- Part of an essay in progress
Why doesn’t Rosetta Stone work?
Posted August 2, 2011 3:32 pmIt did not work for me at 60, but given it’s obvious flaws, can it work for anyone?
In my opinion, Rosetta Stone is fun but absurdly flawed. It is possible, in fact, to master the program without learning the language at all. For one thing, there are many ways to get the right answer that do not require absorbing the lesson. Even more importantly, the program offers no opportunity to retrieve a word without being prompted: the essential task in learning to speak. In fact, the program’s claim that it succeeds by teaching the way a child learns, is ridiculous on three counts:
1. a child is immersed in its language, 24/7
2. a child does not learn via multiple choice
3. the brain of an adult has lost the child’s capacity for language acquisition and cannot learn the same way, in any case.
Which brings up the question: Why is the program so popular? It it a case of the Emperor’s New Clothes? Are people who fail to learn blaming themselves?
I would love to know if you or anyone you know learned to speak and understand a language with Rosetta Stone. Were you (or they) able to hold a conversation with a native speaker of the new language; were you (or they) able to follow a movie in the new language without reading the subtitles?
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Elizabeth Marcus February 26, 2012 at 6:01 pm
Julio, I thought I made good progress in Japanese, too, when I was using RS. It turned out to be an illusion. Have you tried talking to French speakers? I’d love to know if you find you can communicate. Were the phrases you learned in RS the ones you needed? I gave up on RS when I got to the phrase, “The giraffe is standing on three legs.” I felt I didn’t have enough spare grey cells in my brain for that, when I still didn’t know how to say, “So nice to meet you!” Tell me your experience; I really would love to know.
Julio February 25, 2012 at 2:21 pm
I’m learning French using RS, and I’m currently at level 4 out of 5. While I suspect I won’t achieve the level of fluency you describe above by the end of the course, I do feel like I’m making good enough progress. I’m Brazilian, and it took me many years to acquire this level of fluency when learning English (e.g. watching English-speaking films and TV confidently without subtitles). Therefore I feel like such expectations may be a little too high for any language learning software. Regards.
Dimitrios January 6, 2012 at 5:34 pm
Dear Elizabeth, the most easy way for me to learn a language is by taking lessons in an institute or with a private professor. In this way you can practise all aspects of a language. This is how I learned to speak English and German. I cannot provide you with information about English as I started learning English at the age of 8 and I can’t remember many things! I started German at the age of 21-22 and I realised that I was doing extremely well and better than my classmates, because I was much better than them in understanding and applying grammar rules. Generally speaking, I’m very keen on learning languages and I love them, but grammar is my passion. After a year of German courses in an institute, I found out that all I had to do was to enrich my vocabulary and practice my speaking.
Now, after some years I’m trying to learn Dutch and Polish for integration and personal reasons, respectively. However, I decided to self-study these languages, since I’m getting more mature and experienced by years, which allows me to study effectively on my own. That is the reason why I chose RS and books. I believe that a book with some audio files is much, much better than any software. Why I don’t like RS?
1) No grammar rules. How am I supposed to create my own sentences and communicate with someone if I don’t know any grammar? In some languages, which have different genitives, accusatives, datives, etc. RS is really confusing. Example: one slide shows siostra (sister in polish), the second siostr? and the third siostry (hmmm?).
2) After a while I got used to the software and I could guess most of the answers without really understanding anything.
The only good thing with RS is that you listen to a correct pronunciation and you can memorise words easier than just reading them in a dictionary or book.
I don’t think we can compare an adult with a child in terms of how they learn a language, especially if it isn’t a native but a second or third one. In my opinion, learning Japanese or Chinese is a very difficult attempt, as they are completely different from European languages. I want to learn some basic Chinese, but I find it impossible! I do very well and learn fast Dutch with a German/English background; I’m much slower in Polish as they look unfamiliar to me, and attempting an asian language doesn’t sound like fun at all…
In the end, I decided to continue dutch in an institute, because I need to learn them fast, and continue Polish by a self-studying book.
Henning October 4, 2011 at 2:13 pm
I am currently learning Spanish with Rosetta Stone. It was fun in the beginning, but after some time, I also noticed that I am not able to SPEAK the language. As one can imagine, I lost interest and will look for a proper Spanish class in NYC.
eliz October 5, 2011 at 3:58 pm
But do you blame yourself or the program? Do you have an idea about why it doesn’t work? I have a few, but I’d love to know what you think.
Darien October 3, 2011 at 5:31 pm
I’ve been doing a lot of reading recently on brain development in children, and apparently the ability to learn any language starts to disappear at 10 months, so the idea that we can replicate a child’s learning patterns is inherently wrong. Still it’s a compelling marketing idea for language acquisition software.
An interesting book on this subject is “The Scientist in the Crib” by Gopnik, Meltzoff, and Kuhl.
eliz October 5, 2011 at 4:08 pm
Thanks so much for the book suggestion! I will definitely look for it. But as for Rosetta Stone’s advertising premise, it may be compelling — but it’s completely false! Not only are they selling a bogus product, but when it doesn’t work, people probably blame themselves. Why else hasn’t the word gotten out?
Darien October 20, 2011 at 8:01 pm
I suspect that the word hasn’t gotten out because people generally assume that when they fail to learn a language, especially through a system that is touted as heavily as Rosetta Stone they assume it is their fault.
Since they are already trying to find a better option for learning a language, it’s likely that they’ve failed at learning a language through another system as well, and they’ve just come to assume that they are “not good at learning languages.”
That may be the most unfortunate part of the failure of Rosetta Stone to deliver.
eliz October 24, 2011 at 5:31 pm
I’m sure you are right: that people assume they are not good at languages. But isn’t it amazing that this happens to such an extent? Rosetta Stone has been falsely advertising their product for at least a decade, and they continue to get away with it. Must be some kind of a record.