Language Learning, the Natural Way
Computer Program Mimics
Total-Immersion Experience;
Pictures and Oral Repetition
Americans are lousy at foreign languages. I myself took French for years and years, and still can barely tell a Paris cab driver where I want to go without stumbling into English, and earning a Gallic glare.
There are various reasons for this. Compared with Europeans, most Americans have many fewer chances outside classrooms to practice languages other than English, and much less need to do so. But one cause may be the way we teach foreign languages, with mind-numbing drills and long lectures on grammar.
One computer language program, however, continues to garner popularity for its very different teaching style. The Rosetta Stone language program aims to make learning easier and more effective by scrapping dense explanations in favor of a visual teaching style featuring pictures, audio and text.
A Spanish Level 1 screen from the Rosetta Stone language learning program.
Created by Fairfield Language Technologies in 1992, Rosetta Stone has been adopted by West Point, NASA and over 10,000 schools, according to the company. You might recognize the product if you've passed by one of the company's kiosks in an airport or shopping mall.
The product's teaching method attempts to emulate the experience of a native-born speaker by immersing you in one of 29 languages using photos, spoken phrases and written words. Unlike most language classes, you don't memorize vocabulary or verb conjugations. There are no explanations, and no definitions. You just plunge in. Skeptical? So were we.
So, this week, my assistant Katie Boehret and I did our best to learn Spanish and Italian with Rosetta Stone. Katie minored in Spanish in college, so she approached the language from an educated perspective, trying advanced Spanish. Then, she sampled the starter lessons in Italian, a language she didn't know. I, being much dumber at languages than she is, tried Spanish at a beginner's level.
Overall, we liked Rosetta Stone, which works on both Windows and Macintosh computers. We found ourselves catching onto words and phrases by association -- just from seeing a photo, hearing a pronunciation, and figuring out what a certain phrase meant. The more familiar we became with each language, the easier it was to grasp the self-guided lessons. We didn't have enough time to fully evaluate the program, but it was easy to start using and simple enough to use regularly, without feeling overwhelmed.
If Rosetta Stone's methodology doesn't have you scratching your head, the price tag might. Individually, the first and second CD-ROMs cost $195 and $225, respectively, and a third disc, which is available only for those learning English and Spanish, costs $245. You can opt to buy the first and second discs together for $329 (saving you about $90) or all three for $499 (saving about $160). But many folks might be hesitant to invest that much money in a program that they don't know will work for them.
An online subscription is also available for levels one and two, but these are restricted by time limits. Subscriptions for one-, three- or six-month access cost $50, $90 and $150, accordingly.
We ordered three beginner CD-ROMs -- two Spanish and one Italian -- as well as Level 2 and 3 Spanish CD-ROMs for Katie. Each box comes with an application CD-ROM, which saves your test scores and data on the computer, as well as the disc with lessons and an instruction booklet. We loaded the discs onto our computers (I used a Mac and Katie used a Windows PC) and got to work.
One thing about Rosetta Stone is that you can move at your own pace -- you control how fast or slow you learn. This is probably a plus for many people, but some students who need a more regimented program may have trouble with self-guided software.
Throughout the program, various learning methods are divided into five skills: reading and listening, listening, reading, listening and repeating out loud and writing. Many of the lessons involve visual learning -- looking at photos and deciding which written or spoken situation best describes the image.
The program never offers direct translations of words or phrases, but this is deliberately done to mimic living in a non-English-speaking environment. Nonetheless, this still might drive some people crazy.
When learning Italian for the first time, Katie preferred the reading and listening exercises best, as the audible speaking imitated real-life scenarios and the written text gave her an idea of how to spell the words she was hearing. After a little more practice, she liked just listening.
I found that learning Spanish was easiest for me when I worked through the audio and photo exercises. These helped me to pick up phrases and to intuitively grasp how verbs worked, just by listening to a phrase and then choosing which of four photos matched it. Some of the scenes in the exercises were a little odd, though -- not always the sorts of things you'd often encounter in real life. For instance, if I'm ever in Mexico and see a boy crouching underneath an airplane, I can proudly point to him and say: un ni?o debajo de un avión.
