably need the cds they sell. Even so, the price isn’t nearly as high as Rosetta.
http://www.byki.com/
I usually don’t bother learning languages because I do trips where I’d have to learn a dozen of them at least. Last time I was in India, I traveled with a guy who spoke seven languages and he could only talk to half the people. But my next trip will be to the Middle East, and Arabic is spoken pretty much everywhere. I actually intend to learn Arabic before the trip. So is their Arabic package good? If it is, I’ll buy it. But I have to say, the best way to learn a language is to be in a culture that speaks it. You can pick up languages by accident if you do that. I know bits and pieces of twenty languages from pure immersion. But here’s my favorite language story. I have a friend in Bangkok who works as an interpreter. He’s fluent in two dozen languages. So he got this call from the Mongolian government asking him to interpret a conference they were hosting. His response was: “I don’t speak Mongolian.” And they said “No problem, it’s easy to learn if you know Mandarin. And we’ll take you on a four day tour of Mongolia so you can learn the language.” He actually became completely fluent in Mongolian in those four days and pulled off the conference without a hitch. But as he says: “after your first five languages, the rest of them come easy.”
My husband studied Arabic for a year at the DLI, and then spent a year in Saudi, during which he had continuous dealings with non-english speaking workers. He also enjoyed going to the bazaars to haggle, so I’d say his skills are pretty good – though rusty. He says the basic program is good, but bought the advanced program. I’m not sure why – we have a whole box of cassettes from the DLI that he got when we invaded Iraq. Well, actually, I guess I do know…he can work on it little bit at a time as he _has_ time, on his computer at work. The cassettes are obsolete these days – I’m not even sure we can play them except in the car.
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