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Whatever floats your boat...

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Comment by ThatGirl on February 7, 2014 at 3:47pm

Duo Lingo...YES. I am so getting on board.  I was trying out a Rosetta Stone trial then it ran out before i had time to get far, and Babbel.com has lessons but they are limited. Thanks for the value in this share. always appreciateed.

Comment by Geoff on February 9, 2014 at 11:24am

I'm not a fan of Rosetta Stone. I feel you can advance in the lessons without actually picking up much language skill--at least that is my experience. If you do decide to spend serious money I would recommend Pimsleur. It is more effort-ful than either Rosetta Stone or Duolingo but you really will learn something and your accent will be good. (Hint: you didn't hear it from me, but you can probably order Pimsleur through your library and then load the CDs into your iTunes library).

Duolingo does take advantage of the Pimsleur methodology (repeating the stuff you learn at stepped intervals until you've really absorbed it). I'm not sure, but it feels like the software is tracking your mistakes and repeating the words or forms you stumble over. When I was doing the possessive pronouns (his, hers, yours, mine, etc.) it seemed Duolingo grokked that I *got* some of them instantly but needed to practice others and weighted the exercises accordingly. You can also do lessons anywhere (they only take about 10 minutes) if you have a smart phone. 

The lessons have a gamey feel (tinny trumpet blast when you get through one successfully) and it's easy to track your progress. I actually find that stuff motivating and encouraging, but you know how lame I am.

Comment by ThatGirl on February 9, 2014 at 12:46pm

I don't have any I-products, but if the app is PC compatible, I might just see if I can reserve the CD to "borrow"  from the library. I'm driving past it everyday and never go in anymore because even the kids read everything digitally now. Would be nice to smell a library again. I don't doubt Pimsleur software is recording progress and creating two sets of files for you, "mastered" and "mashed-up" and serving back the Mush for you to chew on until you Master it. 

When I was a tech teacher, i was administering the Rosetta Stone program to students. You had to do your own evaluation of the spoken portion by comparing the metered recordings to the native speaker. 

Being as it's so damn cold out, Learning is my favorite thing to do when I can't get out.  Yes, I'm weird, and you're so NOT lame.

I'm an advocate for education through multimedia experiences so the game-feel is an ideal way to teach, almost any subject. Learning styles differ between individuals and the only way to really reach every style is through varied delivery modes. so, Im IN on that front.

I am trying to brush up on my spoken Spanish and learn more Italian.  I have to Pick ONE and stick to it. I'll let you know what i end up doing because Im still in the middle of some babbel lessons left on my account.

Comment by Geoff on February 9, 2014 at 7:29pm

Pimsleur isn't an app. It's a CD set so you can load it onto your mp3 player or onto your computer. I really don't think it has changed since it was on cassettes in the 1970s. You learn mostly by ear (though there is a slender pamphlet included). There are three levels, each of 30 half-hour lessons. They say you can complete one lesson per day but I always needed to repeat the lessons and I think most people do.

Duolingo is more fun and more flexible while Pimsleur is a bit of a grind (in my opinion). But it really does the trick. I've used Pimsleur for both Italian and German, but only the first 30 lesson series of each.

What I'm doing now is watching a lot of French movies, doing some Duolingo, and listening to the Earworm Rapid French CDs. (I'm not recommending Rapid French because I'm not sure if it's helpful or not. It may be based on a gimmick.) All I want to do is see if I can resurrect my high school French and maybe extend it a little. I don't have a trip in mind so I won't persist too long (particularly since I think I'd rather go to Italy next time (knock wood) I take a trip.

Comment by BlancheNoE on February 13, 2014 at 10:00pm

I took enough french so that I could answer the smarmy guys in bars who greeted me with  " enchanté " . My response was "vous êtes le grand mal merde tête "  in the most sultry voice I could muster which is  sorta'

English/French hybrid for " you are a really big shit head " and if they stormed away I was sorry I said it.

I'm going to check out DuoLingo. German is a bitch.

Great to see/hear you.

Comment by NatureJunkie on February 22, 2014 at 9:10pm

I'll check out Duo Lingo. I have been flirting with fluency in German for a long, long time. I periodically get back to it and practice a lot, then relax and lose it again for a while. The concept of a site paying the bills through crowd-sourced translations is certainly novel. I hope it works for them.

Comment by Marie on April 16, 2014 at 8:43am

Geoff... You're learning French, but I'm just hearing a lot of 'hing'lise!

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