Rosetta Stone French Level 1 & 2 Personal Edition

Rating:
Summary: English speaking son in law
Review: Hi,

I bought this program because I am married to a French Canadian and we never taught our kids to speak french. The last visit we had with her parents was the straw that broke the camels back for me, so I did a little research, saw that this program was used by NASA, the State Department and the Peace Corps and decided to go ahead and spend more on any one piece of software than I have ever spent before. I couldn't be happier!
I told the kids, (16 and 14) that I wasn't going to make them use it, it was up to them. Granted, they are probably a little more motivated than most, but the program is fun. I speak a little french, but it is always me translating everything in my head, this program works completely differently than any other that I have ever heard of. There is no english at all, and as you go through you find yourself not translating as much but just answering the questions. Other reviewers have done a better job than I ever will, but my 14 year old figured out the first lesson the first day, and he has never had any french at all. I cannot say enough about it, and if it is the price that is holding you back, all I can say is what is it worth to you to learn french, to learn it faster than you probably could otherwise and to have fun as you are doing it? For me it would be a bargain at twice the price.

Thanks

Rating:
Summary: English speaking son in law
Review: Hi,

I bought this program because I am married to a French Canadian and we never taught our kids to speak french. The last visit we had with her parents was the straw that broke the camels back for me, so I did a little research, saw that this program was used by NASA, the State Department and the Peace Corps and decided to go ahead and spend more on any one piece of software than I have ever spent before. I couldn't be happier!
I told the kids, (16 and 14) that I wasn't going to make them use it, it was up to them. Granted, they are probably a little more motivated than most, but the program is fun. I speak a little french, but it is always me translating everything in my head, this program works completely differently than any other that I have ever heard of. There is no english at all, and as you go through you find yourself not translating as much but just answering the questions. Other reviewers have done a better job than I ever will, but my 14 year old figured out the first lesson the first day, and he has never had any french at all. I cannot say enough about it, and if it is the price that is holding you back, all I can say is what is it worth to you to learn french, to learn it faster than you probably could otherwise and to have fun as you are doing it? For me it would be a bargain at twice the price.

Thanks

Rating:
Summary: Learning a language as a native speaker does
Review: I already speak pretty fluent German, which I learned in the traditional ways: I took classes, I studied the grammar, I did vocabulary flash cards. I then moved to Germany for two years of study. It wasn't until I arrived that I discovered I had the vocabulary of a 5 year old, and that my pronunciation was pretty awful. It was very frustrating, until I allowed myself to simply watch, listen and learn. Just like a 5 year old does.

The brilliance of the Rosetta Stone approach is that it skips right to the idea of watch and listen. The program starts by showing photographs, showing you the word, and letting you hear the word. You're then shown, for example, a picture of a boy, a girl, a cat, a dog, and you see and hear "une fille". You then click on the picture of the girl, and it takes you to the next set of images. (If you get wrong answers, it will repeat them later.) Later you'll see a picture of a girl running, one jumping, etc., and you'll learn to construct sentences in the same way.

The cleverest part of this program is the way it teaches you new words, since everything is in French (or whatever language you're studying). You'll get the pictures of a boy, a girl, a cat, and a car. You then see and hear "une voiture", a word you've not heard before. Since "car" is the only image you haven't seen before either, you now know that car is "voiture". This accomplishes two things: 1) you learn new vocabulary by reasoning, rather than memorizing, and 2) you are NOT learning by translation.

Retaining vocabulary when I was first learning German was the most difficult part for me. Since doing the Rosetta Stone French program, I have remembered every new word I've learned, even weeks after having last seen it.

It's worth the money, if you're serious about learning a foreign language. It is true, if you need to learn correct speaking and writing for business or other professional endeavors, that you'll eventually need supplemental grammar and vocabulary training, but after finishing these courses you'll be able to do that on your own, and probably even entirely in French, if you wish.


Rating:
Summary: Excellent learning method!
Review: I have, in the past,purchased every kind of "Learn French" product on the market.Some were good;others lacked real content;some were frankly boring; or some assumed too much about the beginning student.However,the Rosetta Stone method surpasses all of them.In the two days I have been using it,I have learned,and more importantly, retained everything I have studied so far.This is not to say it is easy..but the new words and phrases that are introduced to you make you think and visualize,not just repeat over and over the same phrases/words until you are blind with boredom.Each level includes four different methods of learning,and all of them together equal perfection.When I can comfortably speak/read French on my own,I think I will pursue learning another language..because these programs are so complete and well presented.
I can't recommend this product enough!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent learning method!
Review: I have, in the past,purchased every kind of "Learn French" product on the market.Some were good;others lacked real content;some were frankly boring; or some assumed too much about the beginning student.However,the Rosetta Stone method surpasses all of them.In the two days I have been using it,I have learned,and more importantly, retained everything I have studied so far.This is not to say it is easy..but the new words and phrases that are introduced to you make you think and visualize,not just repeat over and over the same phrases/words until you are blind with boredom.Each level includes four different methods of learning,and all of them together equal perfection.When I can comfortably speak/read French on my own,I think I think I will pursue learning another language..because these programs are so complete and well presented.
I can't recommend this product enough!

