Amazon.com Product Description

Learn a new language with the award-winning method used by the U.S. State Department to train diplomats. Proven effective by NASA astronauts, Peace Corps volunteers, and millions of students worldwide, the Rosetta Stone Language Library teaches new languages faster and easier than ever before.

We all learn our childhood language by associating new words and phrases with the world around us. The Rosetta Stone method replicates this process by presenting vivid, real-life images to convey the meaning of each new phrase. Instead of translating, memorizing, and studying rules of grammar, you actually learn to think in the new language. Vocabulary and grammar are integrated systematically, leading to everyday proficiency.

This comprehensive program provides up to 550 hours of mastery instruction in listening comprehension, reading, writing, and speaking. Systematic structure teaches vocabulary and grammar naturally, without lists and drills. Previews, exercises, and tests accompany every lesson, with automated tutorials throughout the program. Graphical speech recognition displays your voiceprint and compares it with native speakers to help improve your pronunciation. (Ages 6 and older) ... Read more

Reviews (3)

I needed the Rosetta Stone in high school!
This is an amazing product! I have to preface my comments by stating my biases-I think the best way to learn a language is through immersion lessons in that country (this is how I learned Czech). If that's not possible, then the next best way is with intensive lessons with a great teacher (I don't have a Spanish tutor yet, but I'm going to get one). But for those of us who want to study Spanish on our own every day (I do one lesson a day, which takes me about two hours), the Rosetta Stone is awesome. I've never used any other language software, so I don't know if there are other great programs on the market that are this good, but I doubt it.

Why is this product so awesome? It's intuitive, fun (isn't that half the battle in learning a language?), interactive, and comprehensive. I'd describe the method as similar to the Berlitz language school method in that you start the lesson and great looking pictures come up on the screen with the words that match each picture (the obvious difference being that the Rosetta Stone does this with great graphics on your PC versus a Berlitz teacher using a picture book). Then the words are spoken so you intuitively learn by making these connections (you need a good headset).

After you learn the words the lesson goes through the same words, but in 4 different exercises (Listening, Reading, Speaking, & Writing). Over time the words build up to phrases and then to sentences. I really like the creative way the lessons teach each activity while repeating the words/phrases you're learning in a way that's not boring.

The other thing I'd say is these lessons are fun, which means I'm highly motivated to keep learning (I actually look forward to doing my lessons every day!). I wish the Rosetta Stone had a Czech version when I learned that language because it would've changed my experience from being a grind to being enjoyable.

I should mention there are a couple of things that annoy me about the software (in the Writing exercise there's not an Auto-scroll function for 2 of the parts, so you have to click on the next picture to advance; also, there's not an easy way to tell what exercises you've completed in the lesson, so I have to write down what I've finished when I take breaks). Although I'd like to see these improvements made, they are relatively trivial compared to the overall brilliance of this product.

But back to the positives, I've also noticed how mentally exhausted I've been since I started using this program. I had the same feeling the first couple of weeks when I started learning Czech intensively, so this is a good sign my brain is really being stretched by this software.

Lastly, the Rosetta Stone is very interactive because you have to click on the correct pictures/text or type in the correct spelling as you do the exercises. So, it's easy to stay engaged as you're learning, versus feeling being bored by reading some grammar lesson from a textbook or wasting your time making dull flash cards.

Based on the excellent progress I've had so far, I'm going to buy either the Italian or French versions from Rosetta Stone next, since for the first time in my life I'm having a blast learning a language and I'm progressing faster than I thought was possible.

Great software but has room for improvement.
The only thing I don't like about this program is that the method does not take into account the fact that people who try to learn another language have amassed a great deal of knowledge before they embark on a new language journey. For example, in my case my thought process is very much efficient if things are explained not only in pictures but also in textual form, particularly the English language. For this reason, the course should have considered the mother tongue of different people, to make the learning process a lot easier and faster. In my case, to overcome this handicap, I downloaded the PDF text file of the English Level 1 and 2 from the Rosetta Stone website to help me grasp words and phrases that are not adequately conveyed by the visual choices of the program. The English version is not the mirror of the Spanish lessons, but it is a great help when one is lost in the occasional inadequacy of the visual examples of the program. An optional translation of the lessons, by way of one toggle switch in the interface, would have been perfect. With the proliferation of MP3 capable CD players in car stereos and other portable devices, Rosetta Stone should also squeeze all the audio lessons contained in its language disks in just one disk (I am very sure this is possible if done in MP3 format), thereby extending the learning process to the car or somewhere when the learner is simply far from the desktop.

Despite the above, I rate this product as a 5 star, because in less than 3 months of intensive use it helped me attain a very high level of proficiency, which even my Spanish speaking officemates are simply amazed.

Learning A Language With Success
There is no better program we've found than this. Though skeptical at the onset, we made the purchase. An airport sign advertised promises that seemed unbelievable. Yet months later and through interesting lessons, we've grown much in our knowledge of Spanish grammar and context. Give this one a shot, it doesn't disappoint! ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

Learn a new language with the award-winning method used by the U.S. State Department to train diplomats. Proven effective by NASA astronauts, Peace Corps volunteers, and millions of students worldwide, the Rosetta Stone Language Library teaches new languages faster and easier than ever before.

We all learn our childhood language by associating new words and phrases with the world around us. The Rosetta Stone method replicates this process by presenting vivid, real-life images to convey the meaning of each new phrase. Instead of translating, memorizing, and studying rules of grammar, you actually learn to think in the new language. Vocabulary and grammar are integrated systematically, leading to everyday proficiency.

This comprehensive program provides up to 550 hours of mastery instruction in listening comprehension, reading, writing, and speaking. Systematic structure teaches vocabulary and grammar naturally, without lists or drills. Previews, exercises, and tests accompany every lesson, and there are automated tutorials throughout the program. Graphical speech recognition displays your voiceprint and compares it with the native speaker to help improve your pronunciation. (Ages 6 and older) ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Blows the competition out of the water!
Nothing I've seen comes close to this program. It's an entirely different level. But do yourself a favor before shelling out the $300. Go to the rosettastone.com web page and ask for a demo cd. They'll send you a sample with every language they offer included. It gives you a very good sense of what it's all about.

English speaking son in law
Hi,

I bought this program because I am married to a French Canadian and we never taught our kids to speak french. The last visit we had with her parents was the straw that broke the camels back for me, so I did a little research, saw that this program was used by NASA, the State Department and the Peace Corps and decided to go ahead and spend more on any one piece of software than I have ever spent before. I couldn't be happier!
I told the kids, (16 and 14) that I wasn't going to make them use it, it was up to them. Granted, they are probably a little more motivated than most, but the program is fun. I speak a little french, but it is always me translating everything in my head, this program works completely differently than any other that I have ever heard of. There is no english at all, and as you go through you find yourself not translating as much but just answering the questions. Other reviewers have done a better job than I ever will, but my 14 year old figured out the first lesson the first day, and he has never had any french at all. I cannot say enough about it, and if it is the price that is holding you back, all I can say is what is it worth to you to learn french, to learn it faster than you probably could otherwise and to have fun as you are doing it? For me it would be a bargain at twice the price.

Thanks

Excellent learning method!
I have, in the past,purchased every kind of "Learn French" product on the market.Some were good;others lacked real content;some were frankly boring; or some assumed too much about the beginning student.However,the Rosetta Stone method surpasses all of them.In the two days I have been using it,I have learned,and more importantly, retained everything I have studied so far.This is not to say it is easy..but the new words and phrases that are introduced to you make you think and visualize,not just repeat over and over the same phrases/words until you are blind with boredom.Each level includes four different methods of learning,and all of them together equal perfection.When I can comfortably speak/read French on my own,I think I will pursue learning another language..because these programs are so complete and well presented.
I can't recommend this product enough!

Fun to use, very extensive
The Rosetta Stone language learning system is based on the idea that foreign languages should be learned the same way as children learn their very first language - not by learning words isolated from their content and later putting them into sentences using painfully learned grammar rules, but by direct association of words and sentences with visual images. The Rosetta Stone contains no instructions in your mother tongue. If you bought German, the program communicates with you only in German. The only means which the program uses to explain you the meaning of the foreign words are pictures. You may not understand the meaning of the new word or phrase immediately. However, the program will use this word over and over again, and soon you will get an idea what it means. Remember how parents teach their children to talk, repeating the same thing again and again in different combinations? This is what Rosetta Stone does to you. You do not get a translation - insted, you get an image, an idea, a feeling.

