4 stars (A useful and fun programme) - After studying Russian, by myself, for about six months, I found that although my knowledge of the grammar and the vocabulary had progressed, my speaking and listening skills remained poor. I decided to buy Rosetta Stone Russian in order to learn how Russian words and sentences sounded. The programme was easy to install and easy to use. Best of all, I really enjoyed using it. The programme begins by showing four pictures and a word. The task is to pick the picture corresponding to the word. It is possible to choose whether the word is spoken or written, or both spoken and written. Gradually as you progress you meet simple phrases and eventually sentences and whole paragraphs. This method works really well as you are continually tested, while the whole learning experience feels more like a game than studying. While the listening and reading elements of the programme work well, I found it was less successful with regard to speaking and writing. The speaking part of the programme involves attempting to imitate a native speaker. The programme compares the sound you make with what the sound should be. I generally found it almost impossible to imitate the Russian speaker in such a way that the programme considered I had done so successfully. I therefore found this aspect of the programme more frustrating than useful. The writing part of the programme unfortunately requires using a very fiddly onscreen keyboard, which makes the whole process very slow and tedious. The key thing anyway with writing Russian is learning how to form the letters by hand and no computer programme can teach you to do this. I would suggest that someone beginning to use this programme should at least already know the Russian alphabet and ideally some of the grammar. Moreover to complete some of the exercises a dictionary is essential. There is no doubt that working through all the exercises is very useful. I found the programme especially good at helping ... Fairfield Language Technologies :: rosetta :: stone :: russian :: level :: 1 :: 2 :: win-mac :: personal :: edition :: fairfield :: language :: technologies :: software :: mac :: rosettastonerussianlevel1-2win-macpersonaleditio :: Rosetta Stone Russian Level 1 - 2 Win-Mac Personal Edition
4 stars (Good for the Technically Challenged) - What I like about this software is that it does not come with too many "gadgets." At my age, I am "technically challenged." So this software worked out fine for me with my limited computer skills. I also like the fact that this software covers Castilian Spanish. It is probably the only course available that exclusively covers Castilian Spanish in such depth since Pimsleur and Learning Like Crazy only offer Latin American Spanish courses. The downside of this software is that you will not learn much Spanish grammar with it. If you want to learn the rules and mechanisms required to combine words and form sentences in Spanish, you will have to buy a good Spanish grammar book. For that I strongly recommend Spanish Grammar for Independent Learners by Avigail Azoulay, Arie Vicente. It is more expensive than other Spanish grammar books but it is well worth the money. ... Fairfield Language Technologies :: rosetta :: stone :: spanish :: spain :: level :: 1 :: -amp :: 2 :: win-mac :: personal :: edition :: fairfield :: language :: technologies :: home :: education :: teaching :: tools :: rosettastonespanish( :: Rosetta Stone Spanish (Spain) Level 1 -amp- 2 Win-Mac Personal Edition
5 stars (unlike any other!) - This program is amazing. We have an apartment in France, and for five years have been attempting to learn the language. This is a fun and different approach with which we have made more progress in a month, than past years of memorization and boring drills. 5 stars (Fantastic Program) - I have been meaning to learn French for quite some time and have picked up some books and audio tapes but got quickly frustrated and discouraged. However, after ordering this software I am starting to think that I may actually be able to learn French. As a little background I have never been good at languages and I was not very good at my foreign languages in school (could barely speak a word). I am an absolute beginner at French an was very nervous that my past performance in learning languages would prevent me from learning French. I was also a little nervous when I read some of the other reviews that said this might not be the best program for beginners, but I ordered it in the hopes that I could at least try something new. I am extremely happy with my purchase. The proram walks you through French in a very intuitive manner, and though there aren't any explanations it starts you out so slowly that you are easily able to figure out the meanings of what you are seeing on the screen. There is something to be said for learning a language by recognition and repetition rather than learning the grammer rules first. I do use my grammer book occasionally (I bought it before this) but only to satisfy my curiosity about certain thins like feminine and masculine articles, and singular and plural nouns... Honestly this is a fantastic program that teaches you how to speak and hear French with amazing success. You do learn the grammer rules, but you figure them out for yourself by comparing phrases and by building on earlier lessons. It really is similar to the way a child learns to talk (without ever having to know what a past participle is). Bottom lin... Fairfield Language Technologies :: rosetta :: stone :: french :: level :: 1 :: win-mac :: personal :: edition :: fairfield :: language :: technologies :: software :: mac :: rosettastonefrenchlevel1win-macpersonaledition :: Rosetta Stone French Level 1 Win-Mac Personal Edition
