Rosetta Stone

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Originally Posted by NobodyBeatsCy

How do you say, "I love your oranges?!?" :biglaugh:

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我爱您的桔子。


(have to love Microsoft Word :wink:)

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Originally Posted by Phaedrus

I'm a long time Rosetta Stone user, and I approve of the software. One thing, though, when you're starting out, it will seem like complete and utter nonsense. Just be patient, and work the modules.

Great way to learn a language, though you won't learn the underlying aspects of construction, if you'd like to be able to speak a more educated style of the language involved. Basically, you'll speak and understand like a child, in the target language, which is a good start.

BTW, Mandarin is one of the easiest languages to learn. Very few special cases to memorize; you just learn the words, and string them together. Currently, I'm doing Farsi.

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Thanks, you guys convinced me... I'm going to order it...

I want to learn Russian and have bought another program that helped with saying the words in Russian. I would click on the word and someone would say it in Russian. What this program doesn't do is take the words I have learned and say it in a Russian sentence so I don't know if I am saying it right or wrong. Does Rosetta Stone do that?

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Originally Posted by isucyfan

Just a tip: Many public libraries offer Rosetta Stone through their website, accessible with your library card number.

They aren't likely to have Mandarin or Farsi, but most will have Spanish/French/Italian.

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Does anyone know if the Ames Library does this.

BTW...very cool thread, thanks!

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Originally Posted by Cystate22

I want to learn Russian and have bought another program that helped with saying the words in Russian. I would click on the word and someone would say it in Russian. What this program doesn't do is take the words I have learned and say it in a Russian sentence so I don't know if I am saying it right or wrong. Does Rosetta Stone do that?

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Russian is my primary language, after English.

First of all, Rosetta Stone DOES put words in context. What follows is a rant: Russian is incredibly complex. No way can you learn it by memorizing words. You could know every single word in the Russian language, and you would never be understood by a Russian speaker. Russian is all about intonation, conjugation and declension. Of which there is a dizzyingly amount of combinations and special cases that defy all language rules.

Having said that, Russian is so complex that Russian-speakers don't even speak it well. They just start a sentence with the correct intonation and mumble the endings, or even the entire sentence, depending on the listener to "jist" the meaning.

Which is pretty funny, if you ask me.

Having said that, the best place to learn Russian is at Middlebury, CT or at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey. Second best would be Indiana U. After that, good luck. But for basic, get your face slapped and order a pivo, Rosetta Stone will get you there.

And remember, pofteryenya, mat ucheniye.

How about Japanese, Phaedrus? What kind of challenge is that?

That guy that wears the hat with all of the little Cys on it taught us how to count to 10,000 in Chinese in less than five minutes

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Originally Posted by Cyclonick182

How about Japanese, Phaedrus? What kind of challenge is that?

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No idea. Have never been tempted to learn Japanese. Now, if it was a crappy place where people shoot at you, I'd be all over it....

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Originally Posted by cytyler

That guy that wears the hat with all of the little Cys on it taught us how to count to 10,000 in Chinese in less than five minutes

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ah, nice to see that other people have gotten caught in his web of crazy knowledge you didn't ask him to teach you:biggrin:

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Originally Posted by Phaedrus

Russian is my primary language, after English.

First of all, Rosetta Stone DOES put words in context. What follows is a rant: Russian is incredibly complex. No way can you learn it by memorizing words. You could know every single word in the Russian language, and you would never be understood by a Russian speaker. Russian is all about intonation, conjugation and declension. Of which there is a dizzyingly amount of combinations and special cases that defy all language rules.

Having said that, Russian is so complex that Russian-speakers don't even speak it well. They just start a sentence with the correct intonation and mumble the endings, or even the entire sentence, depending on the listener to "jist" the meaning.

Which is pretty funny, if you ask me.

