First things first: I’d like to publicly thank the people who Googled the following terms and inexplicably decided to click on the link that led them to NGIP:
- “right side pain at my waist, through up and felt better”
- buddha “sex with skulls” <– NGIP is currently the #1 result for this one – woo hoo!
- has anyone ever choked on a tootsie pop <– yes, and I blogged about it.
- my neighbor is stealing my air ducts
- people who look like goats
- possibility of man and goat having a baby together <–ACK!
- ten thousand honkies
- what is this pain in my right side
- was there a spaceship found underneath the parents <– For what possible reason would someone wish to Google this?
The other thing I called this meeting for is to discuss the outrageousness that is the price of Rosetta Stone language software. I’ve seen the commercials, how anybody who is anybody uses the Rosetta Stone to learn a new language. A list of very important organizations, like the US Army and the State Department and Fortune 500 companies and God use the Rosetta Stone for their language learning needs.
Well, it turns out that big entities use it because it’s SO DANG FRICKIN’ EXPENSIVE that us little people can’t afford it.
I had no idea. In my world, this software had a price tag of maybe $100 to learn the whole language. But then I get this email the other day from a big box bookstore who shall remain nameless (starts with a “B” and rhymes with “Borders”) advertising that I could get as much as $125 off. As much as? AS MUCH AS? Do you know what this means? Well, first of all, it means that it costs more than $125. Secondly, if you can save as much as $125, then that means there are ways to save LESS THAN $125.
Sure enough, a closer look at this so-called “coupon” revealed it’s true colors, but the advertising terrorists already won, didn’t they, because I clicked on the link in my email. As it turns out, Rosetta Stone comes in Parts, not Wholes, so if you buy a really big big part, that’s how you can save $125, but if you buy a teeny tiny part, you save a correspondingly teeny tiny part of $125.
When it comes to TV programming, I ignore commercials. I totally tune out. I get that from my Dad, the tuning out thing, although we have different objects of tune-outability. For example, I can’t hear the TV at all if there is any other voice happening in the room. My dad ,on the other hand, can’t hear YOU if the TV is on. I’ve never seen a man become so dazed and lose all sense of his surroundings than when he’s glued to the boob tube. Short of hitting him, you can usually get his attention if you yell his name, but more often than not saying “the phone’s ringing”, will work. You don’t even have to yell it. In fact, I remember when I was a kid, my mom played a joke on him as he snored on the couch. She leaned over his ear and said in a small voice, the phone’s ringing, and he lept up to answer it. And then we all laughed. Yeah, good times…where was I? Oh, right. Rosetta Stone and TV commercials. My point here was that I must not have been paying attention to their commercials enough to see how much it actually cost, although it was probably snuck in so that all you heard was $29.99 or something, not realizing that it was “436 easy payments of…”.
Getting down to real numbers, there are FIVE LEVELS of Rosetta Stone with Level 1 costing $259 ($199 at Amazon) and the price going nowhere but up after that.
In Level 1, you will learn “greetings and introductions”. If you shell out several more hundreds of dollars for Level 2, you will learn how to tell time and dine out. I think you can guess the rest of this whole sham.
I currently subscribe to a Spanish language learning podcast, and since it’s free, I don’t feel the pressure that I have to learn it. Which is why 159 unlistened-to episodes have piled up into my iPod. But they’re FREE!
So, is Rosetta Stone like an expensive gym, where if you pay (and pay a LOT) you will use it because by golly you paid hundreds maybe thousands of dollars to join it?
I’m telling you this Rosetta Stone thing is a conspiracy. Level 1 probably brainwashes you into thinking you NEED Level 2 (because you’re going to be in a foreign country and you’ll need to actually get out of the airport). And then Level 2 brainwashes you into thinking you NEED level 3 (because you’re going to be in a foreign country and you WILL have to use the restroom at some point). And so on. How else can you justify spending THAT kind of money? It’s crazy! It’s insane! Why would anybody pay that kind of dinero when Level 1 only teaches you how to say hello and goodbye? I already know how to say hello and goodbye in Spanish. I mean, isn’t it like, “Aloha” and…. no wait, it’s “Buenos Dias” and “Gracias”, right?
I suspect each level contains Latin Kool-Aid and anybody gullible enough to pay THAT kind of money will drink it, and drink it hard.
What’s so fabulous about this learning software whose cost is equivalent to its weight in Manolo Blahniks? According to the product features listed on Amazon (and I’m quoting here):
“Rosetta Stone teaches you a new language naturally, by getting you to think, live and breathe the language”
Breath the language? Really? Isn’t that a little hyperbolic? How does computer software get you to breathe a language, exactly? Will I have to buy yet another computer device, some digital air tube thingie that I have to shove down my throat in order to operate? Do I also have to buy another stupid USB port adapter so it will work on my Mac? What if I gag easy when something is shoved down my throat? (I know, I know, that’s what she said, but if you could just work with me on this one). I’m just thinking that since I don’t even breathe English, it would be unlikely that even a highly advanced medical body scan would find Spanish words in my lung tissue.
