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Pimsleur vs. Rosetta Stone methods


davidbankson

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My primary methods for learning Japanese at this time are Pimsleur and Rosetta Stone. Rosetta Stone has been useful for vocabulary and hiragana, but Pimsleur surprised me with how quickly I was picking up phrases and sentences from anime and the like. I thought it would be like the Michel Tomas method, which I wasn't very impressed with. Has anybody else compared the two or used one that could give their opinion as well? I have been learning Japanese for about a month now, so it's possible Rosetta Stone improves in later units.

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  • 1 month later...
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I realize this is an old post, but I'll answer anyway (and also hope to hear how those two methods have been working out for you over the past month or so). I'm also at the beginning stages of learning Japanese and have been really impressed with the Pimsleur method. I just like that it gets me talking and notice that the words/expressions that I know/remember best are the ones I have learned through my Pimsleur sessions; I think it's a great method for picking up a language. I've never used Rosetta Stone for Japanese, but I have my doubts about how effective that would be. People always note how it was developed for Spanish learners and doesn't translate well to non-Romantic languages. I'd be interested in hearing if you've had success with it, though.

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I've never really found Rosetta stone that helpful, but that may be because I stopped after the first section.

Personally, I like the Pimsleur method much better.

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The problem with the Rosetta Stone method is that it does little to account for the differences between, say, English and Chinese or Japanese. I've heard it works well for those who know English but want to learn Spanish or vice versa, but Pimsleur definitely has better resources for all types of languages. Also really like their video series, entertaining and fun to watch.

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  • 2 months later...

I love the Pimsleur method, I'm currently using the dutch audio course and so far so good!  I'd like it even more if it came with a booklet with a transcription of all the conversations we practiced with in each level.  Other than that I have no complaints.

As for Rosetta... no complaints there either, if you have the time to invest in learning using one of the Rosetta Stone's courses, then great for you!  I like the fact Rosetta's courses are so interactive and make learning a language way easier and entertaining, but they're quite expensive compared to the Pimsleur ones.

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  • 1 month later...

I have tried both and have mixed emotions about them. I love the huge variety of Pimsleur's languages and courses and have found that they work very very well. However, I don't like how basic their conversations are, and how each 30 minute lesson seems to only cover how to say a fixed sentence or two. Languages are very scattered and don't flow with the fixed phrases they seem to teach you. However at a discount, I would agree these courses are a must pick up/try. I do not like Rosetta Stone at all. I tried the free trial and hated it personally.

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I started out using Rosetta Stone, but I picked up some Pimsleur lessons on a whim when Audible was having a BOGO sale on them.  I think Pimsleur has been good for pronunciation and learning syntax, but they actively discourage trying to read or write.  (They do seem to assume that you would be reading and writing in the Roman alphabet.)  Rosetta stone isn't much better for reading and writing, but it at least exposes you to the alphabet.

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  • 3 weeks later...

My primary methods for learning Japanese at this time are Pimsleur and Rosetta Stone. Rosetta Stone has been useful for vocabulary and hiragana, but Pimsleur surprised me with how quickly I was picking up phrases and sentences from anime and the like. I thought it would be like the Michel Tomas method, which I wasn't very impressed with. Has anybody else compared the two or used one that could give their opinion as well? I have been learning Japanese for about a month now, so it's possible Rosetta Stone improves in later units.

Just curious as to why you are not still using Michel Tomas, does he not offer Japanese? I've listened to a few of his tapes for German, Italian, and French, but I have a hard time listening to the speaker (I believe it's not Michel Tomas, but someone else).

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I've tried Pimsleur and didn't like it. I need to "see" the words in my mind as I hear them, and I can't do that if they refuse to teach you how to spell things. Rosetta Stone has better written lessons, but I still feel like it's only tricking me into "thinking" I know the language, instead of teaching me a language. I mean, if you give me a conversation based on everything I learned so far, I am a master of the language. If you let me wonder into a website or TV show, I realized I know nothing at all.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I tried Pimsleur CDs once, but was not very successful at all.  I am not sure exactly why, but probably just because I am fairly slow at learning language and it was going much to fast for me to pick up very much. I considered Rosetta Stone once but have not bought it yet.  Not sure if I'm going to anytime soon.

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  • 3 weeks later...

we have a copy of Rosetta Stone for korean learning at work. while i haven't explored it much yet, i believe it's nice for super beginners. it forces the student to learn vocabulary through repetitive exercises. i think one needs to have a lot of patience when using this one, as it really forces the student to continuously repeat the exercises.

as for pimsleur, i tried it for spanish learning. i actually had fun. as it forces the student to repeat basic conversations. it provides instant gratification. user is asked to constantly repeat after the sample audio, until user somehow memorizes the script - ergo, the semblance of being able to get by with basic conversations.

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How would you say rosetta stone compares to being in a group setting with an instructor? I feel like real interaction might be better than a computer program, but if a group is not an option, is this really an effective way to learn?

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