Rosetta Stone Personal Edition contains everything you need to give the voice inside of you a new language. The method used recreates the natural way you learned your first language, revealing skills that you already have. This approach has won numerous awards, and has been adopted by countless organizations, schools and millions of users around the world. Join the language revolution today. Only with Rosetta Stone. The comprehensive language-learning solution that fits your life. Learn Naturally
Learn your next language the same way you learned your first language. Dynamic Immersion empowers you to see, hear and comprehend without translating or memorizing. You already have this ability. Rosetta Stone simply unlocks it. Engage Interactively
Get feedback to move forward. You learn best by doing, and you'll apply what you've learned to get to the next step. Rosetta Stone adapts to your individual needs and skills, because you drive the program with your progress. Speak Confidently
Start speaking immediately. From the very first lesson, you'll speak. You'll begin with essential basics, which form the building blocks of the language. Soon you'll create new sentences on your own, using words you've learned. Have Fun
Best of all, Rosetta Stone is addictive. With every entertaining activity, you'll feel success. You'll want to use Rosetta Stone to have that next moment, that next breakthrough. So you'll keep using it, and you'll learn more! That's language-learning success.
That's Rosetta Stone. No translation or memorization required. The most effective way to learn a new language is to be surrounded by it. When you were an infant, your parents taught you this way, by intuitively associating words with images. That's the ultimate language lab, but most language-learning programs completely ignore this. Think about all of the ways you've tried to learn a language: classes at school, tapes and cassettes, even software that uses your native language as a base for your next one. What do they all have in common? Translation and memorization. 
Instead of taking a "direct flight" from your brain to your new language, translation and memorization connects you to your old language. You always have to "fly" from your brain, to your native tongue ... and then translate what you've memorized to communicate. That might work for a few words, but what happens when you get to a sentence or phrase? When you have to change tenses? You're going to make a lot of "connecting flights." That's why those other methods are so frustrating ... and why they fail. Enter Dynamic Immersion.
This method encourages you to think like a baby. You'll pair words with vivid, real-life images and make connections between things you know and the new language. Soon, you'll be thinking in a new language, stringing words together into phrases that you create. Innovative technology.
Rosetta Stone places this Dynamic Immersion method at the core of a suite of software that works with you to develop your skills. The simple, intuitive interface helps to keep you engaged in the solution, while advanced speech recognition technology makes certain that you're speaking correctly and accurately. Best of all, Rosetta Stone never leaves you behind. You'll only move forward when you're ready, when you've become comfortable and confident. Communicate and connect with the world: Level 1, 2 & 3 Set.
Rosetta Stone Level 1, 2 & 3 Set will take you on a journey from the basics to a whole new level of sophistication. You'll build a foundation of fundamental vocabulary and essential language structure. You'll quickly gain the confidence to engage in social interactions. Say "hello" and "goodbye," arrange travel, order food, go shopping and more! From there, you'll share your ideas and opinions, express feelings and talk about your life, your interests and more. You'll discover a voice. In a new language. Audio Companion
With Audio Companion, you'll enhance the Rosetta Stone experience wherever you go. You'll learn new skills on the computer, and then reinforce what you've learned with Audio Companion. Simply play the CDs on a stereo or download them to a MP3 Player. Each Audio Companion activity corresponds to a lesson in the Rosetta Stone software, so you can turn your travel time into productive language-learning time. Inside the box, you'll find: - Version 3 Personal Edition CD-ROM software for Levels 1, 2 & 3 (Windows/Mac)
- Headset microphone
- User's guide
- Audio Companion, a multiple-CD set to play or download to your MP3 player
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 Chinese is Hard, Rosetta Stone Makes it a Bit Easier |
| Review Date: September 5, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Stephanie Sane, from the Asylum |
Chinese is not an easy language to learn. Let's face it, they're all hard. I was fortunate as my sister and I were kinda raised all over the world. We both speak fluent French and Spanish, both do a smattering of Italian and Portuguese, because my old dad really wanted his girls to be world wise.
I've spent the last couple months with Rosetta Stone for Japanese and it's working well for me, so now I'm doing the Chinese as well. It's harder than Japanese and like Japanese, the grammar is very different, but Japanese isn't tonal, so maybe that's why I find it easier. Also, I learned Hiragana and Katagana right away, you can't do that with Chinese. Reading in that language is going to be forever beyond me, I'm afraid.
So other than that how do I like the Rosetta Stone for Chinese? Well, having actually been immersed in a few foreign languages when I was a child, I have to say that I like it a lot, though I imagine it's a bit harder for students of English than Spanish or French would be, because, as I've said, the grammar is so different and I think you probably have to spend more time on your listening and repeating skills than you would have to with a language that uses the Roman alphabet.