I purchased French, but all 24 languages supported by Rosetta Stones use the same software and the same or nearly the same structure of lessons and images. The program works as follows. Once you have chosen a lesson out of a list, you have a selection of several modes of learning. In one, the program tells you phrases, and you have to choose one of four pictures which fits the phrase. In another, you see a picture and chose one from four written words/phrases. In the third, you chose the written phrase which matches what you just heard. In the fourth, you see a written word/phrase and match it with one of four phrases read to you by the computer. The program keeps on making new and new combination of the words and phrases for as long as you need to start feeling confident. If you want to practice your writing, Rosetta Stone will offer you either to put together sentences by dragging whole words with a mouse, or will suggest you to type them in from scratch and will correct you mistakes along the way. Finally, another part of the program works on your pronunciation and intonation. It not only records your voice as you repeat after a native speaker, but also provides graphical analysis of the patterns of your speach, thus helping to identify mistakes. This part of the program requires a high quality headset..., a cheap computer microphone will not work.

This program costs much more than the other programs on the market, but it also has a lot more to offer. Levels 1 and 2 combined contain over 200 units, and each unit may take several hours (depending on your age and language learning ability) to master. A great advantage which helps to make the buying decision is that Rosetta Stone offers a fully functional demo version of the program, which can be downloaded from their web site (rosettastone.com). This demo differs from the real thing in that you can try only 5-6 units out of 210 in any of the languages. This is sufficient to get a very good idea of how you like the program, as well as to understand how the level matches your prior knowledge of this language. Actually, I must say that Level 2 goes pretty far, I was surprised how advanced the sentences were when I opened one of the level 2 units in a language which I learned before.

In French which I bought each level came on 2 CDs, one with the software, the second one with the language library. Probably as a heritage from 1993, when the disk space was scarce, the program reads language data straight from the CD instead of copying them to hard disk. One has to keep the language library CD in the CD-drive, where it starts spinning every half a minute or so. With a noisy 40x drive it is rather annoying. The program runs on any Windows version after 3.1 (including XP) and on the Mac.

Besides CDs, the program comes with a manual (how to install and run the program) and a booklet with cirriculum, which contains a list of all words and phrases used in the program. There is no booklet on grammar, and no dictionary because any of these items standard in adult learning would contradict the spirit and the method of The Rosetta Stone. Both the manual and the booklet can be downloaded in PDF format from The Rosetta Stone's web site (another good way to evaluate how much you can expect to learn if you buy the program).

The developers claim that the program covers 5-year middle/high school program and includes around 2500 words. I had several other language programs in the past, and there is no doubt that Rosetta Stone covers a lot more language than any other program I saw.

Overall, it is a good learning tool, fun to use. It is not cheap, but if you divide the price by the number of hours of patient instructions which you get from your computer, you will end up with a cost which is way, way lower than any teacher would charge per hour for individual or group lessons. All of us used The Rosetta Stone method of learning between the ages of 1 and 7 and keep on using it when teaching our little ones. The fact that the developer remains in business for over 10 years and keeps getting new awards shows that it is also good for adults. I liked it. Check out the demo version, you probably will like it, too. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Decent progam, lousy online support.
This would definitely be the way to go with this company. I used the online version of this program for over a year and found it to be very helpful. When I ran into technical problems, however, the technical support was virtually non-existing. I had to cancel.

The price is a bit steep, but the structure of the lessons and the features are very good. Get the CD and don't suffer the incompetent "support."

Learn vocabulary fast
The Rosetta stone teaches by 'complete immersion'. Using picture context the student asborbs vocabulary with ease. Immediate rewards for correct answers help motivate the learner to keep working. However, there are some weaknesses. First, you need to have a reliable dictionary on hand. There are times that you come to wrong conclusions about word meaning and you must double check with a dictionary. Second, this course is weak in grammar. I recommend a text to demonstrate basic grammatical structures. Last, this software does not give separate phonetic information. you are expected to learn by listening. Certain individuals, based on learning style may want to see phonetic information in print.

The ONLY worthwhile language learning software!
The Rosetta Stone series of language instruction software is "Pimsleur" level of effectiveness and unfortunately, Pimsleur level cost as well.

The programs work on a total immersion basis, with no English used at all. There are several types of drills, ones where you hear a word or sentence and pick it out of a group of pictures, another where you read the text of the word and pick out the pictures, etc. There are also typing drills in your language to help you spell (without having to download special fonts), pronounciation drills that allow you to hear a word, speak it to your computer and hear your voice in comparison to the native speaker played back to you.

This is the first program of it's type I've found where this feature actually works!

I own both German and Russian 1 and 2. There is a LOT to learn here, especially if you do all the types of drills for each lesson. You learn grammar from inference, such as word endings when the subject is "in" something rather than "on" or "under" it. You see the same endings used, compare them with the pictures and you start to recognize patterns.

But one of the best things about this software is the user interface. Since it's an immersion program, there's no English used and by it's very nature needs to be intuitive. This is how it should be done. I've used other types of language software that had a klunky, confusing interface with features that didn't work, etc. None of that is the case with the Rosetta Stone software.

On another note, I switched to Mac about nine months ago and Fairfield Language Technologies sent me out a new Mac OS X systems disc for free, no questions asked. At this price level you'd think this would be commonplace, but it's not. Adobe allowed me to change from PC to OS X when I upgraded from Photoshop 6 to 7, but Macromedia wouldn't and expected me to buy all new software (I didn't). So kudos to FLT for their stellar customer service!

Is it too expensive? I'd say yes, but this is a serious language learning tool for serious self students, and it's a lot cheaper than classes at the U. The axiom is true with both this and the Pimsleur method tapes; you get what you pay for.

Fantastic learning tool for the beginner to intermediate stu
I would have given the product a 5 star review if it could have found the contents of the Lesson CD I copied to my laptop hard drive. You are forced to use the Lesson CD in the CD drive to work the program.

The program is a very good learing tool. You learn to hear, read, speak and write in the language. The early lessons at first seem too easy, until you get to the unit that has you type in the words or phrases for the image you are viewing. That's when the learning starts. The advanced lessons will have you typing whole paragraphs.

Better by far than any Berlitz programs etc. that you commonly find at a computer store.

You won't truly learn a language until you can write in it. This one gives you a really good start! ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

Learn a new language with the award-winning method used by the U.S. State Department to train diplomats. Proven effective by NASA astronauts, Peace Corps volunteers, and millions of students worldwide, the Rosetta Stone Language Library teaches new languages faster and easier than ever before.

We all learn our childhood language by associating new words and phrases with the world around us. The Rosetta Stone method replicates this process by presenting vivid, real-life images to convey the meaning of each new phrase. Instead of translating, memorizing, and studying rules of grammar, you actually learn to think in the new language. Vocabulary and grammar are integrated systematically, leading to everyday proficiency.

This comprehensive program provides up to 550 hours of mastery instruction in listening comprehension, reading, writing, and speaking. Systematic structure teaches vocabulary and grammar naturally, without lists or drills. Previews, exercises, and tests accompany every lesson, and there are automated tutorials throughout the program. Graphical speech recognition displays your voiceprint and compares it with the native speaker to help improve your pronunciation. (Ages 6 and older) ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Good program for memorizing and reviewing
Every program has some advantages and disadvantages, strengths and weaknesses, so I have found this program most useful for associating words with ideas - after all it does contain 8000 pictures. The complete beginner in Chinese may initially make good progress, but then get stuck because the program doesn't contain any grammatical explanations.

I have found Pimsleur Chinese better for developing conversational proficiency. Ultimate Mandarin Chinese book and CDs would provide great addition to new learning because that course fills in the gap which deals with some essential grammar that takes out confusion. A little bit of understanding can greatly accelerate one's progress with Chinese.

Rosetta Stone Chinese has only "pinyin", so if you wish to learn how to read and write Chinese, you'll have to get some other book.

I do think that Rosetta Stone programs could be greatly improved with at least some basic grammatical explanations. For Chinese, it would also be nice, if the Chinese characters were provided. Nevertheless, in spite of all the missing elements that would be very helpful, I have still found this program very helpful for learning Chinese.

Decent intro to spoken language, not useful for reading
This is a useful program for getting a basic sense of the sound of the Chinese language. It's based on the immersion model of foreign language learning, which means lots of repetition, visual cues, and no English translations. (You're supposed to make the association between sounds and pictures intuitively.) This makes sense in principle, as it's a bit like the way children learn a first language.

