How I Am Learning Chinese
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Learning Chinese is HARD!
Learning a new language can be difficult. I personally love learning languages. When I was a kid, I took German in middle school and continued partly into high school, and then I studied Russian. In college I studied Latin American Spanish (which I would later find out was not like the Spanish that they speak in Spain). When I lived in Italy, I took Italian classes. I have also dabbled in Arabic, French, and some other languages. In 2010, I started to learn Chinese. I am not extremely fluent in anything, but I do know enough to get by when I visit other countries. On a trip that I took to Germany when I was in the Navy, I spoke only German to the natives (although most of them realized that I was an American and spoke English back to me as a way to practice their English). The biggest difficulty that I had was when I was in Spain, and they couldn't understand me (I then learned that the fundamental difference between the Spanish in Spain and in Latin America was in the accent).
I must say, learning Chinese is HARD! In my opinion, it is the hardest language that I have ever tried to learn. I am halfway through Rosetta Stone Chinese 1, and although I have learned how to count in Chinese, and I know the names of many colors, objects, and verbs, I can't read a lick of it. I'm not even trying (yet). I'm not a stranger to learning to read foreign alphabets. I can read Cyrillic. I can recognize some of the Arabic letters. Chinese is another whole ball of wax. For now, I'm just going with the latinized version of Chinese writing, and I'm focusing on learning to speak it.
My goal for 2011 is to go through Rosetta Stone Chinese levels 1 and 2. I am almost done with unit 4 of Rosetta Stone Chinese 1
. I am using older versions of the language software. They have a newer version out right now, which looks more interactive and fun to use. I would like to go through Rosetta Stone Chinese 3 in 2012. If they have level 4 out by then, I'd like to continue on with that.
Photo courtesy of wwskies.
I must say, learning Chinese is HARD! In my opinion, it is the hardest language that I have ever tried to learn. I am halfway through Rosetta Stone Chinese 1, and although I have learned how to count in Chinese, and I know the names of many colors, objects, and verbs, I can't read a lick of it. I'm not even trying (yet). I'm not a stranger to learning to read foreign alphabets. I can read Cyrillic. I can recognize some of the Arabic letters. Chinese is another whole ball of wax. For now, I'm just going with the latinized version of Chinese writing, and I'm focusing on learning to speak it.
My goal for 2011 is to go through Rosetta Stone Chinese levels 1 and 2. I am almost done with unit 4 of Rosetta Stone Chinese 1
. I am using older versions of the language software. They have a newer version out right now, which looks more interactive and fun to use. I would like to go through Rosetta Stone Chinese 3 in 2012. If they have level 4 out by then, I'd like to continue on with that.Photo courtesy of wwskies.
Why Learn Chinese?
I had been learning Arabic, but in 2010 I realized that Chinese was probably going to be more useful to me in the future. I looked at the political climate, and I realized that the Chinese have money, and we (in the West) don't. Were the Chinese going to keep lending to the United States indefinitely? I don't think so. I realized that learning Chinese could be very useful in the future, even if I don't ever end up competing on the Amazing Race and swing through China.So my goal right now is to learn to speak Chinese. I know that Rosetta Stone works very well in helping you to speak and understand a language, because I've used it before. Once I learn to speak it, then I will try to learn to read it, which will be another challenge. I figure that if I can speak and understand it first, learning to read it won't be as difficult. I'm not sure if I will use Rosetta Stone or will use another method to learn to read it.
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Chinese Lesson
These videos are interesting. They might be helpful when I actually start to try to read the language.
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My Favorite Program for Learning Chinese
Rosetta Stone Chinese (Mandarin) Level 1
Amazon Price: $143.20 (as of 06/01/2012)
I've taken language classes before in college, but I've found for comprehension, this software works better than being in class. Not everybody likes it that much though.
Rosetta Stone Might Not Be Right for Everyone
I've talked to a lot of people over the years about their thoughts on Rosetta Stone. Some have used it in their homeschools, some have purchased copies of the program for their own use, others used the program while it was available at many public libraries. Many people agree with me that it is a great program to learn a new language with.
Not everyone likes it though. The biggest complaint is that it is expensive. Then again, how much are you going to spend on college classes to learn a language? A lot more than the cost of the entire Rosetta Stone set of Levels 1 to 5. Purchasing level 3 for 2012 is going to be quite an investment for me, but I think that it will be worth it.
Only one person that I've talked to about Rosetta Stone has said that it was hard to use. Now, my daughter used Rosetta Stone at age 6... my husband wants my 4 year old to try it out. The program is not hard to use at all. It may, however, be difficult for some people to learn with.
This person's biggest complaint was that there was no English translation available on the screen. That's the whole point. Because you are not seeing any English, you start thinking in the other language. You don't stop to translate. I think that having English present was one of the biggest problems that I had with learning foreign languages (well) in a classroom environment. I'm not good at thinking on my feet either, so even in classes where they do nothing except speak in another language, I can feel a little lost. With Rosetta Stone, I can hear them speak, I can think about it for a second, then I can realize what they're saying.
When you use Rosetta Stone, you associate visual pictures with the language. The new Rosetta Stone even adds games and additional features. I find this helpful. Others do not.
Not everyone likes it though. The biggest complaint is that it is expensive. Then again, how much are you going to spend on college classes to learn a language? A lot more than the cost of the entire Rosetta Stone set of Levels 1 to 5. Purchasing level 3 for 2012 is going to be quite an investment for me, but I think that it will be worth it.
Only one person that I've talked to about Rosetta Stone has said that it was hard to use. Now, my daughter used Rosetta Stone at age 6... my husband wants my 4 year old to try it out. The program is not hard to use at all. It may, however, be difficult for some people to learn with.
This person's biggest complaint was that there was no English translation available on the screen. That's the whole point. Because you are not seeing any English, you start thinking in the other language. You don't stop to translate. I think that having English present was one of the biggest problems that I had with learning foreign languages (well) in a classroom environment. I'm not good at thinking on my feet either, so even in classes where they do nothing except speak in another language, I can feel a little lost. With Rosetta Stone, I can hear them speak, I can think about it for a second, then I can realize what they're saying.
When you use Rosetta Stone, you associate visual pictures with the language. The new Rosetta Stone even adds games and additional features. I find this helpful. Others do not.
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Rosetta Stone on eBay
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Other Rosetta Stone Packages
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How Other People Learn Chinese
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Have You Tried to Learn Chinese?
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Greekgeek
Feb 14, 2011 @ 5:59 pm | delete
- Chinese is just a bear: not only does it have a ton of signs, it's got those tones. Yet it's such an important language in the world today. I think this is cosmic karma, in some fashion: English is a tricky language to learn, and Americans have been lucky enough to get away without having to learn foreign languages much. But now it seems we may be stuck learning one of the harder ones, if we want to succeed!
Anyway, I'm languages Angel now, and I'm very glad to find some good languages lenses to bless. I appreciate your honest review of Rosetta Stone -- not just for Chinese, but in general, that really helps tell someone if it's going to suit their needs.
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The Most Chinese You Can Learn Now
Rosetta Stone Chinese (Mandarin) Level 1-3 Set
Amazon Price: $319.20 (as of 06/01/2012)
Currently, Rosetta Stone only makes Chinese in levels 1 to 3. However, when I first started using Rosetta Stone, the most they made of any language was levels 1 and 2, for the most popular languages. Now they make five levels for their most popular languages. I'm sure at some point, they will make levels 1 through 5 in Chinese too.
