<p>Has anyone used PowerGlide for French or other languages? What did you think of the program?</p>
<p>I used the Spanish version for my kid. This was 10 years ago, and I think it might have changed a bit since then. We liked it at first and made good progress, and then just bogged down. Whatever you do end up with, I would suggest more than one approach - maybe Pimsleur or Rosetta Stone as well.</p>
<p>Thanks! Which one is better, Rosetta Stone or Pimsleur?</p>
<p>Well, if you had asked my son, he would have said Pimsleur. My daughter would have said Rosetta Stone. It all comes down to learning style, I suppose. Try your library for tapes, and see if you like one. I think it is also a good idea to get a computer based program. Try free trials, etc.</p>
<p>OTOH, both my kids found it very difficult to learn a language in a home setting. I eventually gave up on my son, and luckily he got into a college that does not have a language requirement (and also got into several which do). Since he stopped after 9th grade, I was able to say he had 2 years (8th and 9th). He wasnt going to get accepted for his ability to speak a foreign language, anyway!</p>
<p>My daughter seems to have a natural ability for languages. She came to me a couple of months into 9th grade and told me she had gone as far as she could at home with Spanish. She didnt want to take a cc class - instead, she decided to switch to Latin, which is more about reading than speaking. It is truly a perfect language choice for HSers.</p>
<p>My daughter also did Latin. She took a correspondence course and completed 2 years that way. (This particular program only offered Latin 1 and 2.) Then she took the SAT Subject Test in Latin.</p>
<p>The college where she's just started her freshman year requires applicants to have a minimum of 2 years, so that was fine. She's also just started taking French there now, and since it's a spoken language it's of course made easier by having a French speaking teacher in the room with her.</p>
<p>But for her, Latin was a very good choice for "high school" just as anotherparent says. It was challenging though. In Latin textbooks they tend to move through the grammar much, much faster than spoken language classes do.</p>
<p>We have never used Rosetta Stone.</p>
<p>Pimsleur is awesome for actually teaching you to speak a language. We all used it before a trip to China a few years ago and were constantly complimented on our accents. It teaches no written reading or writing at all, though, so it would need to be supplemented.</p>