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Jewish World Review
April 11, 2008
/ 6 Nissan 5768
Online Language Lessons Stimulating
By
Mark Kellner
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Several decades have passed since I last sat in a classroom trying to
learn a language that wasn't English. I can still remember Miss Rachel
Nahum (and, yes, she insisted on "Miss," despite being close to our
grandparents' ages) telling us what was right and wrong about our
pronunciation.
A desire to learn other languages has never left, and there are good
reasons for me to take up one or more such efforts now. An
Arlington-based firm, Rosetta Stone, Inc., whose headquarters recently
relocated from Harrisonburg, Virginia, is trying to meet that need
with both software-based language courses.
But it isn't just software, which I shall tackle shortly and review
here soon, by which you can learn. The firm is offering its services
online, for slightly more than $21.66 per month for individual
subscribers, or $259.95 per year, which works out to about 72-cents
per day. By contrast, the "Level 1" software sells for $209; if you
want all three levels of the course, available for a number of
languages, it'll set you back $499.
The online program covers the 31 languages in which Rosetta Stone
teaches, ranging from Arabic to Welsh and including both Spanish for
Spain and Spanish for Latin America. It would seem to support most Web
browsers, including Apple's Safari 3.1, with which I tested the
software, as well as both headset microphones and the built-in one
found on an Apple iMac. If this stuff works on a Mac, then PC
compatibility should be no problem.
The premise of Rosetta Stone is to provide language training in a
somewhat-conversational format, in what the firm claims is a method
similar to the way we learned our first language: the company calls
this "Dynamic Immersion," combining what it says is "advanced
interactive technology with native speakers and a rich visual
environment."
As I quickly learned online, Brazilian Portuguese, the language I
chose for online study, is not as close to the Spanish in which I
drilled long ago. Thus, hearing correct pronunciations was crucial:
the online program "hears" - and judges - my pronunciation. In the
first "core lesson" of the first lesson of the first unit in
Portuguese, I scored 109 correct, 9 incorrect, for a score of 92
percent correct.
There are several things that impress me here. First off is the sheer
technical quality of the online presentation. It would be very easy
for such a system to have massive hiccups; so far, I haven't found
any, even though I tried. When setting up the online version, you need
to download and install a small application; every time you fire up
the program, a microphone check is necessary. After these steps,
however, you're ready to go.
The second thing that's impressive, even to the non-pedagogical among
us, is that even after a few days of separation between segments, a
fair amount stays without. I began that first "core" lesson on April
1, and returned to it five days later. My pronunciation was still
good, and my memory of the vocabulary was there. I can't spout off in
the language yet, but after that five-day absence, my confidence was
bolstered by what I knew and was able to recall. I began with simple
words and, by the end of the core lesson, I was speaking, or more
properly, reading and repeating, sentences. Because the words and
phrases are associated with pictures of people doing the described
activity, learning and remembering was easier.
Now, I'd have to go through the entire course before telling you how
well this all works. I have the feeling that my reading and speaking
will be rather good, if I continue diligently. I'm off to a good
start, however, and I'm enjoying this. Details at
www.rosettastone.com.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Mark Kellner has reported on technology for industry newspapers and magazines since 1983, and has been the computer columnist for The Washington Times since 1991.Comment by clicking here.
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© 2008, News World Communications, Inc. Reprinted with permission of The Washington Times. Visit the paper at http://www.washingtontimes.com
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