Customer Reviews

Rosetta Stone V2: Swahili Level 1 [OLD VERSION]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If I hadn't studied Swahili already, I would have found it utterly confusing after just a few lessons. As an intermediate student, however, it was fairly good for revision, but not worth the hefty price - had I been unwise enough to purchase it instead of trying the demo at Rosetta Stone's website. The first problem with it is that the language and pronunciation is very stilted and unnatural: it is technically accurate, but no native speaker would speak like this. More to the point, it doesn't accurately explain the noun classes of Swahili. I know it aims to do away with memorization and drill, but it becomes needlessly hard when one insists on learning a bantu language without first learning the various noun classes. Later on you're going to have difficulty figuring out why it's "ndege inaruka" and "vitu vitatu vinatoka" whereas it's "watu watatu wanatoka" and so on and so forth. I only tried the online version so I don't know if the CD comes accompanied by a grammar book. If it does, all good and great, but consider getting some Pimsleur lessons to smooth out that pronunciation.

This is a great package! You get two CD-Roms, i.e. the application disk and the Course CD-Rom, a User's Guide book and the curriculum textbook with complete transcriptions of each exercise. The Dynamic Immersion method is fantastic. You learn a new language by playing with pictures, and little by little you learn new words, then simple phrases and finally more elaborate structures. The score you see on the screen helps you to improve by playing. In no time you realize to know lots of new words and phrases. I can only recommend you to buy it! Enjoy.

I haven't had as much time to work on the program as I hoped, but I feel that I'm retaining the information well. I heard some Swahili on a movie a few days ago & understood some words. I thought that was impressive. Because you hear the words so often, I believe it makes it easier to recognize and understand conversations.

We'll see when I go back to Kenya this summer how much it helped.