When comparing Busuu vs Rosetta Stone, the Slant community recommends Busuu for most people. In the question“What are the best sites for learning foreign languages?” Busuu is ranked 9th while Rosetta Stone is ranked 23rd. The most important reason people chose Busuu is:
Since Busuu puts learners in direct contact with natives, the learning is done in a realistic way - not an idealistic textbook way.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Teaches realistic conversation behavior
Since Busuu puts learners in direct contact with natives, the learning is done in a realistic way - not an idealistic textbook way.
Pro Fast response time
For popular languages, translations can be received very quickly from real people.
Pro Teaches by theme
Instead of teaching words by most used, they are taught by case. This way, users can prepare for specific situations.
Pro Speech recognition technology
Instead of teaching word recognition, Rosetta Stone uses speech recognition technology to make sure that students are learning to pronounce the words correctly.
Pro Provides immersive learning without uncomfortable experiences
While trying to cary a conversation in a foreign language can be an effective way to learn, sometimes it causes a lot of stress. Rosetta Stone takes this concept and applies it to a stress free environment.
Pro Real human contact
At the end of each lesson, students are able to review live with real teachers.
Pro Games with other students
When learning another language, a learner from that language can be invited to play a game for mutual learning purposes. Unfortunately, Rosetta Stone hasn't spread very much to countries outside of the US, so this game system isn't very developed yet.
Cons
Con Ineffective "review" section
When a section is over, there is a multiple review session. Many of the questions are totally irrelevant and are not useful for learners.
Con Chat system doesn't support letters with accents
Busuu only accepts regular characters in the text fields, so non-native languages may be limited.
Con Makes no use of native language
While Rosetta Stone tries to emulate "learning by immersion," many people find the inability to find direct translations of words to be an unnecessary an ineffective part of the program.
Con Uses the same course for learners of different nationalities
For a user learning English, the course will be the same whether they are Chinese, Russian, Italian, etc.. While this is a good way for the company to remain efficient, many cultural differences are overlooked.
Con Inconvenient meeting times for teachers
For users in the US, it can be easy to find a teacher to work with. In any other country, it can be extremely difficult to find an available teacher because of the differences in timezones.