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Review of Rosetta Stone
Rosetta Stone is one of the most popular language learning software methods. They are obviously very successful, as their ads can be seen not only on the internet, but in magazines and even on tv. Is the program really as good as they say? How Rosetta Stone Works Because it is software, it can easily integrate audio, text and images. This allows the learner to associate the sound and look of the written language with real-life images in a natural way. This is what they mean when they say that Rosetta Stone teaches you a new language the way you learned your native language. At the beginning, you are presented with a series of pictures and a word is spoken with the accompanying text on screen. You must then select which picture goes with that word. You may already have a clue as to which one it is or not. If you get it right, you move on. If not, you try again until you get it. These mistakes are actually essential to this learning process. You will learn very quickly during this trial and error process. In time, words become phrases, then full sentences. Ideas and concepts begin to replace simple objects and actions. Through pattern recognition, more and more of the language is understandable. Slowly, but surely, you develop a foundation in your new language. This is all done without any translation into English. It's all done in the language you are studying, and this is one of the strongest advantages of Rosetta Stone.
You can choose which units and exercises you want to study, or you can just let the software take you on its guided tour through the whole course. It's really pretty flexible. This means the student can focus more on weak points to improve them, and you can work at your own pace. Rosetta Stone also offers an online subscription. Rather than buy the software, you can have a monthly subscription and access the software from any internet-capable computer. It is a more affordable and flexible option that might appeal to some. The best way to know for sure if Rosetta Stone is right for you is to view their online demo. Try it for yourself so you can see if it fits your learning style. There are some languages where Rosetta Stone may be the best option to learn. Very few publishers make a language product for Pashto, Hindi, Polish, Thai, Turkish and Vietnamese. These languages are all available for Level 1. There is also a Level 1 and 2 for Farsi, Tagalog and Dutch which has surprisingly few commercial products available.
One aspect of the software that I noticed was that even if you had no idea what a correct choice was, you could often choose the correct one by guessing, taking a visual clue from the picture or the process of elimination. The exercises can be a little repetitive or tedious. It was easy to lose focus, get lazy and just guess. You could say that it is still learning. Sometimes you are focused and others you are not. But, whether you are using tricks, the process of elimination, or using guile, you're still learning. Perhaps, but I thought there were times when the software allowed me to act that way. In a similar way, I found it was easy to pick up visual clues from not just the picture, but from the text. This may be a good thing at times, but it is much easier to pick up visual clues from languages with Roman alphabets, like Spanish, Italian, German etc. But the same is not true for others, like Chinese, Arabic, Hebrew, Russian etc. This might make the software seem more effective for some languages, when in fact it is just easier to cheat. Of course, with the flexibility, you could adjust the exercises that you are using - take out that text/visual clue. But how many users would recognize this weakness in their learning, or even wish to take it out? One thing that I personally don't like about Rosetta Stone is that there is little to actually use early on. You are getting a good foundation in the language, but you can't go out and use it. There isn't any conversation until level 2, but then in the new Level 3 it gets really good. Some would say this is necessary - first learn proper pronunciation, listening skills, sentence structure and word order. Then learn conversation. It's a matter of individual learning styles and goals.
I have used it myself and I think highly enough of it to endorse it on this site. As with all methods, I would recommend using it in conjunction with another method or other complementary learning materials. It may be more expensive than some other methods, but if it works for you then it is money well spent.
Rosetta Stone language learning software is available for the following languages for Level 1, 2 and 3 : Arabic, English (British), English (American), French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazilian), Russian, Spanish (Latin American), Spanish (Spain), and Irish.
Chinese, Dutch, Farsi, Greek, Hebrew, Japanese, Tagalog
Danish, Hindi, Indonesian, Korean, Latin, Pashto, Polish, Swahili, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Vietnamese, Welsh
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