But if you're interested in learning to read Chinese or understand how the characters work, this won't get you very far, in part because the program doesn't include a Chinese-English dictionary. For this, you might be better off with a good Chinese language textbook and a Chinese text reader / dictionary software package like Clavis Sinica.

If you want a lesson-based program, though, with tutorials, tests, drills, and lots of pictures, this might be worth trying out, at least in the demo version.

Works well for me
I use this program in conjunction with a native Chinese tutor. I've been using it for several months. I started with the online version before committing to buying the standalone version.

In contrast to some other reviewers I find this program to be very good. Some of the points raised by other reviewers are valid, but their importance is blown out of proportion.

The program allows you to practice listening, reading, typing, and speaking. In "tutorial" mode a variety of exercises are used to help train your memory. Things that you get wrong are covered again later in the tutorial as many times as you need to get them right.

The lessons are broken down into units. Each unit covers a small number of concepts. The first few units are a bit tough - but this is only because every single word you hear is new. In later units you already know what most of the sentence means and so learning the new words gets easier.

The software teaches you concepts rather than the word themselves. The meaning of individual words comes from seeing and hearing the words used in different situations. This is an important point to realise as it means you don't have to waste time trying to find every word you come across in a dictionary. An example of this is in the first lesson - you're taught the sentence for "one dog". You don't know at that point that the word "one" is in the sentence, and so you don't actually realise what word is used for "dog" either. The precise meaning of the sentence, and so the learning of the words for "one" and "dog" come once you've progressed a bit further.

This learning approach isn't what everyone is after. If you want to learn lists of words then this program won't suit you.

The pronunciation of words is important in Chinese. Every word is pronounced using one of four tones - the same sound pronounced in a different tone is actually a different word in Chinese. This becomes apparent fairly quickly as there are words taught that show this. For example, the word for "horse" and the word for asking a question are both "ma" but with different pronunciations. Having a picture with no horse in it but associated with the sound "ma" should help you realise what's going on. There are many other examples too. The "speaking" component is also very good for practicing tones - visual feedback is given to show whether words have been pronounced correctly.

In isolation some of the pictures used are initially hard to decipher. However, if you use the "preview" mode before starting a new exercise you'll get to see what the exercise is about and this then makes most of the picture meanings obvious.

Having a Chinese-English dictionary is a good idea - inevitably you will want to check the precise meanings of some things. You can get a free software one from Euro Asian Software.

Poor instruction
I am very disappointed in the Rosetta Stone software for Chinese. The principle is to show you pictures, hear a native speaker say what is trying to be portrayed in the picture, do this multiple times, and eventually you'll learn the language. That is, if I keep showing you a picture of an apple and every time I do I say pinguo, you're eventually going to realize that a pinguo is an apple. Seems pretty straight forward, doesn't it?

The problem is that a number of the pictures cannot be easily deciphered. There are a few pictures that I have no clue whatsoever as to what I am supposed to be identifying. For instance, if I show you a picture of an apple sitting on a plate with a candle besides it and say pinguo, what is the pinguo? The apple? Plate? Candle? There are several times I thought an object was called one thing and then, several units later, I realized I had misinterpreted the pictures. How frustrating! And it's not that bad in the beginning but the further you get into the program, and the longer the sentences, the worse it gets.

Also, the grammatical structure of the sentences is not covered. There is NO instruction on the Chinese language and in fact, there is NO English at all, accept in the instructions on how to use the software. I quickly realized I needed to buy a Chinese dictionary, which was a tremendous help. Even still, it's nearly impossible to decipher long Chinese sentences without some instruction on it. I found the majority of my time was spent trying to find what each word in the sentence meant. This program needs to have an English option that tells me what each word means. Then I can shut it off and try to engrain it in my head. I should not have to spend 50% of my time with my head stuck in a Chinese dictionary in order to understand what this program is trying to teach me.

After completing the first disk of the Rosetta Stone, (level one) I have given up on it. I have since then switched to the Pimsleur program. This program is MUCH better than the Rosetta Stone method. It's a CD so there is not visual, which is one thing that was nice with the Rosetta Stone software, but you have an instructor telling you about the grammar and how the word order goes. Additionally, and this is VERY important in speaking Chinese, I spent 5 months going through the first disk of the Rosetta Stone program and did not know HOW important the actual sound of the words meant. Sure, I could hear the different inflections and rising and falling tones in the words, but I just thought that was a Chinese accent. When I switched to the Pimsleur method, the very first lesson spent a great deal of time discussing how important the rising and falling tones made to the meaning of a word. And you are reminded of this fact through out the program. Needless to say, I was a little upset with the Rosetta Stone. Nearly half-a-year of studying under the Rosetta Stone program and I never knew how important the tones were.

The Rosetta Stone needs to make changes to their program. It is flawed in theory. If good grammar and speaking ability came from only looking and hearing at pictures, and not instruction, kids wouldn't have English classes for 12 years of their life. Rosetta Stone does not provide an instructor to tell you why the word order is the way it is, what a 'measure' word is, that the tones are important and not just a Chinese accent, etcetera. I do not recommend this software. I have found the Pimsleur method much more effective and I was able to speak in simple conversations shortly after I began. I'm not saying Pimsleur's the best because I do not know. But I do know it's better than the Rosetta Stone method.

Excellent approach, but needs adaptation for Chinese
I will say up front that I have not used this entire CD. I have only done the first lesson from the program, which I downloaded for free from the RosettaStone.com web site.

The learning style presented in the Rosetta Stone series really is as good as they say it is. I like the direct presentation of the Chinese and the concept, without English text explaining the grammar, usage, and so on. I also like the amount of repetition that is built into the exercises. Somehow that approach seems to place the language deeper into your brain, if that makes sense. The "game" like style is also fun.

While I was working with it, my one year old son was learning English, and it was quite clear to me that the Rosetta Stone style really is just like a child's first language acquisition. In fact, I felt that working with the program helped me to understand and help my child with his English learning process.

Although I like this learning style, I think it would be an improvement if there were an accompanying guide showing the meanings in English, Chinese characters, and pinyin. A guide would also come in handy if you wanted to work separately with a tutor. Then you could show the tutor a list of phrases and sentances you know so they could practice them with you. For what you pay for this software, it would be nice.

I do have one major complaint about the program - it is not adapted to Chinese. From looking at the free downloads of each language of Rosetta Stone, it is clear that exactly the same concepts are taught in the same order in each language. For example, The first four phrases you learn are "a girl", "a boy", "a cat", and "a dog", whether you are learning English or Swahili. The program is not adapted to the languages individually.

The concept behind the program is that only one new word or phrase is introduced at a time, and the accompanying illustration makes the meaning clear, so your mind can make the association. The problem is that in Chinese the sentance structure can be very different than the Romance languages, causing confusion. For example, in part six of lesson one, you see a picture of a man on a horse accompanied by the sentance "yi ge qi zai ma shang de nan ren". Up till that point you have learned the phrases "A Man," and "A Horse". In the English Rosetta Stone program, the phrase accompanying this picture is "A man on a horse." So clearly, the intention is that you learn the new word "on". But, in the Chinese program the sentance is, literally translated, "A riding located horse top man." So the student is presented with three new words, "riding", "located", and "top," with no clues to figure them out.

I get the impression that they developed the template of this program to work well for the romance languages, and then just decided to make extra money by having translators translate the sentancesinto umpteen languages, regardless of whether the template works in those other languages.

I think it would be a mistake for a beginner to try to learn Chinese using only this program - it would be very slow and frustrating. But the program would be very helpful used in conjunction with a class or tutor. I have not seen any similar programs out there that are better designed for Chinese, so it could be that Rosetta Stone is still your best bet if you like the interactive, total-immersion learning style. ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

Learn a new language with the award-winning method used by the U.S. State Department to train diplomats. Proven effective by NASA astronauts, Peace Corps volunteers, and millions of students worldwide, the Rosetta Stone Language Library teaches new languages faster and easier than ever before.

We all learn our childhood language by associating new words and phrases with the world around us. The Rosetta Stone method replicates this process by presenting vivid, real-life images to convey the meaning of each new phrase. Instead of translating, memorizing, and studying rules of grammar, you actually learn to think in the new language. Vocabulary and grammar are integrated systematically, leading to everyday proficiency.