1 stars (very SLOW way of learning japanese) - I don't recommend this software for several reasons: 1) You're learning words by associations frame by brame, picture by picture. Think about this. A baby will spend at least 2 years of immersion before he can speak anything that makes sense. As an adult, how much comprehension will you get from this software by spending 1 hour a day? 2) The set of pictures that you're shown is flawed and unintelligent. In most cases, you can get the right answer by process of elimination. The same set of pictures that you see in this Japanese version is also shown for French and other languages. This software is systematically put together without any specific focus/customization for the Japanese language. 3) The pictures themselves are sometimes unclear. At times you really don't know what the japanese sentence is referring to in the picture. This can get very annoying and frustrating! 4) The software gives you no insight as to how to read kana and kanji, and of course none on japanese grammar. If you want immersion, you'd be much better off watching a Japanese soap opera. This software does have some usefulness when used in conjunction with other learning methods, but for its price, it's really not worth it. 4 stars (Good if you already know some Japanese) - I love this software, because it has helped me understand a lot more Japanese than the tapes from my textbook. The language is very natural, and the fact that you can see pictures and read the sentence being spoken at the same time helps significantly. You can repeat the lessons as many times as you want to help you master the content, without the exercises becoming boring or excessive. I practice almost two hours a day, and after a week I started to notice improvements. Now when I want to say something in Japanese I don't do any translating in my head first, I can feel the Japanese words coming together. However, I already knew some Japanese before I bought ... Fairfield Language Technologies :: rosetta :: stone :: japanese :: level :: 1 :: 2 :: win-mac :: personal :: edition :: fairfield :: language :: technologies :: software :: mac :: rosettastonejapaneselevel1-2win-macpersonaledit :: Rosetta Stone Japanese Level 1 - 2 Win-Mac Personal Edition
3 stars (Don't underestimate the dialect difference between the north and south!) - As a previous reviewer pointed out, there is a dialect issue here that can be very problematic since the lessons are taught with the northern dialect and most of the Vietnamese people in the US are from the southern part of that country. After completing a couple of lessons, I felt ready to test my new language skills out on my native Vietnamese friend.... to my surprise I discovered that he had NO idea what I was trying to say! He asked me to try the sentence again speaking more slowly, which I did, but still he was only able to pick up 1 word. So I put in the CD and played the sentence I was trying to communicate to my friend and he could not understand the instructor on the CD either! The difference in the dialect appears to be even greater than someone from the US trying to understand someone speaking English with a deep Scottish or Irish brogue. The teaching style of using just pictures and spoken word to teach the language is pretty good, but there are shortcomings with this. At times it is very difficult to understand the meaning of the sentence being taught just by looking at a picture (this is particularly annoying in lesson 6!). As was also pointed out in an earlier review... you will need a translation dictionary. Overall, I like the program and in spite of the dialect issue, I plan to continue using it to become conversational in the language. 5 stars (Rosetta Stone is the BEST!) - I tried other language software, tried to save a few bucks. It was not worth it. Rosetta stone works, it is sort of fun and before you know it you are learning the language in a way that stays with you. 4 stars (Which dialect of Vietnamese is taught?) - My disclaimer: This is not a review of the software's useability. I am extremely satisfied with the software's ability to teach me the content as intended by the publisher. However, if you are in the U.S. you may realize that a gr... Fairfield Language Technologies :: rosetta :: stone :: vietnamese :: level :: 1 :: win-mac :: personal :: edition :: fairfield :: language :: technologies :: home :: education :: language :: rosettastonevietnameselevel1win-macp :: Rosetta Stone Vietnamese Level 1 Win-Mac Personal Edition
