Customer Reviews

Rosetta Stone V2: Chinese, Level 1 & 2 [OLD VERSION]

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

 

 

First, Chinese is a very difficult language no matter where you start. I'm not sure I'd recommend this for a complete beginner like a child. We prefer Betterchinese.com for learners who want to start the language in the same way children learn to speak a native language. Nonetheless, our family enjoys foreign languages. Once we learn basic greetings, colors, numbers, etc. from a child's language source, we then use Rosetta Stone products to progress further. We've used Rosetta Stone for Chinese & Spanish. After Rosetta's Spanish I & II which took our 7 year old about a year to complete, she can converse with native Spanish speakers on a lower level basis. The Chinese language is much more difficult. It took us about 15 tries to accomplish just lesson 1. I'm predicting we'll finish level 1 in about 18 to 24 months. But we can now greet a native Chinese speaker and impress them with knowing how to count, colors, food, and many nouns. We can't speak to them in just Chinese, however.

The lessons take a lot of concentration because the native Chinese speakers speak at a normal speed, but constant repetition of each lesson is allowed, which makes it easier to imitate what you hear. It's necessary to study the lessons on a daily basis to gain familiarity with the speaking tones, and it also requires a certain amount of guesswork since new objects are introduced without a preliminary explanation of what they are.

I wish I could review how well the software taught a foreign language, but I had nothing but trouble getting it to work. I bought the homeschool edition so my kids could learn Chinese at home. First the data disk is copy protected, so you can't run the program without the disk in the drive, and you can't make a backup copy which might be fine for video games, but is just insulting for business software and a big risk when you are trusting kids with the disks. I spent quite a while trying to set the software up on the network using the guide from their website and e-mail technical support before their technical support finally said that it wouldn't work for this version. The application from a previous version wouldn't run the new data disks, and the new application wouldn't run the old data disks. The website said to request updated data disks, but when I called technical support I was told that they had just upgraded to a new version of the application and had stoped all support for older versions, including this one. This seems to be a pattern for Rosetta, as they regularly issue new versions of both the application and data which are incompatible with older versions and each other.

Also, they won't provide any technical support unless you buy directly from them.

I'm loving it...what I think a lot of buyers don't realize is that no one source will teach you to speak ANY language. That being said, I received Rosetta as a gift from my brother who uses it to improve his Japanese while living in Japan. I'd been wanting it as a companion to Pimsleur since I was on the third level of that program, have a good accent and can form sentences, but have a very limited vocabulary. This is what Rosetta is good for. It will not make you fluent.

At first I was getting frustrated with the repetition during the lessons. After about 30 min, I was remembering the words and couldn't see why I had to do more questions. The thing is, after that half hour, you know words, but maybe won't remember them one hour, or 2 days later. What I have noticed and what made me appreciate the program, is that when I listen to Mandarin radio the next day immediately after studying, I recognize words without thinking. It's pricey, but I'm only on unit 2 of level 1 and already recognize a difference in my skill levels.

Downsides: I honestly don't use the speech and writing sections because Mandarin is tonal and I really believe it's just too much for the software to handle. My speaking partners and tutor understand me perfectly and say I have a good accent, but the software had me going over and over words that I know I can say properly. Also, I'm a Pimsleur learner and got used to the 30 min, multi-tasked lessons. You HAVE to carve out time of intense concentration for Rosetta.

One recommendation...don't use the pinyin. Set it to traditional or standardized Chinese. It's hard, but I've found the pinyin setting slows my learning DRASTICALLY. It's really a crutch. Get a good pinyin program and complete that before even starting Rosetta so you're not trying to learn Mandarin sounds while completing the program.

After seeing the video demo I thought this was the right choice. I was wrong. Once you actually play it, Rosettastone Chinese is just a bunch of old pictures linked to a soundtrack. You hear sounds and you are supposed to pick the right picture. Eventually you get the hang of it but I can't really say anything in Chinese, and I don't really know what anything means. I'm a disciplined learner and I've been at it, but no one can honestly tell me they can learn with this program. There are some writing exercises but they don't make much sense. The voice recognition doesn't work at all. I really thought this was going to work but the demo has nothing to do with Rosetta Chinese. I'm disappointed and I feel cheated.

I got Rosetta Stone version 2 less than a month ago and realized that they have a new version 3. Due to "so called" 6 month return policy I wrote to their customer service if I can get a free upgrade. They said due to the fact that I bought it from Amazon there is nothing they can do about it. What kind of a policy is that? A company should be pride of their products and take some ownership. Rosetta approach is "hit and run, I got your money good luck" worse than airport vendors...what a shame!!!! If that is their customer service when there is no problem good luck if you have a real problem... Stay away, go to Fluenz at least they will treat you like a customer...

