Rosetta Stone Version 3: Spanish (Latin America) Level 1, 2 & 3 Set with Audio Companion
by Rosetta Stone
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Software Reviews of Rosetta Stone Version 3: Spanish (Latin America) Level 1, 2 & 3 Set with Audio Companion
Customer Review: Hit and miss pedagogy...
Summary: 4 Stars
NOTE: So far I've only completed one out of the three available levels. I will update this review as I complete the other two levels of this package.
I've been working on my Spanish on and off for the last couple of years with audio programs like Pimsleur, Coffee Break Spanish, Learning Spanish Like Crazy, and so on. However, since I'm primarily a visual and kinetic learner I wanted an instructional program with those features. Rosetta Stone appeared to be by far the most comprehensive language learning package available. It's certainly complex and well-done, but ultimately falls short of a stand-alone solution.
I'd heard that installing Rosetta Stone on a Mac was problematic. However, this version has a straightforward installation. Everything was pretty easy on my MacBook - all click-and-run, with no dragging and dropping. I did have to wait a bit during the "Add Language" process for the CD to spin up and be read. If I tried to go too fast, I got an error that allowed me to either stop or return to the "Add Another Language Level" prompt, where I could try again. Once I installed all three levels, activation was quick and easy. I entered the activation key when prompted, and all three levels were opened to me.
When I opened the included headset, one of the earpieces was detached and hanging by a wire. Luckily I was able to snap it back into place. Audio setup was also a no-brainer. I plugged the headset into the USB port, repeated the numbers "1,2,3,4,5" as prompted, and I was on my way - or so I thought. At first the program had trouble understanding me. I used the Help function, and it directed me to my Mac's System Preference to make sure that the headset was the primary audio input. Once I made it so, voice recognition was much better, although in some instances it seemed to be pickier about pronunciation than others.
The lessons varied in type (see below for more detail), and all were interesting and helpful. It was easy to spend twenty or thirty minutes using the program and working through the various lessons. The package would also give me the option to review older units at certain points, such as when I reentered the program after a couple day's absence.
The package includes CD audio supplements that are intended to reinforce the main software lessons. However, I found them to be less than adequate. You either listen to a Spanish phrase and repeat it back, or simply listen to Spanish phrases being spoken. There is no English translation, which would have been helpful since there were no pictures to provide definition & context. I recommend skipping the CD audio supplements in favor of an audio-based learning package that's geared towards aural learning.
Level One: There are four units that go over basic vocabulary (colors, food) and simple phrases (hello, goodbye, the shirt is red). The only translation provided is through the picture. Various types of drills are used to shake things up. For example, in some lessons you choose the correct response to a question from multiple options. Others require you to repeat back a phrase using the head microphone. And there are even writing drills that force you to type in the correct response. These drills ensure that all learning styles are utilized: visual, aural, and kinetic. I had fun using the program, and felt that it's a good supplement to more traditional aural language programs.
However, Level One ends with a "Milestone," consisting of a running conversation with two campers that I felt woefully unprepared for. In this case, Rosetta clearly didn't "teach the test." If you're looking for a quick vacation language course, Level One would not be a good choice due to the shortage of travel-related information here. Bottom line, if you're looking to learn Spanish via Rosetta Stone Level One is not enough by itself, so the most cost effective route may be to purchase at least two, if not all three, levels.
Rosetta Stone Spanish is a good supplement to a comprehensive foreign language curriculum, especially if you are a visual learner. I recommend it in conjunction with whatever audio language lesson package that suits your taste.
More to come...
Customer Review: Bootlegged RosettaStone program
Summary: 1 Stars
The product that I received was not genuine RosettaStone. It was a bootlegged copy of the product. There were words mispelled on the dic covers, instructions stating NOT to register or update the product, the seller refused to give me his address so I could return the set to him, crook all the way. The discs were actually CDs rather than DVDs, the list goes on and on... I have lost confidence in ordering through Amazon where I once felt I would be able to count on quality.Customer Review: learn some spanish, impress your friends!
Summary: 5 Stars
I rated this program five stars, and that rating is based solely on the quality of the product. Rosetta Stone is really fun, and it's wayyyyyyy more useful than most of the Spanish classes you'll come across. As far as helping you remember words and pronounce them correctly, Rosetta Stone is awesome. I am currently taking a Spanish class at my college, because I figured if I doubled up I'd have the best chance at learning how to speak (and write, ug ug ug) Spanish. The class is a good time, and my professor is a riot, but I must admit that the computer program is more effective. My feeble brain doesn't want to deal with verb tenses and formal and informal usage of words, and all that stuff that makes my attention wander away until I'm gazing out the window and not paying attention at all and writing really long run on sentences that end in ellipses... You see my point. The Stone is also cool because it makes me think of Sesame Street, which makes me feel sort of nostalgic and happy. Clicking on the brightly colored pictures takes me back to simpler times, sigh. And yeah, it is an expensive product, but pay for a college course and a Spanish book and guess what- you end up spending even more money, and maybe you'll get stuck with an unattractive professor who rants, and waves his arms around, and throws pieces of chalk at your head when you are gazing out of the window, and not paying attention. There are cheaper computer programs for learning Spanish, and you guessed it, they totally blow. I ought to know because I wasted upwards of forty-five dollars on such junky products. I would like to know how Rosetta compares to that other popular language program... Pilsner or Plodner or Pimsleur or whatever.
Rosetta Stone is also known for having crappy customer service, and apparently if you try to resell one of their programs they will hunt you down like a dog and there will be a public stoning. Sometimes greed is so shameful that it becomes hilarious. This is the case with Rosetta Stone, and I guess that's too bad, but it gives people a chance to one-up the greedy buggers! Share the product with as many people as possible and then it will be as cheap as free! After all, it seems that many folks are just in a tiff because they can't get any money for a used product. For shame, you are being just as greedy. Give your copy of Rosetta Stone to some poor, sick kid who has always wanted to learn a bit of Spanish but never had the means.
Customer Review: Complete Rip Off
Summary: 1 Stars
Try to return rosetta stone. They won't take it. Our son enrolled for French class, so we bought Rosetta Stone from Barnes and Noble. The school changed the course to Spanish. We tried to return the French version. They said, "sorry, package has been opened. No returns." $450 down the drain.
big rip off.
Customer Review: Kudos for Rosetta Stone
Summary: 5 Stars
I have only done my first lesson with Rosetta Stone so I cannot yet inform of its efficacy in my pending literacy with Spanish, however, I offer a report. The software, documentation and supporting CDs are designed and engineered brilliantly and aesthetically. Further, from my understandings of learning styles arising from my background in neurolinguistic programming, this product engages two of our three primary learning modalities: audition and vision, doing so in a manner that involves one's sensory processing externally and internally (in and outside of one's self ... a way in which all people naturally learn. Further, the sessions invite one to use one's intuition which prompts and engages further unconscious processes involved in learning. The CDs are offered in the hopes that one will load them on an iPod or something to use while engaging other activities and to listen and envisage what is spoken while doing so. Kinesthesia - moving one's body engages our third learning system. Well done Rosetta Stone!