Oh gosh, I've had Rosetta Stone for at least 6 months but I am an extreamly lazy student! I'm kind of bouncing around between several different lesson books and tend to put off using RS. I also tend to skip around between lessons so I can't really honsetly say that I've got past unit one! Hhah. I am easily distracted... I think my biggest problem with RS is that there is no glossary or any kind of transliterated reference to use, so if you have any doubts about the exact meaning of what you are learning to say, you can't look it up with the program and are basically on your own for finding that info out. I have ended up using 3 separate Hindi dictionaries and phrasebooks trying to look up and find the words and phrases being used in RS just to get a specific translation! And things like Raha hai/Rahe hai/Rahi hai aren't even in the dictionary so it took me about a week to find out (from lesson books) that this is the Hindi version of our "ing" and that the first part of the phrase is being cut back to the "stem" word! I've read that other RS language programs do have a glossary to help with that kind of stuff, so I don't know why they didn't include it with the Hindi program. I understand people who prefer the "immersion" method where you just learn without any kind of reference to translate things back into your own language but this doesn't really work well for me. I want to know what the heck I'm saying, exactly and why things are said in a certain order (no grammar points covered in RS)! Haha. I haven't checked out the online version at all. How long have you been studying Hindi, and are you using some books also? I think the RS program could take awhile to get through because once you get past a few of the beginning lessons, they start throwing alot of more complex stuff at you, and very long sentences. I haven't gotten far enough in RS to figure out if you can really learn anything from it beyond repeating exact stuff you have heard there; I can't see how you can pick up specific grammar points important for forming your own sentences without any english reference material. What do you think? I only know a few other people who are trying to use RS Hindi so I'm excited to hear your opinion of it as you go through! 8D
Re: Rosetta Stone questions
I think my biggest problem with RS is that there is no glossary or any kind of transliterated reference to use, so if you have any doubts about the exact meaning of what you are learning to say, you can't look it up with the program and are basically on your own for finding that info out. I have ended up using 3 separate Hindi dictionaries and phrasebooks trying to look up and find the words and phrases being used in RS just to get a specific translation! And things like Raha hai/Rahe hai/Rahi hai aren't even in the dictionary so it took me about a week to find out (from lesson books) that this is the Hindi version of our "ing" and that the first part of the phrase is being cut back to the "stem" word! I've read that other RS language programs do have a glossary to help with that kind of stuff, so I don't know why they didn't include it with the Hindi program. I understand people who prefer the "immersion" method where you just learn without any kind of reference to translate things back into your own language but this doesn't really work well for me. I want to know what the heck I'm saying, exactly and why things are said in a certain order (no grammar points covered in RS)! Haha.
I haven't checked out the online version at all. How long have you been studying Hindi, and are you using some books also? I think the RS program could take awhile to get through because once you get past a few of the beginning lessons, they start throwing alot of more complex stuff at you, and very long sentences. I haven't gotten far enough in RS to figure out if you can really learn anything from it beyond repeating exact stuff you have heard there; I can't see how you can pick up specific grammar points important for forming your own sentences without any english reference material. What do you think? I only know a few other people who are trying to use RS Hindi so I'm excited to hear your opinion of it as you go through! 8D