So, in summary and conclusion, I can’t imagine why people would buy this astronomically priced product. No sane person I know would even think twice about it. And even though I’ve been wanting to learn Spanish for years now, I certainly could never bring myself to pay such a ludicrous amount of my own hard-earned money.
Which is why I’m asking for it for Christmas.
To all fellow bloggers…
I’d love to read what everyone really means to do in 2010. Come over any time starting Monday, December 28, 2009 and share your New Year’s Resolutions blog post URL in the Linky widget that will be provided on that Monday’s post. I call this sharing time the This Time I Really Mean It! campaign.
For more information, or to grab a button to tell your friends about it, go to the Details of “This Time I Really Mean It!” campaign for 2010.
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The US Army gives it soldiers free use of Rosetta Stone, but not all the languages. Just the languages for countries they occupy. Go figure.
I don't suppose we “occupy” Mexico or Spain or most of South America then? Or can you get the Spanish version in the Army?
lol! You got me there. Yes, they have Spanish language.
Those are some really freaky links… I totally don't know how they work, or how to even find them.
As for Rosetta Stone, I was shocked at how much they cost – I always wanted to learn Italian, NOT gonna happen now. I had the same reaction you did… that's why only celebrities and HUGE companies can afford to use it. You can get it at the library if Santa doesn't bring it to you… 🙂
That price tag is another excuse, I mean reason, why I'll never learn Spanish. That's crazy. But I hope it's under your Christmas tree.
Love the New Years Resolution Idea! I'll add the button to my blog!
xo
Or, you could just go to the library and check out some of their language learning dvds and learn a foreign language for free. (shhh…I don't want the Rossetta Stone Bullies coming after me)
Our library does not have Spanish, but they do have French and Russian CDs, so I guess I could just learn Russian instead. For no apparent reason. 🙂
Interlibrary loan? We have a statewide library system that lets us borrow
from any library in Michigan. It might be worth investigating. How fun would
it be to trump Rossetta Stone, for FREE?!
Hope you have a great holiday season,
Andrea
Our library lending system stretches to the county line and ….. nuthin'.
They might have Spanish langauage lessons in something other than Rosetta
Stone, but I have THOSE at HOME. I just wanted to try Rosetta Stone.
I used Christmas money to buy Rosetta Stone once. I think I used the first CD once. Good purchase on my part. Now i wanna pull it out again so i can get another hour of language immersion in to satisfy me for the next four years..
Amazing that our government must use one of the most expensive programs on the planet. Color me surprised (NOT!). I think it would be cheaper to move to that country & immerse yourself in their language & lives! (And much more fun!)
I am so happy that the goat thing of the day is back! I love the cat who stares at goats!
Haha! You are so funny! This post cracked me up.
So true about learning new languages. In addition to German, I speak two other languages which I only learned through daily communication with the local people. I don't think you can learn a language 'naturally' through software?!
I learned German in high school and managed to “get by” in four countries that speak it while traveling in Europe. But living in California, Spanish seems like a reasonable language to learn now.
LOL, I got that email too. It was eye opening. I guess I'll just remain ignorant.
Thanks for dropping and commenting on my blog. Have a nice day!
I'm just glad my two teens (who each have a foreign language they want to learn) want books, please, no CDs, because that Rosetta gal is expensive!
I'll have a boatload of resolutions in about a week or so. Same ones as every year, worse luck!
I look forward to reading your resolutions, Lidian!
Go here: http://www.livemocha.com/
It's the social media for language learning, and it's free and it works JUST like Rosetta stone but you get to have friends there, who help you with pronunciation, etc.
This is great, Lisa – Thanks! I will definitely check this out!
Rootietoot has it right. When 'Uncle Sugar' wanted us to speak a language really well they put us into a community that spoke little English whenever possible. Nothing like total immersion to learn quickly. As my oldest son said after spending two weeks with a Japanese family that spoke zero English, “You learn Japanese really fast if you want to eat!”
Excepto 'heredero' en lugar de “aquí” el alemán se ve mejor que la mía.
Well said, OldInjun. Whatever it was.
😀
Here's my advice: go to Mexico and learn Spanish. You can get a room with a nice family WITH MEALS for about $85 a week and lessons for four hours a day for about $125 a week, and you will learn a LOT of Spanish if you can swing 3 weeks or so…I went to Oaxaca. My blog about it is below. A great website to find schools is 123teachme.com. They also have free online lessons. FREE
oooh, that sounds fun AND adventurous!
