If you watch television or read magazines, you have probably have seen Rosetta Stone ads promising to teach you the language of your choice via immersion.
Individuals and companies have used the leading language software program for self-paced education in dozens of languages.
Homeschoolers have adopted it, and programs like it, to solve the obvious gap in the nontraditional educational system: how best to teach a foreign language when the home educator either does not speak a foreign language or does not speak the one of interest.
I recently tried the Rosetta Stone Homeschool version and found it to be a great solution not only for that goal but also for a large family interested in learning a language.
The software is not cheap, so it’s best to focus on a single language.
The first-level package runs about US$209 and the complete package of five levels costs a steep $599, but it will take some time for your children to progress that far.
Because of the pricing, there is a rather bustling trade in counterfeit versions online.
Be wary of those, because they cannot be registered or updated and have reduced functionality. The software installed easily on a fairly new laptop and was activated easily online.
Then I was able to calibrate the included headset and get started on the Spanish version.
The Homeschool version is unique in its ability to track a series of individual children and their progress. These progress reports offer a valuable way to see which child is doing what, and who may be struggling.
The program makes extensive use of graphics and photos to teach vocabulary and grammar.
When I spent years in class learning French, it was all about repetition.
We stood up and said certain phrases and words over and over — so much so that I can remember them 35 years later easily.
Rosetta Stone uses that idea but makes it far more interesting and fun.
It then uses the headset and microphone to “listen” to how you are pronouncing the words and can make corrections.
After a while, you are able to string words together and follow what you remember from the software to hold basic conversations.
Can Rosetta Stone Homeschool software replace all language learning? Certainly not.
But a package like this can provide an amazing foundation for a lifetime of learning that before was closed to homeschoolers and others, some of who needed foreign language to get into college. If nothing else, it can provide an introduction that will open the mind.
Rosetta Stone’s main competitor is Fluenz, which is similarly priced but uses a different teaching model.
Instead of voice recognition, it gives the student a personal voice tutor that repeats the student’s inflections back for comparison.
Many people think Fluenz is aimed more toward adults. Both companies offer free product demos.
James Derk, a tech columnist for the Scripps Howard News Service, owns the computer-repair firm CyberDads in Evansville, Ind. Contact him at jim@cyberdads.com.