3 stars (Good for understanding, but not speaking.) - I'll start by saying that I am a die-hard fan of the Pimsleur Language system, so take this review with a grain of salt, if you'd like. I will also say that I have always struggled with foreign languages until I discovered Pimsleur. Now, I am almost fluent in Brazilian Portuguese, and can communicate in several others (Russian, German and French)Why did I bother with Rosetta Stone if Pimsleur is so great? Well, by itself, no program out there is complete, Pimsleur being no exception. I found that though my spoken skills were developed by Pimsleur as no other program could, my vocabulary was limited, and my listening skills still needed work. I found that Rosetta Stone is good at forcing you to listen and write well. In addition, it greatly enhances the limited vocabulary provided by Pimsleur.I can't imagine for a minute though that one could develop good spoken language skills with Rosetta Stone by itself. I simply won't believe it, because it doesn't afford you the opportunity to speak in a conversational type setting. This is necessary practise for becoming fluent.Summary? Use Pimsleur, supplement with Rosetta Stone. Happy learning!
5 stars (The BEST) - I've taken many language courses, mostly in Spanish and French. I used to quit once it got hard simply because I was bogged down with grammar. The Rosetta Stone for Portuguese Level I(I also bought Level 2), in this case, Brazilian Portuguese, is completely different than any language course I've tried in that YOU choose how and when you learn. The pictures are colorful.You have two men and a woman voice for variety. You get to choose between listening, reading, writing, speaking. The only thing that didn't work for me was the recording of my voice for comparison because the microphone I had wasn't compatable, but in the record mode, you can still play back the speakers either in slow or normal conversational speed and 'see' how the words 'sound'. Fairly good with languages anyway, my accent is gradually going 'native'so I don't need to record myself. Through trial and error I've discovered the 'listening' mode works best. That way when the next picture comes up I can think its description in Portugese rather than be dependent on reading the Portuguese decription.I adore the fast tutorial. You can test yourself. You're given a book that you can read your lessons if you don't feel like putting in the CD. The CD works without a glitch. The best thing about this course is that you CAN'T get bored even with the repetition because you decide how you want to do things. The clever thing about the colorful box is that the front opens up like a book which describes the course features. The Rosetta Stone IS the BEST for language instruction if classes and cassette tapes don't work. |