Within the five skills, variations of the same method are used so you won't get bored with a single learning format. For example, in the reading section we could either match a line of text to one of four photos or match a photo with one of four lines of text. Three challenges can also be applied to each lesson: a timer, a delay or a test. The delay makes each lesson slightly harder by doing things such as hiding photos while text is read, forcing us to remember what we heard. The test format gave us only one shot at each question, instead of letting us try again.
To save our test scores, we had to first log into the software. We did so by simply typing our names whenever we opened the Rosetta Stone program on our computers. Our cumulative test scores could be viewed on a Web site, or exported to save on a computer.
Katie, who used three Spanish CD-ROMs and one Italian on her laptop, had only to log into each Rosetta Stone program using the same name, and all of her test scores were saved on one screen according to language and disc level. Details about each test were recorded, including the date, chapter, score, time spent and activity number in relation to the lessons.
We worked through various lessons, learning basic vocabulary for objects, verbs, numbers and times. At any time, you can skip ahead in lessons or repeat lessons using a different learning method. One thing that Rosetta couldn't test us on was our ability to regurgitate what we had learned. Katie pointed out that her 10 years of Spanish classes taught her a lot, but living in Spain where she was forced to speak the language out loud was even more useful.
The closest Rosetta comes to that is its speaking exercises. These force the user to listen to a sentence as it is read out loud, then repeat the sentence into the computer's microphone. The sound pattern of the student's voice is displayed next to the pattern of the program's audio, so students can compare how their pacing, pronunciation and accent differ.
Katie was especially impressed by the Level 3 Spanish CD-ROM, as it included various videos and reading comprehension exercises for real-world situations including transportation, housing, shopping and employment.
If you're used to learning a language by memorizing lists of vocabulary, you might have a hard time adjusting to Rosetta Stone at first. But if you give it a little time, this program can really grow on you.
