Couldn't really find a better place to post this but the Rosetta Stone language learning course, does this program really work? I've seen the commercials and such for it, but I haven't heard any actual first-hand accounts if this program is actually viable. Or is it just another lame do-it-yourself language learning course?
More or less, it's just another lame do-it-yourself course. It completely depends on your dedication to the course. However, among the lame do-it-yourself courses, this one is probably better than 90% of what's available.
About the same opinion--Rosetta and Pimsleur seem to be the two with the potential to work, but you've gotta be willing to be really bored for a couple hours per day for a few months if you want anything out of it.
FSI has worked well for me. And because it was developed by the US government with your tax dollars, it is free. All the usual languages you'd expect are there, but also some of the less popular ones with language enthusiasts.
I think Rosetta Stone is pretty high priced and one is better off hitting up the bargain section of a Barnes & Noble and getting a cheap knock off for $5 with probably equal results. The key to learning a new language is dedication to reading, writing, and speaking it and you can only really do that if you surround yourself with the language.
That's the biggest key right there, IMO. I took two years of Spanish and it went in one ear and out the other. I spent a year in Korea, and although I couldn't read and write the language, I spoke it better than Spanish since I was surrounded by the langauge and had to actually use it.
I haven't used it but when I came home for break my sister pretty much refused to speak anything other Japanese because of it. She claims it works and no one in my family speaks Japanese so we don't really know what she's saying but she says whenever she watches japanese TV shows online she can pick up bits and pieces of what they're saying and doesn't have to read the subtitles as often. That much said she uses it almost everyday so I guess it works if you stick with it