Having said that, the best place to learn Russian is at Middlebury, CT or at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey. Second best would be Indiana U. After that, good luck. But for basic, get your face slapped and order a pivo, Rosetta Stone will get you there.

And remember, pofteryenya, mat ucheniye.

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Amen. Russian is absolutely very complex. It would be the toughest of my 4 non-English languages.

So, Phaedrus, can you describe all 22 of the intonation contours? I cannot, but I remember it being described by one text as a key to understanding Russian sentences in context.

Just curious. :biggrin:

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Originally Posted by CycloneErik

Amen. Russian is absolutely very complex. It would be the toughest of my 4 non-English languages.

So, Phaedrus, can you describe all 22 of the intonation contours? I cannot, but I remember it being described by one text as a key to understanding Russian sentences in context.

Just curious. :biggrin:

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If memory serves, Tatyana Anatolovna only believed the first 9 were important enough to memorize. Think about it, though. 22 intonation contours, 6 declension modes, 3 cases, umpteen thousand special cases, 1 language.

Do we have any math types who can calculate the possible derivatives of a 3-D matrix using 22/6/3 possible combinations?

No wonder the Russians mumble so much and drink heavily....:confused:

BTW, I'm using Russian a lot, here. Both the ANA and ANP Battalion Commanders are fluent, and when our translators aren't handy, we default to Russian.

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Originally Posted by Phaedrus

If memory serves, Tatyana Anatolovna only believed the first 9 were important enough to memorize. Think about it, though. 22 intonation contours, 6 declension modes, 3 cases, umpteen thousand special cases, 1 language.

Do we have any math types who can calculate the possible derivatives of a 3-D matrix using 22/6/3 possible combinations?

No wonder the Russians mumble so much and drink heavily....:confused:

BTW, I'm using Russian a lot, here. Both the ANA and ANP Battalion Commanders are fluent, and when our translators aren't handy, we default to Russian.

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Math gurus might need to check out my work, but I would think it would be 22!*6!*3! (which would be (22*21*20*...*3*2)*6!*3!), which would be 4,855,683,143,999,265,177,600,000 possible combinations. And somehow THIS is the language that I choose to take up first... :wacko:

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Originally Posted by jdoggivjc

Math gurus might need to check out my work, but I would think it would be 22!*6!*3! (which would be (22*21*20*...*3*2)*6!*3!), which would be 4,855,683,143,999,265,177,600,000 possible combinations. And somehow THIS is the language that I choose to take up first... :wacko:

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Mumble + Drink Heavily = You'll Be Fine

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Originally Posted by Phaedrus

If memory serves, Tatyana Anatolovna only believed the first 9 were important enough to memorize. Think about it, though. 22 intonation contours, 6 declension modes, 3 cases, umpteen thousand special cases, 1 language.

Do we have any math types who can calculate the possible derivatives of a 3-D matrix using 22/6/3 possible combinations?

No wonder the Russians mumble so much and drink heavily....:confused:

BTW, I'm using Russian a lot, here. Both the ANA and ANP Battalion Commanders are fluent, and when our translators aren't handy, we default to Russian.

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That's how she taught me, too. I think the workbook made a bigger deal of it than she did.

The philospohical approach to verbs that they use is enough to boggle the mind. Am I talking about walking, or the process of walking, or walking with the intention of a destination? Hmmmm.

I am totally forgetting declension modes. Can you refresh my memory?

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Originally Posted by jdoggivjc

Math gurus might need to check out my work, but I would think it would be 22!*6!*3! (which would be (22*21*20*...*3*2)*6!*3!), which would be 4,855,683,143,999,265,177,600,000 possible combinations. And somehow THIS is the language that I choose to take up first... :wacko:

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Dude, pick up German. You'll have a background in the case system before hitting Russian, and you'll be a lot more confident when you start Russian.

Sure, Russian adds a case, but you'll know the basics of how the system works.

On another plus, you'll have a background that will translate well into Greek when you pick that up.