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

by Rosetta Stone

Product Features

• Rosetta Stone helps you understand everyday language through our proficiency-based listening and reading activities
• You will pronounce words correctly after practicing with our proprietary speech comparison tool
• Find the words you need when you need them Connecting new language directly to real-life images means the words spring to mind when you're in everyday contexts
• Rosetta Stone teaches you to spell and write accurately Language-specific keyboards and drag and drop tiles perfect your writing skills
• Learn to communicate by quickly combining words and phrases into complete sentences and dialogue

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000TFBZ4G
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 2, 2001
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,827 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Why is Rosetta Stone the world's No. 1 language-learning software? Because it works.

Escape the endless tedium of translation, memorization, and grammar drills. Get the language you want, the skills you need, and the success you deserve by learning a new language naturally--the same way you learned your first language.

	The complete immersion environment puts your native language-learning skills to work, eliminating your dependence on tedious translation and rote memorization.

	Images		Intuition
	In Rosetta Stone you learn the meaning of new language from clear, real-life images. In this activity you learn a few basic nouns.		You advance using language you've learned and clues from new images. That's your intuition at work. Now that you know these nouns, you can easily grasp the meaning of the new verb...
	Interactivity		Instruction
	Throughout Rosetta Stone, you constantly interact with the program to confirm your intuition. ...and then check what you've learned.		From beginning to end you build systematically toward your language-learning goals, for the most effective and enjoyable instruction anywhere. Pattern your speech after a native speaker. Our speech comparison feature shows you exactly how you're doing.

You learned your first language without translation.
You learned your first language easily and naturally by connecting words to objects and events around you. With Rosetta Stone, learn a new language the same way: using native speakers and thousands of real-life images to help you think in the new language from the very beginning. Studies show that learning exclusively in the new language, without translation as a crutch, is crucial.

Rosetta Stone's exclusive Dynamic Immersion method reinforces your natural language-learning skills with award-winning instructional technology.

The timeless immersion method, along with research-based techniques and new technologies, make Rosetta Stone the clear solution to your language-learning needs.

What will you be able to do?

Understand everyday language.
Through Rosetta Stone's proficiency-based listening and reading activities, you'll soon be able to understand everyday language.

Pronounce words correctly.
After practicing with Rosetta Stone’s proprietary speech comparison tool, the correct pronunciation of words will come easily.

Find the words you need when you need them.
Connecting new language directly to real-life images means the words spring to mind when you're in everyday contexts.

Spell and write accurately.
Language-specific keyboards and drag-and-drop tiles perfect your writing skills.

Learn to communicate.
You'll quickly combine words and phrases into complete sentences and dialogues.

Retain what you learn.
Regular reinforcement of new words and phrases in new contexts ensures the language sticks with you in the real world.

Product Description

With Japanese Level 1&2 you engage the world around you, drawing on basic content and structures from level 1 and the blocks of everyday language from level 2. Learn to speak and write clearly and correctly, gaining the confidence to go where you want an

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good product!, December 1, 2007

By 

The Little DVD Shop - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rosetta Stone V2: Japanese, Level 1 & 2 [OLD VERSION] (CD-ROM)

I tried the free online version of this on Rosetta Stone's website before opting to buy it.

I have been studying Japanese for about a year and a half and I found that I learned just as many words or more using this software in one night that I might only learn in one week of studying directly from text books.

