Latest Posts - Page 17

Rosetta Stone RVoice

Employee Immersion: Apryl Donovan

Kari Johnson is a member of the Rosetta Stone team based in Arlington, Virginia. She’s enjoying getting to know the other employees—not just in Arlington, but in our other locations too. Kari will be introducing her new colleagues to you in this and future RVoice posts.

Have you ever wanted to know more about the person on the other end of your support call? Rosetta Stone routes many of our English-speaking service calls through our offices in Hyderabad, India, or Harrisonburg, Virginia. We also have customer-facing call centers in the UK, Germany, Japan, Korea, France, and the Netherlands.  If you’ve…

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Rosetta Stone Language Journeys

Using Rosetta Stone Chinese to Go beyond Coffee

The first complete series of Mandarin phrases that I mastered after I moved to Taiwan went like this: “Wo yao yi bei kafei natie . . . da bei . . . dui, yao niu nai . . . yao yidian tang.” Quickly and independently ordering coffee—a nice big cup . . . with milk . . . and a little sugar—has been the most essential element of my survival. I practice this every day at my local 7-Eleven (“local” meaning the one halfway down the block, not the one a full block away—they’re everywhere here). There the clerks’…

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Rosetta Stone Language Journeys

Experiments with Motivation

In general, I struggle a fair bit with motivation. Add that to the fact that I speak English during my work as a teacher, and it’s no surprise that making myself study Mandarin regularly can be a challenge. Now that I can buy food, greet people, ask directions, and have short, simple conversations in the language, the inherent necessities of survival no longer push me to learn more. It’s become easy to let the days slip through my fingers without going out of my way to meet more Chinese people or study their language. I know that conversing freely…

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Rosetta Stone RVoice

Babies and Animals: Language or Communication?

A video of twin babies interacting with each other while standing in diapers in a modern kitchen has gone completely viral, with more than 20 million views on YouTube. What probably intrigues people who find it particularly amusing is that the interaction has all the trappings of an adult conversation—but without the language.

While some commentators have described the twins as speaking in their “twin language,” this isn’t entirely accurate. At just over a year old, the twins probably know and produce some words, but they aren’t using a secret twin language to communicate meaning. In fact, in this…

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Rosetta Stone Language Journeys

I made up for 44 years in one month with Rosetta Stone

I left Brazil 45 years ago, and had not spoken Portuguese for over 44 years. My daughter moved to Salvador Brazil about five years ago with my two grandchildren. I am planning to visit them the first of next year and I was at a loss as to how I could recover the level of fluency that I had over 40 years ago. Rossetta Stone’s online 3 month course consisting of levels 1, 2, and 3 came to my rescue. In less than a month I Had finished the third level and am now busy reviewing all levels. I…

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Rosetta Stone Language Journeys

A Spanish Prayer

spanishprayerWhile visiting a quiet Catholic church in California with my girlfriend, I was turning to leave when a small voice from the only occupied pew called to me, “Excuse me, do you know how to pray?” A young woman sat with an older lady, in the middle of the otherwise empty church, looking to me for help. At first, I couldn’t understand the question, though it was clearly spoken by a native English speaker. How many times is one asked that by a stranger? As it turned…

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Rosetta Stone RVoice

Discover Success Tab

Did you know there’s a whole team behind you that’s focused solely on your language-learning success? Over the last year, those of us on the Customer Success team have worked hard to make it easy for you to get to know Rosetta Stone. Our goal is to ensure your language-learning experience is not only effective, but safe and fun!

I invite you to visit Discover Success, our new tab on the Rosetta Stone Facebook page. There, you’ll learn more about how we work every day to help you achieve (more…)

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Rosetta Stone Language Journeys

A New Experience in France with Rosetta Stone French

My history of studying French is long. In first grade, I attended a school that offered a specialized program for intensive French. I transferred schools in second grade, and because my new school didn’t offer such a program, I had to put French on hold until seventh grade when it was offered again. I advanced a level of French every year of high school, and yet after all these years I still find myself unprepared to engage in meaningful conversation in French.

un cafeI’ve been to France…

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Rosetta Stone Language Journeys

Counting in Mandarin

This is Molly’s third post about learning Mandarin. To learn about her earlier experiences, please read Part I and Part II.

In Mandarin, every countable noun (that is, every noun you can count—unlike snow or water, for example) has a special measure word associated with it. It’s like in English when you say “grains of sand” or “sheets of paper.” So, whenever you talk about a certain number of a thing, you have to know the correct measure word. This presents another challenge for Mandarin learners: along with learning a new…

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