Customer Reviews

Rosetta Stone Homeschool Greek Level Level 1-3 Set including Audio Companion

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This is the third time I've tried to do language training with Rosetta Stone over the last 7 or 8 years. Some time in 2003, I bought a level-1 Asian languages course (Korean, Japanese, Chinese) and was very unimpressed. After several weeks of focusing on Korean, I had learned how to recognize phrases like "the horse is white" and "the boy has a red ball" and similar things equally useful (or not mostly). I actually taught myself the Korean alphabet prior to starting with the Rosetta stone software, so it wasn't that difficult to start recognizing the words (the Korean alphabet is phonetic like the Roman alphabet and MUCH easier to learn than kanji characters used in Japanese or Chinese) but I wasn't building any vocabulary I could use in the local Korean restaurant, so to say.

And given the limited utility of what I was learning, I burned out on it pretty quickly.

Fast forward about 5 years and a friend of mine whose wife is Dutch told me he had used Rosetta Stone for Dutch. He said he had had decent success, but clarified the first month or so seemed fairly pointless (like my experience) and after sticking with it for several months or so, doing at least 30 minutes a day, it started to click and make sense...understanding the language AND the overall approach Rosetta Stone was using.

Based on his feedback, I decided to give Rosetta Stone for Greek a try, but I wasn't quite ready to buy it. I got a hold of an "unofficial" test copy of version 2, loaded it up, and gave it a shot. It was definitely better than the Korean I had tried years earlier, but again, there didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason why I was being taught the phrases or vocabulary I was learning. I admit I only tried it for about a week.

Finally about 2 months ago I thought what the heck, and I splurged on the newest version 3 with all the levels (levels 1-3) of Rosetta Stone for Greek. I thought blowing that much money would help inspire me to actually use it, and so far it has. I could read Greek decently (albeit VERY slowly) before I started this, but I also had a VERY limited vocabulary, probably around 40-50 words, and a very limited knowledge of some of the grammar (some of the personal pronouns and some basic conjugation).

Well, I've been at it for a little more than a month (minus a few blocks of 1 or 2 days skipped here and there), and I have to say I'm impressed. There is still a degree of "why the heck am I learning this now" regarding vocabulary, but less so than before. If you think about how babies tend to prioritize their beginning speech frequently around desires (food, environment, comfort) and social interaction (with "ma-ma" or "da-da") it starts to make a little more sense. As I'm only a month into this, I'm hoping it will all start to tie together a bit more as I progress. My first impression is I'm doing well learning the vocabulary given pictures and multiple choice questions, but it's not as easy to start plugging that vocabulary into usable sentences, other than very basic ones. BUT, that's usually how babies learn (lots of listening and then burbling out some basic sentences that gradually increase in complexity) so maybe I'm on the right track. I'll try to give an update when I advance to level 2.

I've used several other language software products and for languages I've studied at least a bit (in courses or on my own) I still prefer "Learn French Now!" (or whatever language) by Transparent Language (especially considering the price), but as they didn't have a fully developed version for Greek, this is what I settled for. See my review of "Learn German Now" here on Amazon for a better description of how that software works.

Still, this is a LOT of money to invest for language learning. Two suggestions I'd make: 1) if you've real incentive to learn the language (like you've just moved to Russia on a 3-year job contract and can't even start to talk to the abundant models walking around because none of them speak English) then consider this over a basic phrase book more aimed at tourists and specific situations. 2) If you really just want to learn some "restaurant-level" language skills ("Bonsoir garcon! Une table pour moi!") then a basic phrases book approach would make more sense.

Lastly, some libraries have copies of Rosetta Stone you can check out to get a feel for using it before you sink the bucks into your own copy.

Again, I'll let you know how it's going in several months.