Thanks for the tip about the FREE online stuff, too!
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I subscribe to the “I'm an ignorant tourist” philosophy if I can't remember what I'm meant to be saying. That being said, I usually vacation in mainly English or French speaking countries. Screw Rosetta Stone. I'd rather spend the big bucks on the vacation itself.
I don't know, my friend. Those kiosks at the airport look pretty damn tempting. It very well be worth your hard earned dollars.
However, your plan is brilliant. The fat man had better deliver this year.
En boca lupo! (It's Italina, not Spanish. Sorry. It was the best I could do with short notice. 🙂 )
Uh-oh, you may have a point there. I guess the real issue here is that you should learn the language regardless of where you get it from. (I'm still going to get a library card, though, just in case they have them in stock)
“I can't hear the TV at all if there is any other voice happening in the room. My dad on other hand can't hear YOU if the TV is on. I've never seen a man become so dazed and lose all sense of his surroundings than when he's glued to the boob tube.” Well being male, I will have to say that I would give your Dad a run for his money on tuning out. Its not just TV with me, its also reading, on the computer, while driving, etc. If I get into the “zone”, you have to hit me pretty hard to get my attention. Concerning Rosetta Stone, I tried it, thought it was a stupid and too expensive way to learn a new language. Fortunately, I didn't have to pay for it, my boss had bought it to learn Mandarin Chinese and I went through the first CD after he finished it. Took 4 hours and I learned more by going to the Library and checking out a book on Beginning Mandarin and reading it for an hour. Definitely not worth the cost.
Hi Don!!
I'm beginning to suspect that everybody learns differently and what works for one may not work for another. I'd hate to have to pay that much and have it NOT work for me. I just had a friend on Facebook suggest I check it out from the library which is a faboo idea. At least to give it a trial run. That's if my local library even has it.
The spouselet and I bought Rosetta Stone last year…we got the whole shabang and yeah, it is a little pricey but, if it works….
And it kinda works, if you do it.
The problem for us, is time…the first two weeks we rode around in the car together listening to the words and repeating them and we would take turns on the computer doing the lessons…and then soccer season started…
I don't even know where the big yellow box is anymore….
Ugh, it's so unfair that to get what we want, we have to WORK for it.
For that much money, shouldn't it just be inserted into our brain with no effort on our part at all.
Yeah, but it seems that if you do a section, lesson or module a day, (about 30) minutes, it really doesn't take much work…it is just giving it 30 minutes.
It seemed (when I was actually doing it) much easier than how we learned foreign language in school.
One of the other posters commented that a teacher said it is just parroting…well, yeah, that is how we learned to speak when we were infants…
There isn't anything wrong with that. I could get the same “education” living in the south of France, but it might cost a heck of a lot more than Rosetta stone and I would probably starve to death in the process… No quiero Taco Bell probably wouldn't work very well 😉
I agree. I get the impression that these guys make it easier for you, so in essence, it IS less work. Hence the cost.
This post had me LOL-ing from start to finish! Off to read more!
Oh, why thank you, Meghan. DO sit down and stay awhile. Can I get you something to drink?
A friend of mine recently heard her son mumbling in his sleep. And not in English. When she asked him about it, he confessed that he was sleep-talking in ARABIC. Why? Because he's a language geek and figured out how to hack into Rosetta's Web site and download their Arabic program (he's also a computer geek). The kid is 13. My friend punished him for stealing, but she couldn't help but be proud of him. As I pointed out, most kids his age would use any hacking abilities on games or possibly porn, but he's learning freaking Arabic.
Um . . . would you like me to see if he would extend his hacking services to you?
Um… of COURSE not. Because THAT would be WRONG…….right?
Thirteen, though. Jeez! I guess a part of me would be proud too.
We were able to review it for 30 days and my son did take away some Spanish from it. I love that it can hear what you say and let you know if you are saying it correctly or not. I like the program itself, but I agree that it is WAY EXPENSIVE! We are getting ready to review another similar program called Tell Me More now.
Was this something for your blog? I should just check eBay to see if there are copies out there that quitters want to get rid of.
OK I'm back (did you miss me?) Most people are trying to sell it on eBay for just as much as retail. What the hell kind of auction is that? It's not. Those are people trying to do “Business” on eBay as opposed to just dumping their personal stuff like a garage sale. There are a couple out there for less than $100 for the whole set. So that might be the way to go.
I did it on my blog – the PR rep gave us a code to use for 30 days for the online format and she sent us the USB headphones that are required. After 30 days it expired
http://www.robynsonlineworld.com/2009/11/rosett…
Then the other company contacted me because he said they are half the price of Rosetta. He actually sent the full software of levels 1-5. I should have the review up on that in a couple of weeks.
