Rosetta Stone French Level 1-5 Set
by Rosetta Stone
Platform: Windows Vista / 7 / XP, Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard
Our Method - Recreate the natural way you learned your first language and reveal skills that you already have using Dynamic Immersion. This award-winning method has been adopted by countless organizations, schools and millions of users around the world.
Learn Naturally: Discover how to speak, read, write, and understand--all without translating or memorizing. Our award-winning solution recreates how you learned your first language, unlocking your natural abilities.
Speak Confidently: Perfect your pronunciation with speech-recognition technology. Gain the confidence in your new voice as you practice with other learners in our exclusive online community and participate in online sessions coached by native tutors.
Immerse Yourself: Be surrounded by your new language. From core lessons to online sessions, Rosetta Stone gets you engaged and interacting with others.
Stay Motivated: Experience accomplishment with each moment of achievement; with dedicated success agents you will never lose sight of your language-learning goals.
Your Natural Ability. Awakened. Natural Discovery - Learning your first language is as natural as smiling. Effortless. Rewarding. Every step in Rosetta Stone feels like that. Clear, compelling images appear precisely, in juxtaposition, conveying meaning. Intuitively, you just know what it means...Buy Now!, Save $270 (36%) down from $479 with free shipping from $749!
Speak French like a native!, September 8, 2010By Terry "TCinSATX" (San Antonio)
This review is from: Rosetta Stone French Level 1-5 Set (CD-ROM)
Rosetta Stone TOTALe French v4 is marketed as an innovative, total language solution for someone wishing to learn to speak, read and write conversational French. It certainly meets and exceeds those claims - it's remarkable!
Apologies in advance for the length of this review. Rosetta Stone TOTALe represents a substantial financial investment so I am assuming people considering it will want a lot of information before making a buying decision.
Rosetta Stone is an immersion-style language program. That means that during the core lessons, there is no written or spoken language other that the one you are learning. There are no instructions or directions or translations in your native language, in my case English. The only words you will read or hear are French. The meanings are made clear through pictures, gestures and logic. It sounds almost impossible, but it is actually quite intuitive. It's amazing how quickly you pick up the words, the sentence structure, the grammar and the spellings. Immersion is how all children learn language, and it works just as well for many adults. However, because this software is quite expensive, you might want to make yourself familiar with immersion style to make sure you are comfortable with it before purchasing. I also use a free online French-English dictionary quite frequently after a lesson to make certain I am clear on some words and tenses. I will probably purchase a hard copy dictionary soon as a supplement. In other words, for anything further than being able to converse well and read signs or packaging or instructions, you will want some other resources.
The core program is divided into 5 levels, each with many, many lessons and reviews. Each lesson focuses on a particular aspect of the language - vocabulary, grammar, writing/spelling, pronunciation, etc. The lessons are short, so it is easy to do a lesson or two throughout the day when you have time. If you must end a particular lesson before it is finished, Rosetta picks up exactly where you left off the next time you sign in. This makes it extremely easy for even the busiest person to find time for lessons. They also move quickly from one exercise to another. Because of this, lessons are rarely tedious.
I particularly like that it employs numerous speakers, unlike courses that only use one male and one female voice. This way, you hear many different people saying the same words and phrases, which makes it much easier when you reach the point that you want to follow and understand conversations, french movies, etc.
The package includes a fairly nice, binaural usb headset with microphone. In most lessons, you are prompted to repeat, and later answer questions, in French. If your pronunciation is off, or if your answer is wrong, it prompts you to try again until you get it right. The voice recognition is good, but you will need to fine tune your headset settings and microphone position initially. The microphone needs to be pretty close to your mouth and the volume needs to be high enough. I suspect I will need to replace the headset regularly since I have several people in my house using it every day.
In addition to the core language levels (all 5 of them), there are also 4 companion audio CDs for each level - a total of 20 companion CDs. These are great for using in the car or in your MP3 player! Each CD includes the MP3 files for easy download to your player. It reinforces what you are learning and if you are chauffeuring kids around, they will be learning, too. I listen to them while on the treadmill because it makes the time go faster and I feel like I'm multi-tasking.
You can set up multiple users for the core program. My 20 year old son in college, my 8 year old son, and my husband are all users and working at their own pace. For me, it makes the cost of this program a little more reasonable. The 15 months of online support, which is the TOTALe part of this package, is only available for one user, so choose carefully which user will get this as it cannot be changed later.
