3 stars (Don't underestimate the dialect difference between the north and south!) - As a previous reviewer pointed out, there is a dialect issue here that can be very problematic since the lessons are taught with the northern dialect and most of the Vietnamese people in the US are from the southern part of that country.
After completing a couple of lessons, I felt ready to test my new language skills out on my native Vietnamese friend.... to my surprise I discovered that he had NO idea what I was trying to say! He asked me to try the sentence again speaking more slowly, which I did, but still he was only able to pick up 1 word. So I put in the CD and played the sentence I was trying to communicate to my friend and he could not understand the instructor on the CD either! The difference in the dialect appears to be even greater than someone from the US trying to understand someone speaking English with a deep Scottish or Irish brogue.
The teaching style of using just pictures and spoken word to teach the language is pretty good, but there are shortcomings with this. At times it is very difficult to understand the meaning of the sentence being taught just by looking at a picture (this is particularly annoying in lesson 6!). As was also pointed out in an earlier review... you will need a translation dictionary.
Overall, I like the program and in spite of the dialect issue, I plan to continue using it to become conversational in the language.
5 stars (Rosetta Stone is the BEST!) - I tried other language software, tried to save a few bucks. It was not worth it. Rosetta stone works, it is sort of fun and before you know it you are learning the language in a way that stays with you.
4 stars (Which dialect of Vietnamese is taught?) - My disclaimer: This is not a review of the software's useability. I am extremely satisfied with the software's ability to teach me the content as intended by the publisher.
However, if you are in the U.S. you may realize that a great majority of the Vietnamese population here is South Vietnamese. This is because during and after the Vietnam War, the majority of refugees was from the non-communist side (south). Therefore, if you encounter Vienamese speaking people in the U.S. there is a good chance that they will speak with a south Vietnamese dialect. Once you are done with the course, you will be able to speak moderate Vietnamese with a NORTHERN accent and dialect. The northern accent is quite different from southern (vastly more different than English with a southern vs. New York accent). Additionally, the vocabulary is 5-10% different. So you'll be able to get by, but if you go to Little Saigon in whatever city, don't be surprised if language is not exactly as expected. The U.S. population if Vietnamese ir primarily southern.
Now, if you are going to Vietnam, and want to learn the language for travel purposes, this program is probably quite adequate. Just like anywhere else in the world you will find different accents and dialects in the region.
Anyway - have fun learning Vietnamese - the software works. All the pro's and con's have been reviewed elsewhere - so I'm not going to be repetitive. |
