Rosetta Stone is not Satan...

...contrary to popular belief.

I question the validity of any review, good or bad, that uses a great deal of vague descriptors (awful, horrible, great, worst, awesome), and doesn't have any information, and doesn't give any examples. To me, that's an OPINION, and, while valid, doesn't help anyone else. It says, 'I hated it, therefore it sucks', or 'I loved it, therefore it's the greatest thing in the world'. Wonderful, sign me up, you've swayed my opinion. With that said, here is MY biased review;

I am working through Rosetta Stone's Japanese program, and I DO like it. It's fun. However, in my learning, I am also pulling from texts, games, websites, simultaneously, so I am not depending solely on Rosetta for teaching me Japanese. I am instead taking responsibility for teaching myself the gaps. I liked that, for instance just today I looked at a screen for the 5th time, and finally grokked it's meaning. That's learning. That also says that this program is not just presenting you the information, it is also drilling over reviews of that information with you. I found that, if I just was patient with concentrating on what it wanted me to learn at that time, that it would take me along it's path. Rosetta Stone has a plan for you.

I will probably, at some point in the future, get another Japanese program, and it will probably be the one recommended by this gentleman who originally reviewed Rosetta, above. Not because I feel I will need it in terms of Rosetta being lacking, but because I feel it may not only further help me with continuing on in studying the language, but also these overpriced computer programs are a good way to learn pronunciation, something that is important to me. But they are all lacking in some way. It's just;what are you going to do about it.

Some people expect absolute completeness in a language program, some people, myself included, think that's a silly thing to expect. We, the users, are the ones who are going to have to do the work, after all. No one is going to do it for us.

As for Rosetta; Having bought and used their program I can tell you conclusively, 2 things; Nobody's review is going to help you decide whether you will love or hate Rosetta, I haven't found one review yet that helped me. And, If you want to teach yourself a language, you have to take up the yoke yourself. Rosetta(if that is what you choose)will not teach you, it will only help you teach yourself.