Rosetta Stone vs. Pimsleur?

So... in a desperate attempt to learn Japanese in 2 weeks, Deniz and I bought language software. Deniz got Rosetta Stone, I bought Pimsleur, and we've been trying both side by side. So far we've done 3 lessons of each, and neither software has taught us critical phrases like "Help! I'm on fire!" or "Which way to Disneyland?" What a waste. Aren't they supposed to teach you useful phrases? Instead, the Rosetta Stone taught us how to say "boy is holding a cat." Too bad we're not allowed to transport a pet cat on the plane (or in our three month slow boat household goods shipment. yes, I asked.). Even if we did manage to smuggle it into Japan, it would have to be quarantined, microchipped, and fluorescent antibody viral neutralized. I'm not kidding.

Pimsleur is a little better, it's taught us how to say "I speak Japanese." That'll come in handy when we're lost in the Tokyo slums with ninjas chasing us. Right. Pimsleur also doesn't teach us how to read. Not so good if the ninjas are crossword puzzle terrorists. But to the software's credit, it hasn't taught us to say "I read Japanese."

Overall, I think I like Pimsleur better. Partly because it challenges us to recall the words we've learned rather than rotely repeating them. But I mainly like it because smoke comes out of Deniz' ears as he tries to remember how to respond to the questions in the dialogue.