I don't recommend more that forty-five minutes or a hour a day with the program, because I think you need time for the lessons to sink in before moving on. Actually a half hour in the morning and again in the afternoon, if you can swing it, would be good, I think anyway.
And the most important thing about the Rosetta Stone is that it doesn't make Chinese a chore. Just take it slow and easy and let it gradually sink in. Rome wasn't built in a day, after all. |
We are native Chinese speakers and are impressed!
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| Review Date: October 16, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Olivia, |
The primary purpose for this was to teach my 6-year-old son Mandarin Chinese. We feel guilty that we have not had time to teach him.
After getting the software, I spent 2.5 hours and my husband spent 40 minutes to evaluate the first CD independently. And both of us were impressed with the quality.
Here are a few things I like:
1) The voices are perfect Mandarin Chinese - (some other videos, such as from Learning Tree, are not).
2) You wear head-phones and repeat back the words or phrases you've learned into the microphone - wrong tones will be detected.
3) Progress at your own pace and your scores are tracked.
4) Game-like experience - less boring than other methods.
5) You can select the option to show both Chinese characters and Pinyin at the same time.
For the first week, my son's scores ranged widely from 65 to 100 when he was doing the lessons. I think he wanted to move quickly. So I asked him to achieve at least 85 before he can move on to the next lesson. Now he makes himself achieve 100 before moving on. A few weeks later (he does only two lessons a week per my request), he was placed into Advanced Beginner Level at the local Chinese School - one grade up.
The most amazing part is, he uses this software twice a week without being prompted!
Update review on 3/19/09. Still 5 stars - although I found some mistakes in the pronouciations (not many), all the above points are still valid. My six-year old now does this 4 times a week with little prompting. Earlier this year he had been promoted to level 3 at the chinese school, all because of this software. We unfortunately still do not have time to teach him, and his chinese school is more of a social place with 1 hour class and 1 hour social event every week during the school year.
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It's fun, it works because it's multidimensional
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| Review Date: September 1, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Dave Millman, San Jose, CA USA |
This is not like French class in high school! No grammar, syntax, or conjugation!
I really want to say, I'm very excited by this product. I've always been intrigued by the possibility of learning Chinese, but each time I looked into the options, I quickly gave up. The other books and tapes I've looked at are difficult and "flat", as in uni-dimensional. You either repeat what's on the tape ad nauseum, or read what's in the book ad nauseum, you get the idea.
The Rosetta Stone Chinese program is very different. It's multi-dimensional in the sense that it gives you several ways to learn. You can use the computer-based tools to speak and get instantaneous feedback. You can use the Audio Companion CDs in your car (actually, on my iPod!) to practice while driving or whatever. Within the computer based tools are several ways to learn, including a cool Milestones test that inserts you into a real life situation where you have to speak the right answer. I was actually intimidated to try this for a few hours, because I didn't want to screw up, but eventually I tried it, screwed up, and learned more by doing so.
I really like the Rosetta method of presenting you with visual images and spoken language for you to repeat, then visual "puzzles" for you to deduce the correct response. This is very natural once you get into it. It took me a while to get the "rhythm" and patterns of the language, but this method in particular helped me over that hump. That's the main reason for my 5 star rating. I couldn't get that from a "flat" book or tape series.
This set includes everything, including the computer headset and microphone, so you just drop it all in and go. It worked flawlessly on my vintage 2006 Windows XP laptop.
Important: You are going to have to set aside time to learn Chinese with this or any other system. Five minutes here and there won't work. The program is broken up into lots of modules, so it is easy to focus on a small amount of related material at once, but FOCUS is the issue: I recommend 30-90 minutes at a time with no distractions (audio or visual!).
The downside: I don't think I'm going to become fluent reading or writing Chinese from this system. I didn't expect to be able to read written Chinese, so I did not reduce my review for this limitation. Perhaps others will have more luck, because the features are there to help you read two kinds of Chinese writing, but I don't think that part is going to make me literate. I can recognize some Chinese characters at this point, but there are thousands you have to know to be literate.
By the way, if you want to get a taste of the Rosetta Stone method, go to their web site where they have an online sample of the watch-listen-try system (for Turkish!). The online sample does not include the instant feedback on your spoken words included in this package, or the Milestones or other features. It just grades your point-click responses, which will give you a taste. Plus, there's a Michael Phelps testimonial video about the Chinese program (recorded before he won all the medals in Beijing!) |
You get what you pay for
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| Review Date: September 7, 2008 |
| Reviewer: David M, Zionsville, IN USA |
I have been studying Chinese loosely for several years. I have cobbled together informal classroom settings, audio lessons via Pimsleur, several software packages, and most recently Rosetta Stone. I have gone to China a few times for brief stays and practiced there. So how does Rosetta Stone measure up as a way to acquire Mandarin?
