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Published: 21/04/2008 - Filed under: Archive » 2008 » May 2008 » Lifestyle » Features » Features » Lifestyle » Features » Lifestyle » Technology »

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With modern technology, learning a language doesn’t have to be painful. Jenny Southan reports.

We Brits have an embarrassing reputation for lacking somewhat in the foreign language department, but is it our fault? Learning a new language or practising what we already know takes time, and past experience has left many of us with a feeling of failure and boredom – and when everyone seems to speak English, why should we make the effort?

According to Stephen Wines, managing director of language-teaching company Rosetta Stone, this attitude could have a negative impact on your business. He says: “In the corporate world, even a small amount of language can give you an edge. Firstly, your customers appreciate you making an effort, which is an indication of how you are going to treat them, and secondly, it shows you understand their needs. As you take it to the next level – negotiations – it helps you understand what they are looking for. Literally, it’s about having your ear to the market. You might be alerted to possibilities before your competitors.”

Rosetta Stone is a computer-based course which uses multi-media software to teach 30 different languages, without any form of translation. This is an entirely new teaching approach, but one we are actually all familiar with – it employs the natural way we learn our mother tongue by gradually immersing us in the language, helping us connect words to meanings with photos, sounds, writing and games of trial and error. The speech-recognition technology allows you to interact in real-life situations and will respond to how good your pronunciation is.

To see how effective Rosetta Stone would be for the business traveller, I decided to try the product in a real-life situation. I meet Stephen at St Pancras station, where we board the 0926 Eurostar to Paris. He gives me a laptop with the CD-ROM version of Rosetta Stone installed on it, and a few clicks later I am set up as a user. The programme recognises your own unique voice pattern and shows how you compare with a native speaker on an audio-wave display. It also monitors and adapts to your progress, so you can stop and start without losing track of where you have got to.

At first, unit one feels a bit basic as much of the vocabulary is familiar to me, but it gradually gets more complicated. The software mimics the way we come to understand language by connecting words and sentences to the world by association. Rosetta Stone has coined the term “dynamic immersion” to express this. Stephen says: “[The method] builds on everyone’s innate language-learning ability and breaks the reliance on tedious grammar drills, so it feels a much more natural way to learn.”

Working through the lessons, I am surprised at being able to understand the meaning of new sentences simply by looking at the images and recognising familiar vocabulary. The method is very logical and takes you step by step through a range of listening, reading, writing and speaking activities – it is much more fun than any language lesson I remember having. Stephen agrees: “It is quite addictive, so people get good results. Anything that requires self-discipline tends to disappoint, but when it’s fun, people tend to stick with it.”

Each level consists of four units, covering topics from shopping, dining and travel to work, current affairs and health, and at the end of each unit you have a “milestone” video-scenario, which gives you the chance to practise a life-like conversation. It takes about 50 hours to complete, but if you choose to spend longer going back through activities it can take up to 150 hours. However, what is key to the course is you can go at your own speed and easily slot it into your daily routine. Stephen says: “The pressure to perform, particularly for the more mature person, can make them feel self-conscious. Rosetta Stone is about self-paced learning – without the pressures of classroom-based learning.”

By the time we get to Paris I have learnt some new words and phrases, and my dormant French is beginning to come back. Walking through Gare du Nord I am aware that I am “tuning in” to the French around me and my confidence has been boosted. We go for lunch at a restaurant in Place de Clichy and I order in French for both of us.

Stephen says: “Rosetta Stone does not teach cultural etiquette but it does teach language, and that goes a long way to breaking down barriers. But at the end of the day, whether it’s a personal decision or a business decision, it’s all about time. In terms of return on investment, if you don’t make any progress then it’s a waste of time and money.”

So confident is he in Rosetta Stone’s methodology that the company offers a six-month money back guarantee – so there’s no excuse not to start learning. Bonne chance!

Fact File

Rosetta Stone teaches 30 languages: Arabic, Mandarin, Danish, Dutch, British/American English (as a foreign language), Farsi (Persia), French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Pashto, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog (Filipino), Thai, Turkish, Vietnamese and Welsh.

Rosetta Stone is available in three levels and can be ordered online or over the phone from £139 each. Alternatively, you can take a three or six-month online subscription from £69.95. Rosetta Stone also offers corporate organisationall solutions – companies which have been using Rosetta Stone include Reuters, Deutsche Telekom, the EU, Deutsche
Bank, NASA and the British Army.

For more information or to order Rosetta Stone call +44 (0)808 178 5192 or visit rosettastone.co.uk, amazon.co.uk.

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