3 stars (Quasi-Immersion Works Fairly Well) - The Rosetta Stone method teaches you language the way you learned it as a child - by associating words to visuals. There are no translations in the program, so you really have to do the mental work to understand what is being presented to you. In that way it's a great program.
For me, one of the drawbacks is that the same visuals and phrases are repeated over and over within a lesson. This has the effect of reducing lessons to a Concentration game, where you are remembering which words go with which picture, rather than actually absorbing why you are saying what you are saying, or how what you are saying works as a structured language. I find I have to force myself to be more deliberate when completing the exercises.
Another drawback is that after completing fifteen lessons there still has not been any exercise where I have been asked to construct a phrase on my own. As such, the program is good for building reading, listening comprehension, and pronunciation skills, but not for speaking.
The most fascinating aspect of the course is how different Turkish is from Romance and Germanic languages. Really the only things they have in common are the Roman alphabet and some cognates. Turkish manages to feel ancient while still living. Consider this: the word for man is "adam".
Overall I would say this product is by far the most disciplined teaching tool I have seen for Turkish. It is equal to a semester of language instruction in terms of the number of lessons and the time required to complete them all. And for this reason alone I would say that the price is right.
5 stars (Turkish Rosetta Stone) - After my first lesson I was able to understand and speak more than over a years worth of personal training. I first learned of the product from an airline publication and was "bargain" hunting for the same product. Amazon saved me almost 50% off what the airline publication was charging!!! The lesons are complete and very easy to follow. Hats off to Amazon!! |