The online services make Rosetta high octane. There are games and stories and individual tutoring sessions with native speakers and opportunities to converse in French with other learners. This feature absolutely speeds up the process of becoming conversational as quickly as possible. The individual sessions with native speaking tutors are scheduled, but the games and stories and other features are available anytime.
If the online opportunities don't appeal to you or you don't have enough time for scheduled sessions, you might consider purchasing one of the regular Rosetta Stone language packages. It's the same core language program, but without the 15 months of online services, and is less expensive. As an alternative to the online part, there are some free online communities, like Livemocha, where language learners can converse online with other learners. It's not as fluid as Rosetta Stone since the other learners are using many different programs and classes and are at different levels, but it's still a nice opportunity to practice speaking your new language.
A down side to Rosetta Stone is it's EULA. This software is non-transferable. If you don't like it, you are stuck and it would be a very expensive mistake. Also, I have read other reviews that say it is difficult to get help from Rosetta in the event of computer crashes or upgrades. I didn't have any issues with my install so I cannot speak to that, but it bears consideration.
If you want to learn French (or any new language) and can afford it, I heartily recommend Rosetta Stone. If you want/need to learn French as quickly as possible, Rosetta Stone TOTALe would probably be helpful in speeding up the process, although learning a new language well is never an overnight process.
Rosetta Stone vs. Fluenz (French), September 15, 2010By A. R. Grenier (Washington, D.C.)
This review is from: Rosetta Stone French Level 1-5 Set (CD-ROM)
Rosetta Stone vs. Fluenz Version F2: French 1 (Win/Mac) with software DVD, audio CD, podcasts, and Navigator. Learn French with the latest upgrade.
I've now used them both extensively and honestly don't have a preference - it'll be down to your learning style and your needs.
Rosetta Stone:
+ Intuitive learning structure.
+ Interactive and visually oriented.
- Does not explain why grammar rules do what they do.
- Is finicky about multiple computer usage.
Fluenz
+ Simulates one-on-one instruction.
+ Explains why grammar rules do what they do.
- Not as intuitive of a learning structure.
- Not as visually oriented.
+ Is not finicky about multiple computer usage.
If you:
* Want to learn the basics of the language fairly quickly for a trip, or have a solid foundation for adult conversation or travel practicalities.
* Always want to know the "why" behind things.
Choose Fluenz.
If you:
* Want to learn a language at a slower pace to create a foundation for fluency and are not in a hurry to ask how to buy a train ticket or order something in a coffee shop.
* Are buying this for a child.
* Are visually oriented
Choose Rosetta Stone
If you:
* Want to have a solid foundation for future fluency.
* Have the money to drop.
Buy both and use them simultaneously.
Work in progress!, September 21, 2010By M. Feldman (Maine, USA)
This review is from: Rosetta Stone French Level 1-5 Set (CD-ROM)
Salut! Since there are already some lengthy reviews that discuss many of the facets of this program, I will only tell you about my experience to date. As I progress, I'll update the review. I'm working along in Level 1 now (about halfway through). To be fair, I should say that I had some French way way back in high school, so I'm not coming to the language as a complete beginner. Nonetheless, I began with Level I in order to acquire vocabulary, recall the long-ago grammar, and improve my bad accent (oh that trilling and elusive R!). It's evident to me already that if you want to make progress with this program, you'll need to commit a bit of time to it on a daily basis, at least 20-30 minutes.
Here is what I like about the program so far. First, there are the engaging visuals --they shuffle around on the screen, so you have to pay attention. The voice recognition feature is quite good; it's zeroing in on my bad "R," and the language pronunciation files are excellent for practice, although it took awhile before I knew they were there (click on the icon right on the picture in a pronunciation exercise). There's not a word of English (great!), and I also think it's good for the brain that you have to figure out what the screen wants you to do, as opposed to having to read a set of directions. (There are minimal directions up in the right corner of the screen.) Another strong feature is the emphasis on phonemes---that is, breaking words down into their constituent sounds, then putting them back together. That's up to date pedagogy, based on scientific studies of the way young children learn to read and spell. I've also played a few of the games, which are quite useful for training the ear. I'm enthusiastic about working through all five levels, and I'll return to this review with more observations when I finish Level 1. Feel free to post a question in the comments area.
9/30/10. Level One, Unit 3. Just tried the live 50 minute session with a native speaker (plus one other student). It is excellent for speaking practice.
10/19/10. Level One, Unit 4. The CD Audio Companion provided turns out to be useful for reinforcement and review for each level, particularly if a busy schedule means that some days go by when you don't have time for the computer program. I converted mine to MP3 files for an iPod and listen to them when I'm driving.
