A guide to language learning with Rosetta Stone and Pimsleur

Learning a foreign language, whether you are traveling, studying abroad or simply want to expand your communication possibilities can seem overwhelming at first.

Using language programs can help you considerably to learn and comprehend the language that you are striving to perfect.

Two very good choices of language programs are Rosetta Stone and Pimsleur.

The Rosetta Stone program is wonderful to help you develop the ability to communicate with others in the language that you are learning. This program helps you to associate images with words and actions. The Rosetta Stone language program is interactive.

You use your computer and have access to more than 8,000 real life color pictures and phrases which are spoken by natives of the language of choice. The curriculum contains 12 different activities and a total of 210 lessons to teach you the language.

Using total immersion and intuitive learning processes, this program will provide you with a series of tests and exercises that will help you quickly and easily transform your communication to the language that you are learning.

The United States State Department purchased several hundred copies of Rosetta Stone and now makes this program available to Foreign Service Officers and their families to help with the languages of the countries where they are living.

Probably the best course of action for becoming completely fluent in any foreign language is to combine the Rosetta Stone program with Pimsleur.

While Rosetta Stone uses word and image association you really do not learn simple conversations at first.

The reading and writing section does help with the language barrier but when combined with the Pimsleur program you can intermingle the lessons and really become fluent in your new language.

Pimsleur programs are wonderful for helping you to develop conversation fluency. These programs are suited for those who may have more difficulty in learning foreign language or for those who simply do not have the time or motivation to devote to the learning process.

They are audio lessons that strive to teach you this new language by listening to the speaker. Pimsleur programs use a virtually effortless learning system that will help to expand your vocabulary as well as master reading and writing abilities.

Typically each comprehensive level in the Pimsleur programs contain 30 half-hour sessions.

You can take them with you in the car or on a plane to give you more time to master your new language skill. They work very quickly at getting you to a comfortable conversation level in your new language as well. Many enjoy Pimsleur because of the lower cost and the convenience over Rosetta Stone.

Truly the best way to learn a new language however is to combine both these programs and use them both for their strong points. Learning a foreign language is not easy however it does not need to be as difficult as some believe.

By combining two programs that each offer a unique learning structure you are giving yourself the ability to pick up the basics in this new language quickly and easily.

Both these programs are highly popular in learning many languages from Chinese to Russian and each offer something that the other does not.

By using both systems you are giving yourself a much better chance of becoming fluent in the language that you have chosen to learn.