I believe that Rosetta Stone is the most well-known and popular language learning program available; however, I know that I am not the only one that finds them expensive for my budget. My wonderful parents loaned us their Latin American Spanish set this past yer. Navy SEAL has been using it for about a year. As I read reviews on language learning programs I found there are quite a few negative comments out there. I don't relly know how I came across the website, but I found this site which reviews language learning software for many languages. They have a great side-by-side comparison of several software programs specifically in the same language. (For example, in certain languages Rosetta Stone is the top software evaluated. In a different language Tell Me More is rated highest.) I used their information to choose SEAL's Russian software.
SEAL is using Transparent Russian Complete Edition, and he has mentioned to me several times that he likes it a lot. They have a great variety of activities to aid in learning Russian.
NFL (and several others in our family) plans to study German. Tell me More is rated the highest for the Germn language; however, it costs $209 in comparison to the second rated program Instant Immersion German which sells for $44.99. Based on the review if I have $209 to spare, I will purchase Tell me More. If our money is tight, I will be comfortable with purchasing Instant Immersion German. I will lean toward putting more money into a German program than another language, because my husband is from Germany. My children learning to speak German is of great value as they have several relatives who only speak English....their own Grandfather being top on that list! :0) This coming Spring, we are planning to take SEAL and NFL to Germany to visit where my husband grew up and to visit Europe. (As my son has been researching the Naval Academy, he learned of a class called "European Culture Immersion". We plan to use that as a course title for this special trip that they will be taking also.)
If you are looking for a foreign language program, I whole-heartedly recommend trusting the Top Ten Review web site.
I recently purchased Berlitz Spanish for my son. I am using it along with him as a refresher. I only paid 30 dollars. We just can't afford rosetta. This program is much better than the Instant Immersion French that my daughter used. More grmmar, and a conversational course too. It comes to a point where you record yourself speaking the language so you get that conversation in. It's worth a try. There is a money back guarentee and a rebate. So far, it is working us, and it is better thn imstant immersion.
ReplyDeleteSounds great, Jen!
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