I recomend it for some people

by Richie
(Alameda, ca)

I am using Rosetta Stone for Mandarin, and at first I really liked it. After wasting my money on a lot of fly by night programs I was happy to start this one. I learned more in one session than I ever did with any other.

The lesson out line is great and gets you used to the way natives speak. I have not done all three for Mandarin but what I have found so far is there are a few things I don't like about it. Sometimes the picture shown confused me, a lot. Sometimes I would look to much in depth what the picture was. Also it took a while to figure out what was a pronoun and what was really the word. Don't expect to use the language your learning right way with this method. If you want to learn a few phrases this is not for you.

Other posts stated the easy way to get lazy with chosing the correct answer. I second that comment, its really easy to use elimination to get the right answer. But you are learning what you see in the sentence but you don't "have to" read all of it.

What made me really like it was when I got a translation book and flash cards. For me I really started to learn a lot faster and it was a lot more fun. The audio play back feature is great. In Mandarin there are four tones and can get real confusing. With the program you can see the native speakers high and lows on a graph and copy it.

I would recomend this program to anyone that wants to "learn" the language. If you just want to say hi and a few sayings you are wasting your money. If you get this program use it the way you want to learn. For me knowing the translation and flash cards is the way I like to do it. Also don't be angry if you can't hold a conversation for a little bit, it will come.