4 stars (More fun than class) - I've been using this software for a few months now. I think it's well designed and through repetition and association works much better than learning from a book. I am terrible at learning languages but I surprise myself by actually remembering words and phrases when I'm not actually using the software. If you want to get anything out of the reading part you need to learn Devanagari script, which I did pretty easily using the Teach Yourself Hindi Script book. I think it would useless for this aspect if you didn't (as another review says). But if you do know the script, it really helps a lot with reading skills. Writing is another story and I try to write down the words elsewhere. One thing I'm not sure about is if they ever get into conversation. So far I'm on the 3rd unit out of 10 so they may later on, but so far I haven't learned how to say anything about myself like "My name is..." It also doesn't force you to come up with phrases on your own. It focuses on basic vocabulary and different tenses and relationships between objects. This is usually not much fun to learn and they do a pretty good job with it. The lessons are a good length to go through a little bit each night without being too overwhelming. You really need to speak the lines out loud though or otherwise you're not going to get the pronounciation. It helps to have a Hindi speaker handy of course although this is probably not possible for most. Also keep a dictionary around for words that aren't clear. You won't have to look at it too often though as long as you concentrate on the pictures. 5 stars (Immersive and extremely effective) - The immersive approach to building vocabulary and listening skills -- basically showing you pictures and making you associate them with spoken phrases -- is fun and works beautifully. The first time you walk through a lesson, you feel as if you're guessing and you get about 45% right ... but the second time through you're at 80%, and ... Fairfield Language Technologies :: rosetta :: stone :: hindi :: level :: 1 :: win-mac :: personal :: edition :: fairfield :: language :: technologies :: home :: education :: teaching :: tools :: rosettastonehindilevel1win-macperso :: Rosetta Stone Hindi Level 1 Win-Mac Personal Edition
4 stars (An excellent second course) - The Rosetta Stone Greek Level 1 & II is an excellent second course if you want to increase your vocabulary and develop the kind of feel for the language that a native speaker develops as a child. The course is entirely in Greek, with no instruction in English and no explanation of Greek grammar. If you want to learn conversational Greek for travel, then I recommend that you start with the Pimsleur Greek I course. Unfortunately, there is no Pimsleur Greek II course, so I recommend the Rosetta Stone course for your second course. You may also want to buy a dictionary for the occasional word that you will not be able to understand just from the pictures in the Rosetta Stone course. You may also want to purchase a book on Greek verbs to supplement the Rosetta Stone course. One advantage of the Rosetta Stone course is that it will help you to increase your fluency at reading the Greek alphabet. ... Fairfield Language Technologies :: rosetta :: stone :: greek :: level :: 1 :: 2 :: win-mac :: personal :: edition :: fairfield :: language :: technologies :: home :: education :: language :: rosettastonegreeklevel1-2win-macpersona :: Rosetta Stone Greek Level 1 - 2 Win-Mac Personal Edition
3 stars (Pretty good, but use other references too!) - I have to say that I agree with pretty much all of the reviews of this product on amazon.com (4 at the time I'm writing this). These reviews have ranged from 1 star to 5 stars and I believe that this simply reflects differential weighting of different elements by different reviewers with different needs/expectations. For me, here are the points I think are the most salient for discussion: 1. The pictures-based method of learning is obviously very powerful and should be commended. Having the visual representation there helps immensely with remembering vocabulary words. Similarly, it is incredibly convenient to be able to toggle between the romaji, hiragana/katakana, and kana+kanji representations of the text. Finally, the audio is excellent with the speakers speaking at a realistic pace (i.e. not speaking exceedingly slowly like some of the other language CDs while still maintaining excellent enunciation and pronunciation). The combination of these three elements -- pictures, words, and audio is fantastic. 2. Having said that, I could not agree more with the reviewer who wants an explicit English translation of each word/phrase/sentence! It is often not clear exactly what the meaning of the phrase/sentence is, even after reviewing all the other examples in the lesson/unit. This is especially true for certain verbs, grammar concepts, and the use of the different particles. It seems like it would have been trivial to include and it would have reduced the frustration level quite a bit. I understand that it may have detracted a little bit from the immersion. I think it'd be worth it because I'd estimate that in about 30% of cases, a more complex concept/word/grammar point was trying to be conveyed than is possible from a single picture (which often has been used many times before for other words/concepts!). From my own personal experience, I feel that this is a useful program for absorbing the language... Fairfield Language Technologies :: rosetta :: stone :: japanese :: level :: 1 :: win-mac :: personal :: edition :: fairfield :: language :: technologies :: home :: education :: language :: rosettastonejapaneselevel1win-macperso :: Rosetta Stone Japanese Level 1 Win-Mac Personal Edition
