Customer Reviews

Rosetta Stone Latin Level 1 [Old Version]

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am a linguist and have purchased six of Rosetta Stone's language programmes. I have found them to be excellent supplemental tools in aquiring foreign languages. Without translations, your mind is forced to rely upon context (visual and verbal) to extract meaning. The repetive phrases ranging from one or two words to an entire paragraph engrain a syntactical map of how sentence structures are fabricated. I found that the more you work these lessons, the better they work for you. Repeating the phrases out loud each time after the speaker is much more powerful than simply listening.
The Latin speakers on this product render an excellent restored Classical Latin accent; the /r/'s are trilled (unlike the liquid English /r/ produced in some other Latin softwares) and the vowels are crisp and distinguished. The lessons provide enough exercises and variations to keep one occupied for a substantial length of time. Any Latin student that dedicates one or two extra hours daily to this programme in addition to their regular Latin homework will no doubt be head of the class.
My only gripes are that the pictures are lower quality than other Rosetta Stone programmes; they are small and have low resolution. And there is just one level with which one can only achieve a high-basic skill level at best upon completion.

I must confess that I am only new to this product, and this review is on the impression I have gained while working through the first (of eight) unit. I have been most impressed with the way in which the material is presented, and how quickly I have picked up words, then phrases, and then concepts. The material very much builds on itself; first introducing nouns, then verbs, the prepositions, then adjectives. It allows you to hear, read, and then identify the concept/phrase on the basis of four pictures (as other reviewers have noted, the pictures are pretty horid, and it's sometimes difficult to identify the correct photo even if you know the phrase). All that said, I am looking forward to seeing how my understanding of Latin grows as I progress through the program.

I also purchased Wheelock's Latin and Cassell's Latin/English dictionary. For the time being, I have decided to park Wheelock's on my bookshelf, and instead have been using Rosetta Stone and my dictionary. As an art history PhD, I was forced to learn to read both German and Latin, and thus have a basic understanding of both a romance and non-romance language. I don't consider myself particularly skilled in the realm of languages, but at least this software makes it fun to do.

Highly recommended.

My husband had Latin in college and is interested in teaching it to our son. He researched a lot of products, purchased this one, and is extremely happy with his decision. He goes through the lessons on our computer and our two year old son likes to sit on his lap and join in repeating the vocabulary words. It's an excellent program.

The Rosetta Stone method is simply the best way you could possibly learn any foreign language. By removing the slow, deliberating step of English translation from the process of language comprehension, it teaches Latin to you the way it should be taught.

I need to learn both Spanish and French. Within a year I need to know just enough to get by. I felt that the task was a little high. A friend that speaks 9 languages made a suggest. Learn Latin first because it is the root of Spanish, French and English.
I have gone through the entire Latin course and I am now on to Spanish. Gee, am I glad I did the Latin first. My friend was right. I had tried to learn Spanish before and I was lost. By learning some Latin learning Spanish is now much easier.
Another good book, Latin for Dummies. It covers topics not found in the Rosetta Stone.

This product is fantastic. The voice recognition software works great and the practice is excellent. This helped me remember my Portuguese that I thought was long forgotten!

I like this program. The accent is great and it is very easy, even fun to follow, and it teaches the language well - it is very natural so that thought comes in the language rather than an attempt to make a fast mental 'translation.'

However, the disk cannot be easily copied, and this restricts the use of the program somewhat. I know I've been terrified that I'm going to scratch or scoff it, so I have not been willing to travel with it in my laptop. Also, I share the program with my 10 year old son, and feel compelled that he should use it on my computer, as I am scared he'll take the disk out and scratch it on his own.

I would have much preferred being able to make a safe backup copy of this disk.

My son certainly enjoyed learning Latin through Rosetta Stone. It was easy to use and he couldn't wait to get on the computer and learn some more.

I got it ASAP and its as described. I don't recommend it for people who have no prior Latin classes or any experience in Latin though, I'm using it just as review because next year i have to translate Virgil from Latin to English.

This was a major help after figuring out the menu, it helped so well, i understood my questions on the tests and saw my grades go up very slowly.