This comprehensive program provides up to 550 hours of mastery instruction in listening comprehension, reading, writing, and speaking. Systematic structure teaches vocabulary and grammar naturally, without lists or drills. Previews, exercises, and tests accompany every lesson, and there are automated tutorials throughout the program. Graphical speech recognition displays your voiceprint and compares it with the native speaker to help improve your pronunciation. (Ages 6 and older) ... Read more

Reviews (2)

This is a good start
I have completed both level 1 and level 2 and I have learned quite alot, but, I cannot yet claim that I speak or write the Italian language fluently. This is a good course, and worth the money if you are very serious about learning Italian, but it is only a good beginning. It will not teach you much about verb conjugation or how to build a proper Italian sentence. Italian is a tough language to learn for the English speaker and it requires a huge amount of study, and many different types of study sources. This course is probably the best of its type available, but as with all of them it can only take you so far.

Awesome Learning Tool!
I have had some knowledge of the Italian language so I am not a total beginner, but pretty close to it. The reason I purchased this software is that I found myself loosing the little knowledge I had. How this program works is through picture recognition along with coinciding speech. For an example they will show you a picture of a bird in different sequences such as: flying, swimming, and the color of the bird etc... They also show people doing similar actions. By picture recognition, repetitive patterns, and hearing the words, you do learn the language. The pictures do build in a methodical way and eventually you do learn to form the words, and then into sentences. But, there is no explanation in the how and why the grammar works. The word "the" is different in Italian with respect to masculine, feminine, plural, and the program does not explain this aspect of the language. You learn merely by rote imitation. This indeed is how a child learns to speak a language. A nice feature to this software is that the native speaker does speak in a slow pronunciation, in some parts of the program you can really slow the speakers voice down and hear every syllable. The program allows you to record your voice so you can hear your progress. Learning in this way is fun and I do not find my mind wandering. ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

Learn a new language with the award-winning method used by the U.S. State Department to train diplomats. Proven effective by NASA astronauts, Peace Corps volunteers, and millions of students worldwide, the Rosetta Stone Language Library teaches new languages faster and easier than ever before.

We all learn our childhood language by associating new words and phrases with the world around us. The Rosetta Stone method replicates this process by presenting vivid, real-life images to convey the meaning of each new phrase. Instead of translating, memorizing, and studying rules of grammar, you actually learn to think in the new language. Vocabulary and grammar are integrated systematically, leading to everyday proficiency.

The Rosetta Stone Level I program offers a comprehensive course of study for beginning learners, leading to intermediate proficiency. The program contains over 3,500 real-life images and phrases in 92 lessons and more than 250 hours of mastery instruction in listening comprehension, reading, speaking, and writing. Systematic structure teaches vocabulary and grammar naturally, without lists and drills. There are reviews, exercises, and tests for every lesson with automated tutorials throughout the program. (Ages 6 and older) ... Read more

Reviews (10)

The best way to learn
I have looked at nearly a dozen different Spanish programs, but this program really mimicks the way a native tongue is learned. Any program that says that you can become fluent in a language in 2 months is lying to you. How did you learn your native language? Did your parents give you an English grammar book when you were a baby and have you conjugate verbs? Of course not! You heard your parents, their friends, and relatives speak it to you over and over and over again. Through that, you began to pick up words and phrases and were able to associate them with their meaning. But it took you quite a while didn't it? You weren't speaking your native language 4 months after you were born, were you? But over time you became fluent.

People who live in other countries usually become fluent in that language in about 6 months to a year, depending on the language. And that's with hearing it 24/7, speaking it, reading it, and having no choice but to understand it. They are immersed in the language. That is what Rosetta Stone is trying to do. It is immersion. You see the picture, see the words, and hear the phrase or words associated with them. And this way, you never forget it. It's much easier to remember that caballo is horse when you have seen a picture of a horse with the word superimposed on that picture while a native speaker is saying it.

It is going to take a while. There is no such thing as fast-food language. You have to be patient and you have to be dilligent. Repetition in the program is excellent, but the dilligence of the learner is the key to seeing results!

The Most Excelent Program
The Rosetta Stone product is a wonderful way to learn a language. It uses your intuition to teach you and you can choose whether you want to learn to speak, listen, or read and write. You may advance in one area more quickly than in others and more than one user can keep track of their scores. The ease of the program and the ability to quickly learn the language is wonderful. The only drawback to this program is that it does not start with conversational spanish. It also does not break down the verbs and grammar, etc. The books discuss these things, but you travel through the program and learn the way you would if you were having to hear the language (or read it). I love it and so does my 10 yr old. I am not a natural at languages, but have recommended this program to all of my friends. I also have dealt with the company and found them to be wonderful at tech support and in getting me answers to questions.

Not as good as I was expecting
This programs is good listening practice,and offers somewhat useful speech practice, and writing practice, but thats about it. There is no grammar practice at all. In Spanish this is critical. Learning verb conjugations are boring, but you simple have to understand them, same with pronouns ect. The Speech practice and writing exercises are simple repeating, and writing the Spanish you hear. This will do little for your ability to speak, because your going to have to translate the English to Spanish in your head, and vis versa. How can you say anything If you don't know for sure what the words and phrases mean.This is the way children learn right. (...). Want to say I want this or I need that, your out of luck, because this program does not show, or explain how. Everything in this course is third person. You get ton's of the boys are jumping, the girls are running ect. If you go to a Spanish speaking country how useful is this going to be? Like your going to strike up a conversation about someone else with a native Spanish speaker? No verb conjucations for I, you, we!!! A small problem considering you will use these verb conjucations at least 70-80% of the time in the present tense.If you get this course you need a dictionary, a verb conj. book, and if you can afford it the pimseur series, or Barron's FSI (IF you don't have the money). After about half way into the course I stopped, because I felt like I was on a vocabulary treadmill, learning new vocabulary words and little else. That's when I orders some good workbooks like Spanish the Easy way, The the practice makes perfect books, and wishing I would have bought these books first, as I use them and the pimsleur course, and put this course on the backburner. Anyway I will say that sadly this course is by far the best software program available for learning languages, but it's lacking and way overpriced for what you will get out of them. If you want to learn how to speak the language this is not the course for you. If you want to work on listening comprehention, and vocabulary building than you may like it.

For those with much time and litte ability
For those who have never been able to learn a foriegn language this might work. It's tediously repetitive, introducing material at such a slow rate that even the most mentally challenged should find is easy going. Perhaps this explains its popularity in the State Department.
The pace of the course is so slow though that anyone trying to use this to learn a language at a reasonably rapid rate is going to find it little more than frustrating. After a few hours you will finally be able to put together sentence like 'The men are dancing.' That's absurd. Adults dont'NEED to learn languages like children do. We can learn them much more quickly and more efficiently.
All of the exercises provide the user with crutches. One is never forced to come up with the phrase in a foriegn language. One merely has to choose from among those provided. The written exercises are merely dictation. The accent reduction exercises are really exercises in pure mimicry. In short the software is very low-powered. There is no fancy AI here. It's really very crude.
At this price the quality is simply not adequate.
So that reduces the demographic for this product to mentally challenged individuals with a great deal of liesure time, and a great deal of money. If you fit into that category, you might give this a try. Otherwise find something faster, cheaper, better.

My Favorite
I have purchased several different Spanish training courses but the Rosetta Stone is the one that I spend the most time with. I think the program does a fine job of synthesizing the natural process by which all humans learn their native languages. The price is a bit steep, but after working with level one for quite some time I went ahead and purchased level two as well. I figured that based on how much use I'm getting out of it, the money spent on The Rosetta Stone was money well spent. ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

Learn a new language with the award-winning method used by the U.S. State Department to train diplomats. Proven effective by NASA astronauts, Peace Corps volunteers, and millions of students worldwide, the Rosetta Stone Language Library teaches new languages faster and easier than ever before.

We all learn our childhood language by associating new words and phrases with the world around us. The Rosetta Stone method replicates this process by presenting vivid, real-life images to convey the meaning of each new phrase. Instead of translating, memorizing, and studying rules of grammar, you actually learn to think in the new language. Vocabulary and grammar are integrated systematically, leading to everyday proficiency.