外语教学软件让你事半功倍
美国人学起外语来很吃力，我自己学过多年法语，却不能用法语告诉巴黎的计程车司机我要去哪里，最后只能掺杂著英语说清楚，还遭到法国司机的一个大白眼。
美国人的外语困境有很多原因。与欧洲人相比，大多数美国学生在课堂外很少有机会练习外语，而且也没有什么必要。另外一个原因可能在于外语的教学方法，一般都是枯燥的反复练习和长篇大论的语法课程。
不过，有个外语教学软件因其独特的学习方法，正不断受到人们青睐。Rosetta Stone外语软件把冗长的课堂说教转变为由图片、声音和文字组成的视觉化教学方式，使外语学起来更简单，更有效果。
Rosetta Stone外语软件是语言技术公司Fairfield Language Technologies于1992年开发出来的。据公司称，该软件已被西点军校(West Point)、美国国家航空航太总局(NASA)以及一万多家学校采用。如果你在机场或商场经过该公司的零售亭，可能会认出这种产品。
这款软件覆盖29种外语，其教学方式是利用图片、对白和文字给用户创造一个原汁原味的语言环境。和上外语课不一样的是，你不用背单词或动词时态；软件并不给你讲解语法和单词定义，而是让你直接进入外语情景。是不是对此将信将疑？我们曾经也是如此。
因此，本周我和助手凯蒂?伯莱特(Katie Boehret)试著用Rosetta Stone软件来学习西班牙语和义大利语。凯蒂在大学兼修过西班牙语，所以起点比较高，从高级西班牙语课程开始学；义大利语她没学过，就从初级开始。我在语言方面要笨得多，只选了初级西班牙语。
总体感觉，我们喜欢这个教学软件，它在Windows和苹果操作系统上都能运行。我们发现，通过看图片、听发音和猜测某个短语的意思，我们不知不觉地以联想方式学会了外语单词和短语。随著对一种外语熟悉程度的提高，我们能越来越容易地掌握那些自学课程；而且课程的起步阶段很简单易懂，软件使用起来也很方便，不会让人望而却步。
如果Rosetta Stone软体的教学方法不会让你挠头，那它的价格可能会的。每种语言有两到三张CD盘，分别标价：第一张售价195美元，第二张225美元，第三张只有英语和西班牙语有，售价245美元。你可以选择同时买第一和第二张，售价329美元（节省约90美元），或者以499美元的价格购买三张（节省160美元）。不过很多人可能会犹豫一下，因为投入的钱不少，而实际效果还不知道。
你也可以选择一级和二级水准的网上教学，按时间收费，一个月、三个月和半年的价格分别是50美元、90美元和150美元。
我们订购了三张初级课程的CD盘（两张西班牙语和一张义大利语），还有给凯蒂的二级和三级西班牙语盘各一张。每个套装盒中都有一张应用软件盘，让你可以在自己的电脑上储存测试成绩和相关资料，还有一张含有课程内容和教学手册的资料盘。我们把软体安装到电脑上（我用苹果电脑，凯蒂用使用Windows操作系统的个人电脑），开始学习。
Rosetta Stone的好处之一是可以让你控制学习节奏，学快点或慢点都随自己心意。这对很多人来说会是个优点，但对那些要求严格把握进度的学生来说，自学软体可能并不适用。
软件中的教学方法共分为五大练习：边看边听、阅读、听力、跟读、以及写作。许多课程都采用视觉化教学，学生一边看图，一边判断哪种书面语或口语表述最好地说明了画面情景。
该软件从不提供单词或短语的直接释义，目的是营造一个在非英语国家生活的语境。不过，这也可能让不少人产生挫折感。
刚学义大利语的时候，凯蒂最喜欢边看边听的练习，因为她可以听到类比实际生活场景的对话，还可以看到相应的文字，知道如何拼写那些单词。经过一段时间的练习，她就更喜欢单听了。
我觉得自己学西班牙语最适合的方式是一边听短语，一边选择四幅图片中哪一幅与短语匹配，这让我既掌握短语，又能直觉地学会动词是怎么用的。练习中有些场景是老套了一些，现实生活中可能不会经常遇到。比如说，如果我去墨西哥，发现一个男孩子在飞机下面玩耍，就可以骄傲地用西班牙语对他说：un nino debajo de un avion。
在五项练习中，同一种方法也会有灵活的表现方式，使你不会感到枯燥厌倦。比如说在阅读时，既有一句话与四幅图片的比对，也有一幅图片与四句话的比对。每个课程都有三种挑战模式：计时、延迟和测验。延迟模式让课程难度变大一些，比如在念出句子的时候隐藏图片，强迫我们记住听到的东西。测试模式让我们只有一次回答问题的机会，不可以反复尝试。
要保存测试成绩的话，必须处于登录状态，只需在打开Rosetta Stone软件时输入自己的名字就行。累计成绩能在一个网站上看到，或存在自己的电脑上。
凯蒂在电脑上装了三张西班牙语盘和一张义大利语盘，不过只要用同样的名字登录不同的Rosetta Stone软体，她所有的成绩都能根据语言和等级显示在一个萤幕上。每个测试的细节都被记录下来，包括日期、章节、成绩、花费时间和课程编号等。
我们两个学习了各种课程，掌握了名词、动词、数位和时间等基本词汇。你可以随意跳过课程，或用不同的教学方法学习同一课程。不过有一种能力软件无法测试我们，那就是灵活运用所学知识的能力。凯蒂说她10年的西班牙语学习教了她不少东西，但在西班牙生活期间，她不得不和人大声讲西班牙语，这个经历对她的语言学习更有帮助。
软件在灵活运用方面做得最好的部分是对话练习。学生先听一句大声读出来的话，然后通过麦克风重复这句话。程式会对这两句话的声谱进行比对，让学生比较其在节奏、发音和口音上的区别和不足。
凯蒂对三级西班牙语那张盘非常推崇，里面有现实生活中各种场景的视频和阅读练习，包括交通、住宿、购物和工作等。
如果你习惯于通过背诵单词来学习外语，那可能需要一段时间才能适应Rosetta Stone的教学方式。不过如果你肯尝试一下，它真的会让你学习外语事半功倍。
