Classes are few and far between in the Valleys, so first choice we made was a book and audio CD course. The main plus point is cost. The BBC's learn german beginners course is around £15 and the complete course is just over £30. Whist the cost my be good, learning from just CD's and book isn't easy. In truth, It can be damn boring.
Our next choice was computer software. Here there's little choice really. Language specialists Berlitz offer a course of German for PC, but we needed it for mac. Plus it's showing its age a little. The cost of the software was somewhere around £70 but can be gotten on offer for around £35. User reviews though told us that the software may be ineffective.
Finally, we bit the bullet and went to the accepted leader in learning a new language, Rosetta Stone. Rosetta Stone offers complete courses for most modern languages, even Welsh. Everyone from Nasa to the top FTSE 100 companies use Rosetta Stone to teach executives new languages. The name Rosetta Stone is taken from the actual Rosetta Stone, found in Egypt. The stone provided a way for archaeologists to finally translate Egyptians hieroglyphics. The stone was the key to the language of the Egyptians. So Rosetta Stone is aptly named.
So what makes Rosetta Stone so good. Simplicity. The course runs on both PC and Mac and only needs a mic headset. The course is delivered with total immersion, meaning no English is spoken at all. The whole course is delivered in German. Using sound and pictures, all you need to do is listen and click the right picture. Occasionally, you'll answer a question in German and even type a few answers using a on onscreen german keyboard. Its that simple, and it works. You learn without feeling like your learning. It's not boring and you can go at your own pace. The softwares best feature is it's recapping. The course is 5 levels, each level is split into 4 units and each unit consists of at least 8 lessons, from the core lesson through grammar, writing, speaking and listening. Intermingled with each unit is a random previous unit's lesson that cement what you've already learnt. Its very good, and in the short time we've been using it, our german vocabulary has increased massively. Best of all, it never feels like your bored.
Yup, this is Rosetta Stone in action. Point, click, learn.
The huge downside is the cost. The full price of the german course is £329. Sales do happen of course and we picked it up for just £259, paying it over a few installments. But it's a price worth paying. For an extra fee of £50 per person, the course can be taught on iPad and you can get genuine german speaking teachers to teach you online. For now though the base software is just fine.
Other news
The learning of German is going well, which is great given the news from Wales this week. On Monday, the Welsh government announced plans to merge Several councils,reducing the number from 22 to just 10 or 11. Our own local council will merge with Merthyr Making a new local authority. It's not good news for us. Currently, our council runs a program called E3. It provides after school clubs for kids to help them learn skills not taught in the mainstream lessons. That's what Lynda's job is. She teaches the kids various new skills. Parents love it. She's had phone calls from parents who are over the moon that thier kid has found something that they can do, enthusiastic about what they've learnt and eager to learn more. One mother even said she was more than happy to pay her council tax so thier kid could learn. But with the merger expected to start as early as Easter and to be completed by 2017, E3 looks likely for the chop. Even if the merger begins next year, Our council's already cutting E3 provision, slimming it down to just 17 centres and making the people running the E3 program reapply for thier jobs. It could be the case that the writing is on the wall. Its so concerning that we're provisionally moving our moving date to May this year if E3 disappears. We'll know more around the end of March.
Best wishes,
Jess
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