This comprehensive program provides up to 550 hours of mastery instruction in listening comprehension, reading, writing, and speaking. Systematic structure teaches vocabulary and grammar naturally, without lists or drills. Previews, exercises, and tests accompany every lesson, and there are automated tutorials throughout the program. Graphical speech recognition displays your voiceprint and compares it with the native speaker to help improve your pronunciation. (Ages 6 and older) ... Read more

Reviews (2)

This is great but too expensive

I gave this 4 stars instead of 5 because I think some of the vocabulary you have to learn wasn't well chosen, for example the parts about cowboys and also there are some tools I don't even know the names of in English. Also you learn numbers kind of haphazardly. The vocabulary is repeated in subsequent lessons instead of being all new in each lesson. I guess that is ok but since you can review the old lessons anyway if I were buying this I would want as much as I could get for the money. The lessons are easy, most of the lessons are beginning, not intermediate, with short sentences or just words. But occasionally you come across some harder lessons.
This is good if what you need is listening and speaking practice. You can always get a grammar book at the library. I am currently trying the online version and so far I like it just fine. I wouldn't mind having my own copy but it is a little too expensive for me.

The ONLY worthwhile language learning software.
The Rosetta Stone series of language instruction software is "Pimsleur" level of effectiveness and unfortunately, Pimsleur level cost as well.

The programs work on a total immersion basis, with no English used at all. There are several types of drills, ones where you hear a word or sentence and pick it out of a group of pictures, another where you read the text of the word and pick out the pictures, etc. There are also typing drills in your language to help you spell (without having to download special fonts), pronounciation drills that allow you to hear a word, speak it to your computer and hear your voice in comparison to the native speaker played back to you.

This is the first program of it's type I've found where this feature actually works!

I own both German and Russian 1 and 2. There is a LOT to learn here, especially if you do all the types of drills for each lesson. You learn grammar from inference, such as word endings when the subject is "in" something rather than "on" or "under" it. You see the same endings used, compare them with the pictures and you start to recognize patterns.

But one of the best things about this software is the user interface. Since it's an immersion program, there's no English used and by it's very nature needs to be intuitive. This is how it should be done. I've used other types of language software that had a klunky, confusing interface with features that didn't work, etc. None of that is the case with the Rosetta Stone software.

On another note, I switched to Mac about nine months ago and Fairfield Language Technologies sent me out a new Mac OS X systems disc for free, no questions asked. At this price level you'd think this would be commonplace, but it's not. Adobe allowed me to change from PC to OS X when I upgraded from Photoshop 6 to 7, but Macromedia wouldn't and expected me to buy all new software (I didn't). So kudos to FLT for their stellar customer service!

Is it too expensive? I'd say yes, but this is a serious language learning tool for serious self students, and it's a lot cheaper than classes at the U. The axiom is true with both this and the Pimsleur method tapes; you get what you pay for. ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

Learn a new language with the award-winning method used by the U.S. State Department to train diplomats. Proven effective by NASA astronauts, Peace Corps volunteers, and millions of students worldwide, the Rosetta Stone Language Library teaches new languages faster and easier than ever before.

We all learn our childhood language by associating new words and phrases with the world around us. The Rosetta Stone method replicates this process by presenting vivid, real-life images to convey the meaning of each new phrase. Instead of translating, memorizing, and studying rules of grammar, you actually learn to think in the new language. Vocabulary and grammar are integrated systematically, leading to everyday proficiency.

This comprehensive program provides up to 550 hours of mastery instruction in listening comprehension, reading, writing, and speaking. Systematic structure teaches vocabulary and grammar naturally, without lists or drills. Previews, exercises, and tests accompany every lesson, and there are automated tutorials throughout the program. Graphical speech recognition displays your voiceprint and compares it with the native speaker to help improve your pronunciation. (Ages 6 and older) ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Four stars BUT....
A high quality, effective interactive learning system. Two complaints:

1) No obvious explanation of grammar. It took me forever to figure out what various particples and other "connectors" meant. If figured this out in an hour at a Japanese class and I am much the better for it.

2) Romaji (spelling Japanese words phonetically with roman/english letters) is a waste. There are differing opinions on this. But my suggestion is to go through the comphrehension and speaking exercises, skip the word recognition and spelling exercises, and supplement the writing with a good book on Kanji and the Kana. Think about it, would a Chinese try to learn German by first trying to spell out all the German words with Kanji? Well, duh...

Fairfield Technologies will send out OS X disks
I had initially reviewed this software more negatively because of the software being shipped with disks for the old Mac system. However, now Fairfield Technologies will replace the disks with new OS X disks, for free, even internationally.

Good product, and amazing service.

Great product (as long as you like the immersion approach)
This software is designed around the immersion approach to learning languages. A drill will show you a picture of an apple, and you'll see the word spelled out while a narrator gives the pronunciation. At various points in the drills, you will have the chance to read the Japanese word for apple, use your logic and language skills to pick the picture for apple after hearing the word in Japanese, and more. Its target audience is the self-motivated learner who's serious about learning and mastering basic Japanese over a 1-2 year period. Anyone looking for a quick and useful phrases for a short visit to Japan should use the Rosetta Stone Explorer or Traveller programs instead of this set. That said, using the Rosetta Stone is a lot cheaper than a plane ticket to Japan, or the tuition fees at intense summer Japanese courses at various universities around the US. If you master all the drills and vocabulary in the program, you will be well equipped to go to Japan, and to continue learning the language in an immersion environment.

The student who has headphones and microphone attached to his or her PC will be able to take advantage of all the listening, reading, speaking and writing drills in the program. Users can switch back and forth between the romanized, hiragana and kanji scripts.

Your Japanese teacher may not have the time (or patience) to give you individualized, repetitive drills. That's not a problem with this program - you can practice all you like and the program will never get tired of you! As such, the program is a good supplement for people formally enrolled in a class.

For the student who dislikes the immersion approach and prefers to learn Japanese scripts and grammar before tackling any listening or reading, I recommend the Power Japanese and Kanji Moments programs from Bayware software.

Once you have completed the Rosetta Stone programs, you will still need some formal study of grammar, but this program covers basic principles like the subject-object-verb order characteristic of Japanese, and basic verb forms.

I used the online version of RS Japanese, and was extremely happy with it, but only because I have very high-speed internet access. Once my use license expired, I could no longer access the programs. If I had the CDs, I'd always be able to refer to the program later. Take your pick based on your own personal convenience.

I liked my RS Japanese experience so much, that I took the plunge and bought the Level 1 Korean edition on CD. ... Read more

Features

• Program selected by U.S. State Department, Peace Corps, NASA
• 8000+ real-life color pictures and phrases spoken by native speakers
• Develops listening comprehension, reading, speaking, writing
• Previews, tests, and automated tutorials for extra help where needed
• 12 activities in each of 210 lessons; for ages 6 and older

Amazon.com Product Description

Learn a new language with the award-winning method used by the U.S. State Department to train diplomats. Proven effective by NASA astronauts, Peace Corps volunteers, and millions of students worldwide, the Rosetta Stone Language Library teaches new languages faster and easier than ever before.

We all learn our childhood language by associating new words and phrases with the world around us. The Rosetta Stone method replicates this process by presenting vivid, real-life images to convey the meaning of each new phrase. Instead of translating, memorizing, and studying rules of grammar, you actually learn to think in the new language. Vocabulary and grammar are integrated systematically, leading to everyday proficiency.

This comprehensive program provides up to 550 hours of mastery instruction in listening comprehension, reading, writing, and speaking. Systematic structure teaches vocabulary and grammar naturally, without lists or drills. Previews, exercises, and tests accompany every lesson, and there are automated tutorials throughout the program. Graphical speech recognition displays your voiceprint and compares it with the native speaker to help improve your pronunciation. (Ages 6 and older) ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Rosetta sends you on the way
I found the Rosetta Stone Method effective to get me on the way to learn the language I needed: Russian. It was the very key break-thru element in my attempts to learn it. I would never had have success without it.

It distinguishes itself very favorably from any other computer-based language training, in that it really sends one on the way, and keeps one there thru the first, always troublesome steps.

However be informed, that it is not self-sufficient. You need a grammar, a dictionary, a good understanding of language structures (i.e. the grammatics of your own or another indogerman language), and more material. I took a lot of text and audio (internet radio) from the internet. I used also other audio/textbook courses to get more volume and substance. Even Mickey Mouse and some pre-school children books in the target language have been helpful. This mix made it sufficient, with Rosetta as the key driving element.