Several years ago, I explored Rosetta Stone in an earlier form: it didn't quite provide what I needed. However, in its latest incarnation, it has been a most important complement to other the other techniques. First, I can compare the strengths of the other approaches. Classes are slow, methodical, complete, and the feedback on pronunciation essential. You get the best writing practice in courses. However, the pace requires several years of steady, hard work. Second, Pimsleur is a great audio device that adds ear training and speaking practice. Because you listen in your car and other "in between" places, there is a lot of time on task. It's much faster than classes, because we obtain useable phrases and speaking training quickly. It is difficult to develop complex ideas, but you can acquire good "street training." I could barter in markets and get around Beijing comfortably. Software packages (not Rosetta yet) are helpful reinforcement of vocabulary and reading, including some clever uses of word order and basic grammar. From all of this, I could cobble together rudimentary communication, but no total comfort zone.
For years, I really wanted to try Rosetta Stone, but it has always been a bit more expensive than I wanted to spend. But after I think what I invested in the other formats, it doesn't seem so expensive these days. My review is from the perspective of having some conversational ability, but a minimal level.
Version 3 is a much more complete program than I remember. It now offers a relatively complete, immersive forum for learning Chinese. The approach is "discovery" rather than dry syntax lessons. Visual contrasts are used to insert both major and subtle differences in usage, develop intuition about word choices and order, but not translate passages (but identify them with pictorial sequences). Since there are elements in Chinese that do not occur in English (measure words or other phrasing constructs), it is interesting to see them appear differentially visually and how syntax is introduced in the lessons. This would be the way children first learn language, and that context reinforces the learning. Lessons are woven together to reinforce differences in word use. New vocabulary is introduced at a rapid pace; both the Pinyin (Roman letters) and Chinese characters are both used. However, the drill and review approach is evident and effective: the lessons move you through usages and sentence construction. You get scored on each lesson, so you can raise your performance level before proceeding to more advanced lessons.
A USB headset-microphone is included in the box so both ear-training and speaking are integrated throughout. The learner speaking performance is evaluated by the software, and it does differentiate subtleties of tone. I sometimes think I'm saying something correctly, and it says no. But it does differentiate pronunciation. I think I will need to go further to accurately assess their evaluation of my speaking, but I am thus far impressed.
I am currently in unit 1 (level 1) and have completed three of four parts. The pace is not lightweight. It is a very well engineered product and the cognitive leaps are there. This is not a simplistic program, and if the escalation of complexity continues at the current rate, I might be pretty good by the time I get to Level 3.
Tough review sessions are integrated as you move through the lessons. The program does manage to continue integrating many past elements that effectively reinforce learning. Milestone markers address those elements as well. The set also contains Audio Companion to give you on-the-go practice.
Overall this is an excellent product, and it fits my needs to maintain some credible level of Chinese language proficiency. I think it is a product that novice learners can use effectively, and you WILL learn Chinese. I think with all approaches, there is no substitute for immersion with real people speaking Chinese. But this product offers sufficient interest and charm to engage the learner. This is often the most elusive part of learning and the interface sustains interest. The individual learning "quanta" is 5 to 10 minutes in most cases, so like Michael Phelps, you can practice between races.
I highly recommend this product. It would have helped me earlier in my learning, but it is also doing so now. Like so many things, this is a product where the quality measures up to the cost. Don't expect $50 software to do what Rosetta Stone can do. However, the real learning? That is now up to me. |
Makes Language Learning Fun, Really!
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| Review Date: September 3, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Kesha Dylan, Washington, DC |
The Rosetta Stone method tries to emulate native speakers by plunging you right into the language, not quite total immersion, but perhaps the next best thing. It accomplishes this with pictures and phrases, without taxing you by making you memorize vocabulary and making you conjugate countless verbs. You sort of assimilate the language by association as you look at a photo, hear a phrase and try to figure it all out. Does that sound difficult? Believe it or not, it's not.
One nice thing about Rosetta Stone is that you can move at your own pace, without worrying about being left behind. However, you have to be careful not to go too long before going back to the program. Like a child learning how to talk, you have to keep at it, but if you do (you can skip a day here and there) you'll find you really do pick up on the language.
I have had prior experience with Rosetta Stone, so there were no surprises for me. In fact it was kind of like starting over with a new friend when I went to the first lesson. If you really want to learn a language and if you dedicate the time to it, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at how fast you advance. |
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