Rosetta Stone

[Ruby J Jones]

I have only worked with one student who turned to me for private tutoring 
because she had purchased Rosetta Stone to learn Russian and was totally 
frustrated.  As Richard Robin noted, the lack of contexualization was a 
major hindrance. The orthography was not related to the individual sounds, 
but simply presented as words, which left the student with no idea of which 
sounds were associated with any individual letter.  I am relying on a 
two-year old memory; but, I think the first lesson was about a woman riding 
a horse in a city park.  I never saw the applicability of that vocabulary 
for everyday conversation.  Although the student had been assiduously 
working with the program for months (in preparation for a year's study 
abroad in Moscow), we had to start from the basics.

I never bought the program, but only examined my student's copy.  I was not 
impressed.

Ruby J Jones, Ph.D.
Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies
University of Texas at Austin
rubyj at mail.utexas.edu
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "eric r laursen" <eric.laursen at M.CC.UTAH.EDU>
To: <SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, July 10, 2008 11:26 AM
Subject: [SEELANGS] Rosetta Stone


A colleague has asked me about the Russian version of Rosetta Stone.  Any 
opinions out there?  Thanks, Eric Laursen

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