Rosetta Stone does not tell you about these, but the implicit assumption is that of accompanying a teached course. Like the NASA astronauts had, evidently. They were not on their own. ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

Learn a new language with the award-winning method used by the U.S. State Department to train diplomats. Proven effective by NASA astronauts, Peace Corps volunteers, and millions of students worldwide, the Rosetta Stone Language Library teaches new languages faster and easier than ever before.

We all learn our childhood language by associating new words and phrases with the world around us. The Rosetta Stone method replicates this process by presenting vivid, real-life images to convey the meaning of each new phrase. Instead of translating, memorizing, and studying rules of grammar, you actually learn to think in the new language. Vocabulary and grammar are integrated systematically, leading to everyday proficiency.

This comprehensive program provides up to 550 hours of mastery instruction in listening comprehension, reading, writing, and speaking. Systematic structure teaches vocabulary and grammar naturally, without lists or drills. Previews, exercises, and tests accompany every lesson, and there are automated tutorials throughout the program. Graphical speech recognition displays your voiceprint and compares it with the native speaker to help improve your pronunciation. (Ages 6 and older) ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Good vocabulary builder and refresher, not for serious study
I am actually reviewing the online version from Rosetta Stone Online, which makes the full Level I and II versions available by subscription.

Each section consists of a series of Listening, Reading/Listening, Speaking, and Reading exercises. The full version of this software consists of 19 units of 10-12 sections each.

In each exercise, you are given a series of activities consisting of a choice of four pictures and/or pieces of text and/or spoken dialogues (depending on which type of activity it is), and you must choose the correct picture/text/dialogue from the cues.

The exercises are very simple, suitable for children or for quick reviews. If you are new to Arabic, or refreshing your skills after a long period of disuse, the repetition will be useful in building your vocabulary (back) up. You are fed bits of grammar incrementally with each new unit. You start with simply identifying various people and objects, and then add a few adjectives, and then add a few verbs so you are recognizing simple sentences such as "The boy drinks some milk" or "The bird flies" or "This car is not red, it is white," etc. Each unit adds more pieces of grammar and more vocabulary, building up to more complex sentences, different verb tenses, and so on.

However, that is as far as it can take you. Diligently practicing all the exercises should expand your vocabulary and give you basic grammatical skills in Arabic. It will not bring you to the point of being able to carry on a meaningful conversation (unless your conversations are confined to describing objects and pointing at various people and animals and stating what they are doing), nor will it enable you to, say, read a newspaper.

For self-study, this software makes a good supplement to more robust texts and tapes. Don't expect it to bring you up to full proficiency. If you want to do more than recognize simple sentences and learn a lot of "everyday vocabulary," Rosetta Stone is insufficient. However, I do recommend it for the crucial repetition and "training your ear" that every language student needs, especially those doing self-study, if you are at a low to moderate proficiency level.

It is important to note that the text is entirely in Arabic script. You must be able to read Arabic before you can practice anything but the listening exercises. (Get a good book on Arabic script and learn it -- it's not that difficult, a serious student should be able to read the script fairly proficiently within a week.) Also, there are no English translations at all. This is not a bad thing -- the way the information is presented, you are expected to pick up the meaning as you go along, and if you practice the exercises seriously, you will. Just be aware that this software is based on the Audio-Lingual method, so you will find no glossaries or explanations of grammar.

Liked it but it needs a lot of patience and head scratching.
I bought the Rosetta Stone Explorer Arabic course and got through it with some difficulty (but it was fun for the most part).

I have lived and worked in Saudi Arabia and have studied the language and writing so I knew a little bit already. I found that several times it was difficult to determine the gender or ages of the people in the pictures. I also found that the small display (at least half the size of my laptop screen made it more difficult to see the pictures especially if the arabic script is on top of it. It would be helpful also if the Arabic script were larger. I would have liked to see a translation of the Arabic words into English as a way to clear up any confusion that does arise often. It would have been ok to rely primarily on the method that Rosetta Stone uses as long as you can look up the words in question. It would have been really super to be able to point and click on the Arabic script or on the specific images in the picture to get a translation.

It takes a lot of concentration to look at the pictures and try to associate the spoken or printed arabic words to just what is meant to be conveyed in the pictures. Often you have to go back and forth between two or more different pictures to see what is common to the Arabic words being spoken/written. The words are written only in Arabic script and unless you know that Arabic is written from right to left and know what the characters represent you can forget about associating the printed word to any meaning.

Finally, despite the relatively high price for the more advanced Level 1 and Level 2 courses I did enjoy the "Explorers" course and will probably buy them anyway. But first, I want to buy the Transparent Language Arabic course which is considerably cheaper. I also bought the Transparent Languages "101 Languages of the World" course which is the inexpensive intoduction to Transparent Languages more expensive and more in depth course which is much cheaper than Rosetta Stone. It also has immediate translations and a lot of other teaching methods that I find very good.

Good with other resources, but can't stand on its own
I've been using a number of different language software programs as research for a thesis. I've enjoyed using the Rosetta Stone software to study German, Arabic and Japanese. I have lived in Japan and I had studied Japanese for a number of years before I came across this software. It was my first time studying German and Arabic.

My biggest problem with Rosetta Stone software comes from the complete lack of any explanation of the basics of the target language. The theory here is that you will learn the language as a child does by seeing pictures, hearing the words and making the connection. This idea in practice can be a lot of fun and you should be able to pick up some vocabulary and sentence structures in a very short time (as long as the language uses an English alphabet). However, without a few basic pointers on the writing systems of languages like Japanese and Arabic, good luck figuring anything out. For example, if you did not know that Arabic is written and read from right to left with the letters joined together as in cursive English, you stand little hope of ever being able to break words and phrases down into the 28 Arabic alphabet's characters. It wasn't until I went to another source outside the Rosetta Stone software that I realised my massive error in trying to decipher the most basic script. This could have easily been avoided had the software offered a few pages of explanation, or even just the alphabet itself spelled out with English letter approximate equivalents and an arrow pointing from right to left. And Japanese? The same problem times 3 (the number of written character styles in Japanese) and just as confusing.

Final review then? The Rosetta Stone software by itself can be quite useful as long as you are after listening and speaking skills only AND you don't think you'll ever need to see and read the word as you hear it. However, if you were hoping to learn reading and writing in a target language that uses a writing system other than the English alphabet, be prepared to go hunting for additional resources as a primer before you start banging your head against this Stone. After an hour or so of basic tutorial from an Arabic alphabet website, I got back on track with Rosetta, but I was quite annoyed that I ever had to make that extra journey in the first place. A company should not try to claim that its software is an all encompassing program if it falls so far short of just that from the get go. ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

Learn a new language with the award-winning method used by the U.S. State Department to train diplomats. Proven effective by NASA astronauts, Peace Corps volunteers, and millions of students worldwide, the Rosetta Stone Language Library teaches new languages faster and easier than ever before.

We all learn our childhood language by associating new words and phrases with the world around us. The Rosetta Stone method replicates this process by presenting vivid, real-life images to convey the meaning of each new phrase. Instead of translating, memorizing, and studying rules of grammar, you actually learn to think in the new language. Vocabulary and grammar are integrated systematically, leading to everyday proficiency.

The Rosetta Stone Level I program offers a comprehensive course of study for beginning learners, leading to intermediate proficiency. The program contains over 3,500 real-life images and phrases in 92 lessons and more than 250 hours of mastery instruction in listening comprehension, reading, speaking, and writing. Systematic structure teaches vocabulary and grammar naturally, without lists and drills. There are reviews, exercises, and tests for every lesson with automated tutorials throughout the program. (Ages 6 and older) ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

Learn a new language with the award-winning method used by the U.S. State Department to train diplomats. Proven effective by NASA astronauts, Peace Corps volunteers, and millions of students worldwide, the Rosetta Stone Language Library teaches new languages faster and easier than ever before.

We all learn our childhood language by associating new words and phrases with the world around us. The Rosetta Stone method replicates this process by presenting vivid, real-life images to convey the meaning of each new phrase. Instead of translating, memorizing, and studying rules of grammar, you actually learn to think in the new language. Vocabulary and grammar are integrated systematically, leading to everyday proficiency.

This comprehensive program provides up to 550 hours of mastery instruction in listening comprehension, reading, writing, and speaking. Systematic structure teaches vocabulary and grammar naturally, without lists or drills. Previews, exercises, and tests accompany every lesson, and there are automated tutorials throughout the program. Graphical speech recognition displays your voiceprint and compares it with the native speaker to help improve your pronunciation. (Ages 6 and older) ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

Learn a new language with the award-winning method used by the U.S. State Department to train diplomats. Proven effective by NASA astronauts, Peace Corps volunteers, and millions of students worldwide, the Rosetta Stone Language Library teaches new languages faster and easier than ever before.