Robyn Wright
Blog: http://www.RobynsOnlineWorld.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/RobynsWorld
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/robynsonlineworld
Google Phone: 314-82-ROBYN
Contact me to do reviews and giveaways for your brands and products!
I just read your review and I can relate to not being able to see the word as you speak it. They might think it's better to learn it that way and maybe it is for speaking the language, but I get frustrated if I can't see what I'm saying so that I know how to say what I'm reading. It seems like Rosetta Stone can teach you how to speak Spanish, but not how to read it. Or maybe that's just a different section of the course. (or in the NEXT level – haha!) I look forward to your review of the next language learning tool you get.
What? You have a Google phone???
Do you want an invite for google? Just let me know what email to send it too
Do I need an invite? I thought that was for Google Wave. I have a Google account. Is this something special and different that requires an invite? Do I even want a Google phone? What's it do?
Here is what Google Voice (or Google Phone) is about: http://www.google.com/googlevoice/about.html
It is by invite only right now as well.
I can get you to speak goat. Just by breathing in my goat gas.
Oh, no. That is not goat the publicist is speaking when I let one loose when she milks me. My baaaad. That is some language her father taught her. He was a trucker once, or so she claims. I just know she can't use the words on my blog because it's a family blog. But she does breathe in goat.
Adios .
Au revoir
Ciao
Goat gas? Eek! I suppose I'd let out a few choice trucker-type words as well. I don't blame your publicist one bit. If you don't mind my sayin'.
For that price, I can take an interpreter with me when I travel abroad. Or just never use the bathroom, greet anyone, or dine out while in a foreign country. I think Rosetta Stone is just a name that rich people like to drop during their tennis lessons or while waiting beside their limo for their kids to get out of school. Pffft!
I wonder if it's on eBay. Maybe there are like 500 copies of it for thirty bucks because it's crap. Or maybe…MAYBE…Rosetta stone buys up all the $30 copies off of eBay and then turns around and resells them to us suckers as if they're brand new. Can you imagine? Paying all that money only to have them send you a “refurbished” version of Rosetta Stone? ACK!
I looked into that stuff once. I just about swallowed my tongue when I saw the price. I don't think they mention cost AT ALL on the commercials. I was really hoping it would be just as easy as they claim, and that I'd be able to afford it. I imagined myself becoming fluent in several languages so I could tell people I was multilingual and then prove it! I want to be fluent in Hawaiian, Gaelic, and Russian to start!
Oh me too! I want to speak a bunch of different languages. I fancy myself some sort of superhero who can come in and save the day because I'll be somewhere where someone needs help but can't speak the language and I will come in with my Yellow Rosetta Stone superhero cape (with a big RS on it. and flames.) and translate the heck out of something, essentially saving the world. Of course, I'll be terribly humble about it on all the talk shows and such, “I'm just doing my job blah blah blah…)
Wow, I hope this wasn't a paid endorsement. They're going to be ENOJADO at you.
Woo hoo! And I've just learned a Spanish word. Thanks, Lisa! And no, they are definitely not paying me to complain about the cost of their product. Of course, if they were paying me, it might be in the form of a FREE product, and I'd have nothing to complain about. 😀
I also forgot to say that I looked up ENOJADO thinking it was an acronym, as in 'They are going to be ROFLMAO at you', only maybe ENOJADO stood for something that meant 'not very pleased', which as it turns out, is EXACTLY what it means.
Once I get English down pat, I'll move on to another language. I'm thinking it won't be anytime soon.
Mamu dogface with a banana patch, right?
I'm, like, the #2 search for 'Angela Lansbury naked.'
Dick Van Dyke is one sick mofo.
“Angela Lansbury naked?” Awesome. And you know Dick Van Dyke's IP address?
I would love to get my Children's Books published. Connections, baby I NEED connections!
Have a terrific day dreamin' of the many possibilities of 2010!!!
Awesome! I hope you get your books published (and mine for that matter, although I suppose I should finish that silly novel I'm working on.) If you want to blog a list of resolutions, come on back on Monday December 28 and add the URL of your resolutions post in the Linky widget I'll have set up for that day and everybody can read everyone else's resolutions!
I have a friend who tutors Latin, Spanish, French, and German. She HATES Rosetta Stone, says it doesn't teach anything but parroting.
Well that's the first first-person opinion I've heard, come to think of it. I don't know anyone personally who has tried to use it.
Aber wie wollen Sie sprechen Deutsch Ziegen?
Ich sprechen ein bisschen Deutch, aber Ich brauche Spanish heir in America. (or something like that. It's been a while, Mike).