5 stars (Userful for Learning Italian) - This will not work for you as the first or only program for learning Italian. It is great as a supplement to other methods of learning Italian. The method is entirely intuitive - there is no English anywhere, so you may also want to have a dictionary and a grammar book. I have found Rosetta Stone language programs most useful for reviewing the information I have learned elsewhere, for brushing up on languages I haven't used for a while, and for expanding vocabulary. It may not be the best choice for total beginners, but you can learn a lot by associating words and expressions with the images and occasional mini videos. I do consider it definitely a worthwhile purchase. 1 stars (Save your money -- avoid this product) - I strongly discourage purchasing this product because (1) the software is poorly and simplistically designed and (2) the content is a lazy assembly of stuff that does not promote learning. I ran the software on a 1.6 Ghz machine with 60 GB harddrive, so the performance issue clearly was not on my side. As far as the simplistic design, in the multiple choice select-a-picture section, for example, the answer would be in the same quadrant for a series of questions. This issue persisted throughout, leading to a lazy learning/teaching experience. Continuing with the shortcuts taken by this manufacturer, the photos designed to promote Italian language learning were not of Italian subjects. What a crime to charge $165 for this software! 4 stars (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. ... Fairfield Language Technologies :: rosetta :: stone :: italian :: level :: 1 :: win-mac :: personal :: edition :: fairfield :: language :: technologies :: home :: education :: teaching :: tools :: rosettastoneitalianlevel1win-macp :: Rosetta Stone Italian Level 1 Win-Mac Personal Edition
4 stars (Good for the Technically Challenged) - What I like about this software is that it does not come with too many "gadgets." At my age, I am "technically challenged." So this software worked out fine for me with my limited computer skills. I also like the fact that this software covers Castilian Spanish. It is probably the only course available that exclusively covers Castilian Spanish in such depth since Pimsleur and Learning Like Crazy only offer Latin American Spanish courses. The downside of this software is that you will not learn much Spanish grammar with it. If you want to learn the rules and mechanisms required to combine words and form sentences in Spanish, you will have to buy a good Spanish grammar book. For that I strongly recommend Spanish Grammar for Independent Learners by Avigail Azoulay, Arie Vicente. It is more expensive than other Spanish grammar books but it is well worth the money. ... Fairfield Language Technologies :: rosetta :: stone :: spanish :: spain :: level :: 1 :: 2 :: win-mac :: personal :: edition :: fairfield :: language :: technologies :: home :: education :: language :: rosettastonespanish(spain)level :: Rosetta Stone Spanish (Spain) Level 1 - 2 Win-Mac Personal Edition
3 stars (Decent but horribly overpriced) - The Rosetta stone program is an immersion style learning package that, while thorough and technically adequate, fails to deliver enough value to justify it's lofty price tag. My recommendation to anyone interested in this software is to go to the Rosetta Stone website and sign up for a month of access to the online version. You will have access to the entire package contents and can make a determination as to whether it is something worth making such a large investment in. Personally I found it immediately boring and not much better than a glorified flash card program. Yes it has audio which is definitely valuable and what is there is good but I can't imagine anyone, after spending a month or two with this software, wanting to spend three hundred dollars on it. 4 stars (Best Dutch program I have found.) - This Rosetta Stone Dutch program is by the far the best program to learn Dutch. I have tried many and have found them very basic. Some were good but you only learned how to order food and introduce yourself, etc. My wife is Dutch so I was wanting a program to help me along. I have completed Level I and am working on Level II now. When I listen to my wife's family speaking Dutch I can really understand what they are saying and can have limited conversations with them. I notice I learn better when I use the typing portion of this program. I only wished that they would include a help book on the "word order" of Dutch. Some words like "anndoen", you will put the last part of the word "doen" in the first part of the sentence and the first part "ann" at the end of the sentence. It would be very helpful to learn why it is done this way. It is difficult for my wife to explain this. This is a very time consuming program but is much more in depth that any other program I can find and I have bought about 6-7 different ones. If you want to learn Dutch, or any other language, it seems that this is a very well thought out... Fairfield Language Technologies :: rosetta :: stone :: dutch :: level :: 1 :: 2 :: win-mac :: personal :: edition :: fairfield :: language :: technologies :: home :: education :: language :: rosettastonedutchlevel1-2win-macpersona :: Rosetta Stone Dutch Level 1 - 2 Win-Mac Personal Edition