We all learn our childhood language by associating new words and phrases with the world around us. The Rosetta Stone method replicates this process by presenting vivid, real-life images to convey the meaning of each new phrase. Instead of translating, memorizing, and studying rules of grammar, you actually learn to think in the new language. Vocabulary and grammar are integrated systematically, leading to everyday proficiency.

The Rosetta Stone Level I program offers a comprehensive course of study for beginning learners, leading to intermediate proficiency. The program contains over 3,500 real-life images and phrases in 92 lessons and more than 250 hours of mastery instruction in listening comprehension, reading, speaking, and writing. Systematic structure teaches vocabulary and grammar naturally, without lists and drills. There are reviews, exercises, and tests for every lesson with automated tutorials throughout the program. (Ages 6 and older) ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Learn Thai the Correct Way
This learning series really helped me learn how to listen to the different annotations and accents of the Thai langauge. The speakers are native Thais including men and women. The CD-Rom is very interactive using different learning methods for each lesson. The lessons include listening, reading, and speaking. The exercises are composed of 4 pictures which the narrator describes and you choose the appropriate activity. None of the lessons include an English translation which can be a bit confusing.
Overall this is a great buy for learning how to speak Thai correctly. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Turkish Rosetta Stone
After my first lesson I was able to understand and speak more than over a years worth of personal training.
I first learned of the product from an airline publication and was "bargain" hunting for the same product. Amazon saved me almost 50% off what the airline publication was charging!!!
The lesons are complete and very easy to follow. Hats off to Amazon!! ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Foreign Service Spanish Program
This is for Magellan and everyone else who tried finding the Spanish teaching program used by the American Foreign Service.

I ran into it on a shelf at, uh, Borders Books. The title is:
Barron's Mastering Spanish, 2nd Edition.

ISBN: 0-7641-7597-1

Barron's hypes it as as the program used by our foreign service. And there are two Flavors: Level One and Level Two. Same format in both, 12 CDs and a textbook. Same price for each level: $79.95.

(The software here insists I rate the program, but I have no idea what it's worth, so I gave it 3 stars, to satisfy the implacable electrons.)

What is Immersion Anyway?
This is a response to the review NOT for true beginners, March 5, 2004 Reviewer: A software user from Somewhereinthe USA. You may be a software user, but you don't know what immersion means. Perhaps you should look it up! It's sink or swim with a foriegn language. You should know that there are immersion schools around the world that operate on this basis. How do you think babies learn to talk?

Good When Partnered With Written Work
I self-study, using this in combination with a textbook, and it has been very effective in helping me gain confidence in actually using the language. It probably replaces the "language lab" I had when studying Spanish in college.

One important note: Their customer support is excellent! I've managed to lose two disks, and they've been promptly replaced each time.

Instant Immersion means just that... so no surprises
To the people who complained it wasn't for beginners...the program is called "Instant Immersion" it is if you want to learn it like you were dropped into a Spanish Speaking country with very little translation available to you. There are two schools of learning out there... hold your hand and start from the very beginning...or this way which forces you to learn to be able to do the lessons... some say you can learn a language within two weeks if you are immersed into it. So now you have no surprises and no reason to complain if you get this program.

Great for Spanish Review
I've had the program for a week and a half and am working on the second disk now. It is a very good program for reviewing Spanish (I had Spanish all through HS, through AP Spanish Lit, but I haven't used it since), but I can see how it might be difficult for the true beginner. If you're looking to review Spanish and don't want to be bored with tedious exercises about stuff you already know (or just need to be briefly reminded of), then this is the program for you. While it might not be the most entertaining program available, I haven't been bored and have learned a lot. There are many types of exercises, which keep things interesting while working different skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking).

They definitely throw you right in, but the first exercise doesn't have any wrong answers, they just want you to pick an answer and see what happens. If you roll the mouse over a word the definition pops up in a little box, which is very convenient. There are lessons for learning vocabulary and grammar, but most of the time you are left to figure things out as you go (with the help of those pop-up definitions). The first half of each lesson group is point-and-click with the mouse, while the second half uses speech recognition (one of the best features of the program), so you need a microphone.

You also need a Spanish <-> English dictionary, as the built-in glossary isn't easy to negotiate. There doesn't seem to be a search function and it's all Spanish to English. You have to click on a tab for the first letter of the word, then click to advance the "pages" to get to the word you want. It's much more convenient to just reach for the dictionary than to find a word in the glossary (and I've needed to do so many times). The glossary does work well from within some parts of the lessons, where if you right click on an answer choice you can go straight to that entry in the glossary, but for others (e.g. the crosswords), you don't seem to have access to the glossary at all.

Technical stuff: I have Win XP and the software has run very well on my computer except for one thing--it doesn't seem to be able to access the data for a user (or create a user) unless you run the program as an administrator. There might be some other way to get it to work, but if so, I haven't found it. No big deal, but a little annoying.

The first CD installs on the computer, then when you finish that one, you just switch CDs and continue where you left off. The program doesn't ask for them--but it's pretty obvious what to do. I haven't run the audio CDs on the computer, but they seem to be entirely separate from the computer lessons. I listened to the first one, and I'd actually recommend listening to the CDs before starting the program if you are a beginner--they're much more basic. ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

Learn a new language with the award-winning method used by the U.S. State Department to train diplomats. Proven effective by NASA astronauts, Peace Corps volunteers, and millions of students worldwide, the Rosetta Stone Language Library teaches new languages faster and easier than ever before.

We all learn our childhood language by associating new words and phrases with the world around us. The Rosetta Stone method replicates this process by presenting vivid, real-life images to convey the meaning of each new phrase. Instead of translating, memorizing, and studying rules of grammar, you actually learn to think in the new language. Vocabulary and grammar are integrated systematically, leading to everyday proficiency.

The Rosetta Stone Level I program offers a comprehensive course of study for beginning learners, leading to intermediate proficiency. The program contains over 3,500 real-life images and phrases in 92 lessons and more than 250 hours of mastery instruction in listening comprehension, reading, speaking, and writing. Systematic structure teaches vocabulary and grammar naturally, without lists and drills. There are reviews, exercises, and tests for every lesson with automated tutorials throughout the program. (Ages 6 and older) ... Read more

Reviews (2)

great for learning to understand by hearing and seeing
I began studying hebrew 2 years ago, but with only occasional classes, I found that I understood very little in conversation. This software helped me begin to do that. It has 8 'chapters', each with 11 or 12 'lessons'. The vocabulary starts out easy and slowly becomes more difficult. At the end, the vocabulary is probably intermediate level.

Within each lesson is 10 sets of 4 pictures. A statement is said aloud (there is also an option for reading only), and you click on the appropriate picture. It seems rather simplistic, but it really helps in understanding the language and associating the words and phrases with the actions being depicted.

Overall, excellent. My big regret is that they do not have a level II.

Learn Hebrew easily!
I teach a special education program in a Hebrew day school. I use this program to introduce my students to Hebrew language. It works! Even if a child cannot yet read, he or she can still learn the language by connecting the words they hear with the pictures. They can then use this program to see how these same words are written. I have some students who can study a unit and take the test in the program and get 100% on the reading test first time. The test of matching pictures to the heard words takes a little longer. I also have some students who excel the other way: they find pictures easier, the reading is more difficult. This program enables my students to improve all aspects of their language skills.
P.S. Before I bought the program, I tried the sampler CD, and learned some Welsh myself. This is a language that has always intrigued me - and if I could learn Welsh from Rosetta Stone, I felt that my students could definitely learn Hebrew using it.
Again, it's not the most exciting game, but if you want to learn Hebrew, this is a great way to do it. ... Read more

Features

• This suite of learning applications, games and lessons are designed to dramatically improve your listening, speaking, reading and writing skills
• Exercises and multimedia clips build students' vocabulary, grammar and comprehension skills
• Have fun and build language skills with Word and Sentence Pronunciation activities
• Advanced speech analysis tools compares your pronunciation to native speakers for superior speaking skills
• Talking dictionary includes thousands of native speaker Sound Dictation activities to enhance listening skills

Reviews (1)

Powerful suite although possibly too involved for some
This learning suite consists of about half a dozen programs, each of which does different things and offers different features. I found it very complete and full-featured but somewhat difficult to navigate around because of all the activities and separate modules. Also, it's hard to tell what some of the mouse buttons mean and you just have to click on them to find out what they do.