11/4/10. Beginning Level Two. It's clear to me that Rosetta is for a person intent on learning (or recovering, if you studied it long ago) a language in a serious way. It's too extensive (and expensive) to use to pick up some basic French to use on a trip. (Level Two, however, does begin with language useful for traveling.) I don't have a sense of how difficult it would be for someone unfamiliar with a romance language to use this program. If you've had some Spanish or Italian, it would be easy to move into French. I do feel that the practice and reinforcement of Level One were excellent and will stick with me. A second live session last week was a treat---just me and the native speaker.
M. Feldman
The ultimate in language immersion - requires a lot of commitment, September 13, 2010By ScOObydoo (USA)
This review is from: Rosetta Stone French Level 1-5 Set (CD-ROM)
Rosetta Stone language courses are about as impressive as computer based courses can get. These are NOT the kind of course you purchase if you want to learn a couple of phrases for your upcoming vacation, instead - they are what you buy if you want to become as close to fluent as you can possibly get. This new line (Version 4 with TotalE) builds upon the past products from Rosetta Stone. I've used several of these in the past (to learn German and French) so was very interested to try out these new versions.
The version I'm reviewing here is for the top of the line French package - which includes levels 1,2,3,4 and 5. In addition to computer based training, V4 also delivers online training with native speakers and a form of social networking, which helps complete the immersion factor.
Lessons are extremely well organized, and you are led through the courses at your own pace. One of the best features of the packages is the voice recognition. This is important, because when you are learning a new language, it is just you and the computer, so you need something to check your progress. Included in the box is a good quality headset, and I found that it picked up my voice and pronunciation quite well. Because this is such an extensive course, I've only made it into level one, but I'm already more confident at feeling I'll accomplish what I set out to do - learn French.
This of course brings up an important point - you WILL need to be committed to this. You'll fail if you only spend 10 minutes a day at this. You really need to set some time aside each day, and keep up your training. When I skipped a five day period, it took some catching up to pick up where I left off. The software is extremely comprehensive - in addition to the training, you also get the online portion and even some basic language skill games.
Then there is of course the price - at $779 for the top of the line package, this is not your everyday language course. But when you put this into perspective and consider how much time/cost would be involved in a one-on-one course and immersion, you'll realize that the cost is quite reasonable. But once again - don't compare this to a 200 page language course book at the local book shop - this is way, way more valuable.
Of course, you do not have to start with the 1,2,3,4,5 package - individual lessons start at just $229 and will get you a very good start at the basics of the language. Once completed, you will not only have a decent vocabulary, you'll also master grammar and pronunciation. But most importantly, I feel that the course give you confidence. Because you can actually talk with native speakers in the online portion, you won't need to travel abroad to put your new skills to the test.
If you are sitting at home wishing you could speak more than just English - this is how to pick up a new language. And thanks to the various levels, you can pick your own level of skill you want to accomplish. Just think - in under a year, you could master the art of basic communication skills in 4 or 5 different languages.
Amazing!, September 9, 2010By J. Schwartz "JMS"
This review is from: Rosetta Stone French Level 1-5 Set (CD-ROM)
The Rosetta Stone system is amazing. I rarely give books or products 5 star ratings but this product deserves it. I do not learn languages well. In fact, I took Spanish for four years in high school and cannot speak Spanish at all.
The Rosetta Stone system does seem to be a natural way to learn a language. It is also fun. I am surprised by how much I retain from session to session. My wife speaks French fluently and was impressed by the software.
The system is not like taking a language class in school. The focus is on speaking and understanding conversational French. Reading and writing (typing) are less emphasized, at least initially, but are not ignored. Grammar is covered on an as needed basis. Culture and literature do not seem to be part of the system. Please be aware, I have been using the system for only a few weeks. There may be much more than conversational French as I work through the subsequent modules. Even if there isn't, I'm very happy with this software package.
The system works fine on my Mac (OS 10.5.8). The headphones/microphone included in the package are nice, but I don't use them. Instead I've been using my Mac's built in speakers and microphone. I had to run the installer twice. The first time the installation didn't work. I don't know why. The anti-piracy protections are a minor annoyance, but considering the price of this software, it is not surprising the publisher needs to take steps to protect its intellectual property. The cost will prohibit anyone from buying the software unless they really wanted to learn a new language, but those who do purchase it will not be disappointed...Buy Now!, Save $270 (36%) down from $479 with free shipping from $749!
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