Are you considering using Rosetta Stone to learn Brazilian Portuguese?
Watch this video to get my review of this language learning software.
Rosetta Stone is probably the most popular language learning software out there, and they spend millions of dollars a year in advertising to convince people that it is the best.
But how does Rosetta Stone live up to the hype?
They claim that you can learn a language the same way that you do when you are a kid. They flash images in front of you and tell you what they are, and your task is to repeat them. You have to speak into a mic and correctly pronounce the words in order to move on. You learn bits and pieces of the language.
The Rosetta Stone methodology is good for learning vocabulary with alright pronunciation, but its not that great for learning how to actually speak and communicate.
The big failure of Rosetta Stone is that in an attempt to have a large quantity of languages that they offer, they have cut corners on quality. None of their programs are unique. They are all cookie cutter programs that use the same translations and pictures. There is nothing that was specifically designed for Brazilian Portuguese.
So you’re not going to learn anything in particular about Brazil with Rosetta Stone. You’re not going to learn slang, you’re not going to learn Brazilian Portuguese as it is actually spoken by Brazilians today.
This puts you at a huge disadvantage.
I can’t recommend Rosetta Stone to anybody because I don’t think it prepares people for the reality of Brazilian society. Its nothing more than an expansive deck of flashcards. I really have to wonder if these people even have a Brazilian visa.
If you really want to learn Brazilian Portuguese you should use Semantica Portuguese. Semantica is a company that specializes in teaching Brazilian Portuguese to those who are planning on moving to Brazil.
Semantica Portuguese is a series of high quality videos that tell the story of a girl who moves to Rio to pursue a fashion career. As you follow along her journey you are learning how to speak like a Brazilian, you’re learning about Brazilian culture and you really start to feel like you’re in Brazil. No other language learning course can do that.
Obviously I’m a little bit biased about this course because I am actor and presenter in part of the series. Before that happened though I was a student of Semantica, and I used their program to improve my cultural fluency as well as my speaking abilities.
Given the price difference between the two and the quality of instruction, I think you’d be making a huge mistake if you invested in Rosetta Stone. If you’re still thinking about using Rosetta Stone, here’s another article I wrote that goes even deeper into the specifics of why Rosetta Stone Portuguese doesn’t work very well for Portuguese learners.
You can check out Semantica Portuguese here, or read a more in depth review of Semantica here.
And for the love of god don’t waste your money on that Rosetta Stone crap.