Four of the programs, such as the Spanish Alphabet Reference and the Spanish Grammar Basics, install as separate applications and can be launched either separately or from within the main program. You'll find the latter two under "Reference" from the main menu.

The main program is called Language Now! which has all the main features. These include My Spanish Adventure with Andre, which shows you a movie with Spanish narration; Conversations in Spanish; Fundamental Spanish, which contains 100 of the most common words and verbs in Spanish; and Survival Phrases in Spanish, which contains hundreds of phrases in English and Spanish.

Also part of the Language Now! program is the pronunciation program, or digital speech analyzer, which combines a wave form anayzer, pitch analyzer, a fricatives analyzer, and a vowels analyzer, which is even more sophisticated than the one that comes with my Instant Immersion Deluxe Spanish program.

The Survival Phrases section in the main program has phrases for over 30 situations, such as "Meeting and Greeting," "Restaurants," "Emergencies," etc. There is also an Activities area which has games like crosswords, word dictation, Vocabulous!, Unscramble, Verb Quest, Plug-n-Play, and Graffiti. In addition, there is a Pronunciation section and Conversation and Speaking section.

The four smaller extra programs include the "English-Spanish Lexicon" or dictionary, the grammar program, called "Spanish Grammar Pro," which is structured like the Windows Help facility, so if you know that, you know how to get around this one too. It might even be different from the one accessed within the "Language Now!" rogram. The third program is called "Shooting Gallery and Crossword," which are sort of self-explanatory. The fourth one is "Before You Know It," which is basically a vocabulary building module almost 40 different word lists on such things as animals, food, clothing, the weather, travel, and so on.

It also includes a "Flash Card" program which I tried, but didn't find very useful. It only seemed to have a few dozen words and it repeated them too often to be of much help, I thought. I liked the Spanish Grammar Basics program which covers in detail all the different parts of speech and defines all of them for you. So if you need to be reminded about what demonstrative pronouns are, a periphrastic verbal construction, or the preterite (past perfect) tense, this will do it for you.

Overall, this is a very full-featured and powerful Spanish suite that I can recommend although it may take some time for you to learn to use all the features productively. For someone that doesn't want anything this complex I recommend the Instant Immersion Spanish Deluxe edition with 8 CD's instead. It also has a speech analyzer but the entire program is structured somewhat differently from the present one. The lessons are sequential and you have to complete them all in order to progress from Beginner Level I to Level II, and from Level II to Intermediate Level I, the Intermediate Level II, and so on. (This isn't quite true as you can jump between levels and CD's if you want, but the program keeps reminding you to do exercises you've skipped within a CD or difficulty level until you do them). This makes it a little more structured and less flexible than the present one although I think most people will find the interface more intuitive and the progressively increasingly level of difficulty in some ways better for learning. But both programs are excellent and will definitely help you take your Spanish to the next level. ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

Learn a new language with the award-winning method used by the U.S. State Department to train diplomats. Proven effective by NASA astronauts, Peace Corps volunteers, and millions of students worldwide, the Rosetta Stone Language Library teaches new languages faster and easier than ever before.

We all learn our childhood language by associating new words and phrases with the world around us. The Rosetta Stone method replicates this process by presenting vivid, real-life images to convey the meaning of each new phrase. Instead of translating, memorizing, and studying rules of grammar, you actually learn to think in the new language. Vocabulary and grammar are integrated systematically, leading to everyday proficiency.

The Rosetta Stone Level I program offers a comprehensive course of study for beginning learners, leading to intermediate proficiency. The program contains over 3,500 real-life images and phrases in 92 lessons and more than 250 hours of mastery instruction in listening comprehension, reading, speaking, and writing. Systematic structure teaches vocabulary and grammar naturally, without lists and drills. There are reviews, exercises, and tests for every lesson with automated tutorials throughout the program. (Ages 6 and older) ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Sometimes you get what you pay for...
After trying two language programs before this and being highly disappointed in their performance I finally put out the money for this program. It is comprehensive and I have found it very valuable in it's method of teaching the Italian language. I highly recommend it.

Love Rosetta stone Italian software
I have had some knowledge of the Italian language so I am not a total beginner, but pretty close to it. The reason I purchased this software is that I found myself loosing the little knowledge I had. How this program works is through picture recognition along with coinciding speech. For an example they will show you a picture of a bird in different sequences such as: flying, swimming, and the color of the bird etc... They also show people doing similar actions. By picture recognition, repetitive patterns, and hearing the words, you do learn the language. The pictures do build in a methodical way and eventually you do learn to form the words, and then into sentences. But, there is no explanation in the how and why the grammar works. The word "the" is different in Italian with respect to masculine, feminine, plural, and the program does not explain this aspect of the language. You learn merely by rote imitation. This indeed is how a child learns to speak a language. A nice feature to this software is that the native speaker does speak in a slow pronunciation, in some parts of the program you can really slow the speakers voice down and hear every syllable. The program allows you to record your voice so you can hear your progress. Learning in this way is fun and I do not find my mind wandering.

Preety good
A very good software but nothing is perfect language always takes a long time and this does not signifigantly shorten the time. But you still learn it faster ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

Learn a new language with the award-winning method used by the U.S. State Department to train diplomats. Proven effective by NASA astronauts, Peace Corps volunteers, and millions of students worldwide, the Rosetta Stone Language Library teaches new languages faster and easier than ever before.

We all learn our childhood language by associating new words and phrases with the world around us. The Rosetta Stone method replicates this process by presenting vivid, real-life images to convey the meaning of each new phrase. Instead of translating, memorizing, and studying rules of grammar, you actually learn to think in the new language. Vocabulary and grammar are integrated systematically, leading to everyday proficiency.

The Rosetta Stone Level I program offers a comprehensive course of study for beginning learners, leading to intermediate proficiency. The program contains over 3,500 real-life images and phrases in 92 lessons and more than 250 hours of mastery instruction in listening comprehension, reading, speaking, and writing. Systematic structure teaches vocabulary and grammar naturally, without lists and drills. There are reviews, exercises, and tests for every lesson with automated tutorials throughout the program. (Ages 6 and older) ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Their method works!
The Rosetta Stone people believe in total immersion. Nothing is translated; all meanings are conveyed by a clever use of pictures. You see a french expression, hear it spoken, and see its meaning illustrated, all at the same time. The method works. It allows the English compartment of the mind to quiet down and the French to take over. I felt that I was absorbing french vocabulary, pronunciation, and sentence patterns more efficiently with this program than by any other learning method I have tried.

For the most part the pictures make the meanings obvious, but when they don't you are on your own. I kept Google running in the background and used its translation facility to look up the occasional mysterious word. That usually worked, but the lack of English translations within the program is a design flaw in my opinion. Doubtless they would protest that including translations would go against the spirit of total immersion. Well, having to stop to look things up in a french-english dictionary is not total immersion either. But this flaw is not fatal. The program is so good otherwise that I was willing to put up with the inconvenience.

The method is not a complete approach in itself. No grammar is taught except for what you can figure out for yourself from the examples. French Now! by Transparent Language is another excellent program that complements it nicely. Rosetta Stone is expensive, but their "French Explorer" is modestly priced and provides a generous sampling of their fuller Level 1 and Level 2 programs. If you simply can't afford the fuller programs you might consider using French Explorer in conjunction with French Now!

only ok
All in all this program isn't bad but it doesn't seem to have anything on grammar. Without learning the grammar of a language it is almost pointless to learn it because you will sound like a fool to someone who knows the language. The only other program I have tried is French NOW by Transparent Language which is just as good as this program, has grammar turtorials, and is much more affordable.

You will be talking in no time.
I have tried a variety of language software titles to learn to speak French and I was beginning to get rather frustrated. After several months, I was still unable to put together coherent sentences. That's pretty sad, considering I've taught English to a variety of ages for 4 years and have a strong grasp on sentence structure. However, there's good news! Within a few lessons, I was putting together ideas with Rosetta Stones' French tutorials. The program uses photographs to piecemeal together ideas. You feel much like a child exploring the world in a new language and you will find yourself thinking in French in no time! In addition, you don't have to sit through boring grammar lessons, it just comes naturally. I highly recommend this product, even though it is considerably more expensive than some of the others, it is well worth the price of admission. ... Read more