This Rosetta stone Chinese is using the 4 pictures flash card system to get learners to listen to the tones and pick the right pic. which shown the things or activities. After one hour of practice it gets very boring.
The CDs don't come with any PDF file of common phases or everyday real life sentences for real life usage.
The 200 dollar Chinese learning software doesn't teach a bit of Chinese cultures, history or customs. I ordered Rosetta Stone Chinese "Mandarin" for my American roommate. Although I can speak Cantonese "another Chinese dialect" and can understand some Chinese Mandarin, the idea of getting a Chinese learning system was good for both of us and I can polish my state-Chinese spoken skill.

Anyway, this flash card system may be good for young children, who may pick up simple Chinese nouns, verb, tones earlier in their life, as children (under the age of 6 learn any language differ than us).
But their pictures are very outdated and dark mostly.

The part that use microphone to record learners' Chinese spoken word, executes poorly. As the software only has 1 female and 1 male to demonstrate Chinese words/sentences. If your pitch is not 90% same as the software voices, you fails. It's very frustrating when I tried that portion.

Although Rosetta Stone software shows the actual Chinese words/characters and the pronunciation in English form on screen, most non-native speakers won't be able to memorize Chinese characters without years of real practice in language schools.
For beginners or intermediate Chinese students, it's more important to speak more Chinese sentences/phases in real life situation. So that your interest of learning more Chinese will not be faded away.

After trying Rosetta Stone for about 1 week, we decided not to waste time on this software and we called them for return service to get our money back. Luckily we ordered directly from Rosetta Stone, they still have trial-and-buy period for buying directly from them.

We then tried the Conversational "Pimsleur" Chinese-Mandarin level one audio CDs, it costs much less "under 40 dollars shipped from Amazon.com " and it delivers better basic conversational results in weeks. We spend about 30-45 minutes more or less each evening just to listen, think and speak back.
As the Pimsleur audio CDs are more flexible, we can listen them while commuting to work or cooking in kitchen. With Rosetta Stone, we had to sit in front of my PC, and clicking endless pictures.

As Pimsleur system design their system for busy adults, and its contents are more effective for everyday uses and it explains some Chinese culture and customs for non-Chinese folks.
I will get level-2 "Pimsleur" Chinese-Mandarin audio Cd set after I completely know and can say all the contents correctly.
I do not recommend Rosetta Stone Chinese version for adult learners.
I recommend Pimsleur Chinese!

My son uses Rosetta Stone for Spanish (Spain version) and that has been pretty good for him and me. It would be nice if we could click on each word to help listen to and practice pronounciation. I don't like having to listen to the entire phrase or sentence just to listen to one word that I can't quite hear or pronounce. I decided to start my daughter out in Chinese ( Mandarin) because I know it's a harder language. I liked the Spanish version because it's fairly easy to tell or guess what phrases go with which pictures. The Chinese version shows Chinese people in traditional clothes and hair or with Chinese types of things such as food. It can be difficult to tell who is male or female, what something is or what someone is doing. For example there is a picture of a person with long hair wearing traditional clothes which is supposed to be a man dancing, but the face isn't showing so there really isn't a good way to know that it was a man. There is also a little toddler in traditional clothes on and he is wearing a hat so it's hard to tell he is a boy. I am part Chinese so it's not that I don't know what Chinese people look like. Just because the language is Chinese it doesn't mean that the lessons need to show mostly Chinese or Asian people, activities, or items. They could have just used the same pictures as the Spanish version. The other problem with the program is that there is no way to slow down the speech except during the speech comparison lessons. It's hard to understand Chinese so it would be helpful to be able to slow down the speech and/or to be able to click on each word to practice listening or saying the words.

Rosetta Stone V2: Chinese, Level 1 & 2 [OLD VERSION]

This is the best I have found so far; however this has a problem and there are improvements that could be helpful.

The section under Skill "D" in which you attempt to mimic a native speaker's visual of their sound by recording your voice & visual does not work well. I tried and failed so I asked my Chinese wife who is a native speaker to try. She is from Bejing and lived in Taiwan. She speaks Mandarin both ways meaning she uses the "R" sound in China and drops it in Taiwan. She tried numerous times and could not get out of the red failing zone. Something is wrong!
One improvement would be that a dictionary of some type be provided from Pin Yin to English. My wife reads both the traditional & current characters now used in China, she is my dictionary but what about the person without a Chinese spouse?

This is one product that gives you back whatever you put into it. I takes work, and the results are well worth it.