5 stars (Works great as a Review) - I studied Hebrew in college for 2 years, so I cannot comment on using this software as the primary way to learn Hebrew. I bought this program because I wanted to review Hebrew and improve my understanding of the language. I found it did just that. It works very well when used as a review for somebody who has already taken some Hebrew classes and is familiar with Hebrew grammar. I can understand Hebrew better than I did in college. I also picked up some new vocabulary. The downside is that you have to repeat drills for each lesson. However, it tends to sink in ratherly naturally after a while. There really is no easy way to learn a foreign language, but I think using this program on a continuous basis does help (at least in improving understanding). This program would greatly complement a beginning Hebrew class if grammar lessons were developed around the software's curriculum. 5 stars (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. 5 stars (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 th... Fairfield Language Technologies :: rosetta :: stone :: hebrew :: level :: 1 :: win-mac :: personal :: edition :: fairfield :: language :: technologies :: home :: education :: teaching :: tools :: rosettastonehebrewlevel1win-macper :: Rosetta Stone Hebrew Level 1 Win-Mac Personal Edition
1 stars (OK for learning a few words, but not for conversation!) - I was highly disappointed in this course, after having read all of the hype. It consists of auditory word recognition, using photos, but has no English (in my case) translation to clarify some of the meanings. It has "word construction" lessons, but it gives you no clue about what letters of the alphabet have what sounds, etc. There is a lesson book that is written all in Thai, but no English guide to help you learn the meaning of what you are reading. It's a loser, if you ask me. Sure, you can learn the words of common things like man, woman, boy, girl, cat, dog, etc., but you will never learn to converse with this course. Buy Pimsleur, if you want to learn to actually talk in another language. 1 stars (Doesn't work if you have other versions, no support) - I bought both the Thai and Indonesian versions at the same time. Each came with their own separate application cd you could install on your computer, along with another cd with the actual language course. Well, since they were different versions, Rosetta Stone makes it immposible to install both application cd's on the same computer. In a nutshell, they expect you to install and use only one at a time. If you want to switch to another language, you have to uninstall the previous one first and then install and run the other. It's also very cumbersome and confusing since they don't label which application cd goes with the different language cd's. For $600 USD, you'd expect them to work at the same time (Why does it demand 2 separate cd's for each course anyway? It's not too big for one disc). Anyway, to add insult to injury, I called Rosetta Stone early in the morning for support and was told there were 4 people ahead of me and to leave my phone number for a call back as soon as it was my turn. 48 hrs later, they have never called me back. Think twice about shelling out $295 USD to a company that doesn't care if it's product works or whether... Fairfield Language Technologies :: rosetta :: stone :: thai :: level :: 1 :: win-mac :: personal :: edition :: fairfield :: language :: technologies :: home :: education :: language :: rosettastonethailevel1win-macpersonalediti :: Rosetta Stone Thai Level 1 Win-Mac Personal Edition
3 stars (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,... Fairfield Language Technologies :: rosetta :: stone :: arabic :: level :: 1 :: 2 :: win-mac :: personal :: edition :: fairfield :: language :: technologies :: home :: education :: teaching :: tools :: rosettastonearabiclevel1-2win-ma :: Rosetta Stone Arabic Level 1 - 2 Win-Mac Personal Edition
5 stars (Good item, poor service) - The item I purchased is great, but it was very difficult to get it since I am overseas and had to send it home then send it out again!!! Would suggest this product to anyone, but would not suggest someone buying it from amazon if they are out of the country. Regards TJ 5 stars (Rosetta Stone Spanish Level 1&2 Personal Edition (Latin America)) - I bought this product for my two kids, ages 6 and 8. It has been very user friendly and my kids enjoy using it. It does not teach grammar, per se, but my kids pick it up. They need no help from me to do their lessons, and are learning good pronunciation. I am very satisfied with the program and would recommend it particularly for children. 5 stars (The Best Way I've Found!) - I cannot say enough about this program. You don't even have to try to start learning. Lessons fly by and once I've learned a word, I think about it automatically, instead of trying to make associations with how the word sounds or something. (Example: instead of thinking "Rice... think of an arrow going into a bowl of rice... oh, yeah, Arroz" - I just see rice and think arroz. I'm not translating from English to Spanish, I'm thinking in Spanish. When I had to take Spanish classes (required for classroom credit) I found that not only did the little I had done in Rosetta Stone helped me excel, but that my pronunciation was unbeatable because I had been constantly using the Rosetta Stone program. While other students struggled to put together sentences, I said sentences almost as quickly as if I were speaking in English, because this program does that - It Helps You THINK in Spanish! This is not because I am any smarter than anyone else; historically in classes I have been an unremarkable student. I personally didn't use the voice recognition part as much, but it also helped. It wasn't as much that I was exactly copying the voice as it was the fact that I could hear how it was supposed to be pronou... Fairfield Language Technologies :: rosetta :: stone :: spanish :: latin :: america :: level :: 1 :: -amp :: 2 :: win-mac :: personal :: edition :: fairfield :: language :: technologies :: home :: education :: teaching :: tools :: rosettastone :: Rosetta Stone Spanish (Latin America) Level 1 -amp- 2 Win-Mac Personal Edition