However, I highly recommend purchasing a Japanese dictionary with it because it's easy to get lost along the way, especially if you have never studied Japanese before. Random House Japanese-English English-Japanese Dictionary

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Immersion technique has drawbacks, January 23, 2008

By 

Noelani (Hawaii) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rosetta Stone V2: Japanese, Level 1 & 2 [OLD VERSION] (CD-ROM)

Although the immersion technique is engaging, it has its drawbacks. Would be nice if an English (or native language) translation was available to confirm what has been learned. It took a lot of outside-the-program dictionary and grammar research to find out that one lesson's pictures were not of people "driving", but that the concept was "inside". Subtle differences between "above", "over", "on top of" are not clear, so it is easy to learn things WRONG, unless you keep a dictionary and grammar book by your side.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Both more and less effective than I had anticipated, February 25, 2008

By 

Gabriel (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rosetta Stone V2: Japanese, Level 1 & 2 [OLD VERSION] (CD-ROM)

One thing I couldn't figure out before buying the product was how they would manage the writing practice. In case others are curious, here's the deal. For most exercises, you can toggle between romaji (transliterated Japanese using our alphabet), kana (the phonetic syllabaries), or kanji (the way Japanese is really written, a combination of Chinese ideograms and kana). There are some writing exercises where you can just type in the romaji. There are others where they give you panes with different characters on them and you have to click the correct characters in the correct order to create the sentence (you can opt to do either kana or kanji for these). It's a little tedious--I get frustrated spending so much time just scanning the lines for the correct character to click on. Obviously you will never learn how to truly write with correct stroke order or anything from the software, so I definitely recommend a supplemental workbook or two if that is important to you. But, on the bright side, my kanji recognition / reading has dramatically improved.

Also, I thought from reading the system requirements that I would have to buy my own microphone so I ordered one ahead of time. I was wrong--it is included with the software.

Otherwise, I've been both impressed and a little disappointed with the software. It is definitely considerably more interesting than most types of studying, which helps me to use it more often and for longer periods of time. Also, it builds on the vocabulary you have already learned in a really helpful way. Review is naturally built in, so by level 8 you know the vocab from level 2 a lot better than before, rather than having half-forgotten it by that time. There are a variety of options so you can customize the way you study to your learning style and goals--and switch it up somewhat to keep yourself interested. There are some things that I learned quite quickly using the software that I just could not get to stick in my head using other methods (like flash cards or classroom repetition).

On the other hand, I definitely agree with the other reviewer who suggests a dictionary. It can be difficult to follow even with a dictionary sometimes (I may not know the dictionary form of a verb, for example). Sometimes it's easy and/or fun to figure out what phrases are matched to the pictures they show you, but other times it's quite challenging and no translation is ever provided. There has already been at least one time when I thought I was saying one phrase when I was actually saying another. I had to rather painfully unlearn what I thought I knew. I have mixed feelings about the "immersion" method--I'm all for thinking in the new language as soon as possible and not forcing awkward translations into English that don't really work or trying to make sense of everything in terms of grammatical rules that often have a bunch of exceptions anyway. But, on the other hand, as adults already fluent in one language, we're inevitably going to translate phrases into English in our heads regardless, and it seems like it would be useful to be able to check that we're translating them as accurately as possible. And I've heard the theory that the one and only advantage adults have over children in terms of language acquisition is that we can understand abstract rules and systems, so we might as well take advantage of that by learning and applying some grammar rules.

Also, the software isn't as smart as I thought it might be. I had hoped it would remember my strong and weak areas and customize the questions it asked me based on my progress over time. Unfortunately, it only does that in a very limited way and only while you're doing an exercise of one particular type. As soon as you finish that exercise, it forgets everything. There is a test function and you can look back on your scores from past tests, but you have to be careful to log on--the default setting is to study as a "guest," in which case it won't even remember your test scores.

The voice recognition analysis I find to be pretty useless. Most times it gives me the same abysmal rating regardless of whether I'm doing my most precise mimicry of the Japanese I'm hearing, or simply humming monotone or speaking gibberish (I've tested). Sometimes, if I have no other programs running, have no background noise, have the microphone positioned just right, etc., etc., it gives me real readings, but it almost always seems to be those other factors it's rating rather than my actual pronunciation. However, just hearing my recorded voice repeated back to me after a native speaker is really useful and I think has helped me to improve.

Overall, I am pleased with the software--my Japanese is getting better, which is what matters.