Rating:
Summary: Blows the competition out of the water!
Review: Nothing I've seen comes close to this program. It's an entirely different level. But do yourself a favor before shelling out the $300. Go to the rosettastone.com web page and ask for a demo cd. They'll send you a sample with every language they offer included. It gives you a very good sense of what it's all about.

Rating:
Summary: Blows the competition out of the water!
Review: Nothing I've seen comes close to this program. It's an entirely different level. But do yourself a favor before shelling out the $300. Go to the rosettastone.com web page and ask for a demo cd. They'll send you a sample with every language they offer included. It gives you a very good sense of what it's all about.

Rating:
Summary: Fun to use, very extensive
Review: The Rosetta Stone language learning system is based on the idea that foreign languages should be learned the same way as children learn their very first language - not by learning words isolated from their content and later putting them into sentences using painfully learned grammar rules, but by direct association of words and sentences with visual images. The Rosetta Stone contains no instructions in your mother tongue. If you bought German, the program communicates with you only in German. The only means which the program uses to explain you the meaning of the foreign words are pictures. You may not understand the meaning of the new word or phrase immediately. However, the program will use this word over and over again, and soon you will get an idea what it means. Remember how parents teach their children to talk, repeating the same thing again and again in different combinations? This is what Rosetta Stone does to you. You do not get a translation - insted, you get an image, an idea, a feeling.

I purchased French, but all 24 languages supported by Rosetta Stones use the same software and the same or nearly the same structure of lessons and images. The program works as follows. Once you have chosen a lesson out of a list, you have a selection of several modes of learning. In one, the program tells you phrases, and you have to choose one of four pictures which fits the phrase. In another, you see a picture and chose one from four written words/phrases. In the third, you chose the written phrase which matches what you just heard. In the fourth, you see a written word/phrase and match it with one of four phrases read to you by the computer. The program keeps on making new and new combination of the words and phrases for as long as you need to start feeling confident. If you want to practice your writing, Rosetta Stone will offer you either to put together sentences by dragging whole words with a mouse, or will suggest you to type them in from scratch and will correct you mistakes along the way. Finally, another part of the program works on your pronunciation and intonation. It not only records your voice as you repeat after a native speaker, but also provides graphical analysis of the patterns of your speach, thus helping to identify mistakes. This part of the program requires a high quality headset..., a cheap computer microphone will not work.

This program costs much more than the other programs on the market, but it also has a lot more to offer. Levels 1 and 2 combined contain over 200 units, and each unit may take several hours (depending on your age and language learning ability) to master. A great advantage which helps to make the buying decision is that Rosetta Stone offers a fully functional demo version of the program, which can be downloaded from their web site (rosettastone.com). This demo differs from the real thing in that you can try only 5-6 units out of 210 in any of the languages. This is sufficient to get a very good idea of how you like the program, as well as to understand how the level matches your prior knowledge of this language. Actually, I must say that Level 2 goes pretty far, I was surprised how advanced the sentences were when I opened one of the level 2 units in a language which I learned before.

In French which I bought each level came on 2 CDs, one with the software, the second one with the language library. Probably as a heritage from 1993, when the disk space was scarce, the program reads language data straight from the CD instead of copying them to hard disk. One has to keep the language library CD in the CD-drive, where it starts spinning every half a minute or so. With a noisy 40x drive it is rather annoying. The program runs on any Windows version after 3.1 (including XP) and on the Mac.

Besides CDs, the program comes with a manual (how to install and run the program) and a booklet with cirriculum, which contains a list of all words and phrases used in the program. There is no booklet on grammar, and no dictionary because any of these items standard in adult learning would contradict the spirit and the method of The Rosetta Stone. Both the manual and the booklet can be downloaded in PDF format from The Rosetta Stone's web site (another good way to evaluate how much you can expect to learn if you buy the program).

The developers claim that the program covers 5-year middle/high school program and includes around 2500 words. I had several other language programs in the past, and there is no doubt that Rosetta Stone covers a lot more language than any other program I saw.

Overall, it is a good learning tool, fun to use. It is not cheap, but if you divide the price by the number of hours of patient instructions which you get from your computer, you will end up with a cost which is way, way lower than any teacher would charge per hour for individual or group lessons. All of us used The Rosetta Stone method of learning between the ages of 1 and 7 and keep on using it when teaching our little ones. The fact that the developer remains in business for over 10 years and keeps getting new awards shows that it is also good for adults. I liked it. Check out the demo version, you probably will like it, too.

Rating:
Summary: The best language software,- A+
Review: The RosettaStone is undoubtedly the best language software on the market today. The learning comes naturally, its comprehensive; you listen, read and speak. This is not a word for word translation guide. This software goes far beyond those French books that simply give you a few phrases without any real life context. RosettaStone gives you the building blocks to think, and start building sentences in your new language. O.k., this product is a little pricier than other programs, nevertheless, after I have spent hundreds of dollars on French college courses and, many, many books and CD ROM's. It is - the best investment I have ever made for improving my French; - it's like having your own personal tutors. Good luck!

Rating:
Summary: I found it useful
Review: This will not work for you as the first or only program for learning French. It is great as a supplement to other methods of learning French. 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.