5 stars (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... Fairfield Language Technologies :: rosetta :: stone :: german :: level :: 1 :: win-mac :: personal :: edition :: fairfield :: language :: technologies :: home :: education :: teaching :: tools :: rosettastonegermanlevel1win-macper :: Rosetta Stone German Level 1 Win-Mac Personal Edition
5 stars (Good item, poor service) - The item I purchased is great, but it was very difficult to get it since I am overseas and had to send it home then send it out again!!! Would suggest this product to anyone, but would not suggest someone buying it from amazon if they are out of the country. Regards TJ 5 stars (Rosetta Stone Spanish Level 1&2 Personal Edition (Latin America)) - I bought this product for my two kids, ages 6 and 8. It has been very user friendly and my kids enjoy using it. It does not teach grammar, per se, but my kids pick it up. They need no help from me to do their lessons, and are learning good pronunciation. I am very satisfied with the program and would recommend it particularly for children. 5 stars (The Best Way I've Found!) - I cannot say enough about this program. You don't even have to try to start learning. Lessons fly by and once I've learned a word, I think about it automatically, instead of trying to make associations with how the word sounds or something. (Example: instead of thinking "Rice... think of an arrow going into a bowl of rice... oh, yeah, Arroz" - I just see rice and think arroz. I'm not translating from English to Spanish, I'm thinking in Spanish. When I had to take Spanish classes (required for classroom credit) I found that not only did the little I had done in Rosetta Stone helped me excel, but that my pronunciation was unbeatable because I had been constantly using the Rosetta Stone program. While other students struggled to put together sentences, I said sentences almost as quickly as if I were speaking in English, because this program does that - It Helps You THINK in Spanish! This is not because I am any smarter than anyone else; historically in classes I have been an unremarkable student. I personally didn't use the voice recognition part as much, but it also helped. It wasn't as much that I was exactly copying the voice as it was the fact that I could hear how it was supposed to be pronounced... Fairfield Language Technologies :: rosetta :: stone :: spanish :: latin :: america :: level :: 1 :: 2 :: win-mac :: personal :: edition :: fairfield :: language :: technologies :: software :: mac :: rosettastonespanish(latinamerica)l :: Rosetta Stone Spanish (Latin America) Level 1 - 2 Win-Mac Personal Edition
5 stars (Excellent) - I couldn't be more pleased with my purchase of Rosetta Stone French 1 and 2. It is by far the best language course I have ever had the pleasure of studying. It is most complete in it's scope of study in that you have the opportunity to hear, read, write and repeat the French you are learning in each lesson module. I find the feedback on my pronunciation most useful; it's also a lot of fun! Highly recommended. 2 stars (too much hype and overpriced) - This is good for learning vocabulary, but NOT good at all for learning how to speak french. In fact, you wind up speaking poor disjointed french as a result of this. It is a good concept that unfortunately is more hype than any good. The price is rediculous considering other better products exist out there that are at lower prices (although they won't claim to have been used by NASA). To me, this is just another churned out, language product, created from a template, and to a budget. They have obviously good marketing skills, etc, but this is definately not created for the customer, ... I think the best word to describe this product is: gimick. 5 stars (I will tell you all about this program,so read this reveiw) - The first the you may notice is how high the price is. Well, it is absolutly worth every penny. If you complete both level one and two you'll be equipped to go to france.Now some of you that have read previous reveiws heard that you need a headset to do a part of the course, and that absolutly true. with the headset come a little microphone. A native speaker will say a word then you will say it back. You immediatly get feedback on how you did. It tells you how close you came to sound like the native speaker. So if you keep practicing that you will get closer and closer to speak the accent. And this is a must. You must be able to speak the french accent for it to be totally complete ,and thats what the headset is for . it will make you master the accent. so you may be saying where do... Fairfield Language Technologies :: rosetta :: stone :: french :: level :: 1 :: 2 :: win-mac :: personal :: edition :: fairfield :: language :: technologies :: software :: mac :: rosettastonefrenchlevel1-2win-macpersonaledition :: Rosetta Stone French Level 1 - 2 Win-Mac Personal Edition
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