Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I've been living in Japan for almost three years now and have been trying hard to learn the language independently. After hearing about it here and there, I decided to purchase the double-pack of Rosetta Stone's Japanese software a year and a half ago. Based upon the U.S. State Department's sworn-by language study program, Rosetta Stone gets a lot of hype (and a fair bit of advertising) for its effectiveness. For a language as thoroughly dissimilar from English as Japanese, however, it comes up a bit short.

While I used it almost daily for a few months after purchasing it - mostly out of discipline - I've found it doing little more than taking up hard drive space recently. Certainly it teaches a lot of vocabulary across its many lessons, and the methodology - likened to that of a child's language acquisition - has its merits in theory. Unfortunately, the design of the software makes it entirely too easy to remember words and phrases without ever producing them yourself. Unlike the Pimsleur programs, which constantly force you to speak and apply what you have learned, Rosetta Stone is too oriented around associative reaction. The pictures are static (and frequently of poor, grainy quality), resulting in the user recognizing single images more than actual words and concepts.

For solely building vocabulary, this sort of methodology works to an extent. But, as any student of Japanese can tell you, it isn't the kind of language where you can just throw words together in hopes of forming an understandable sentence. Anyone familiar with the stereotype of Japanese-English being oft-incomprehensible? There's a reason for this: the way Japanese grammar functions is completely different from that of English. Any attempt to directly translate something will just result in puzzled looks. Rosetta Stone will not teach you a wink of grammar, so when you encounter things like comparatives, you won't have a clue WHY they're expressed that way nor even what each component exactly means. For any language student that likes an even slightly analytical approach, this aspect is extremely off-putting.

The software gives you the option of seeing the text in romaji, kana or kanji. Romaji is, of course, a cinch, but the others are unintelligible to complete beginners as the program will not teach you how to read them. So, in the very least, you will have to purchase a kana text to learn hiragana or katakana; relying on romaji is usually discouraged by most Japanese language students and educators. As for the kanji option, well, there's no furigana, so you'd best not bother. By the time you could actually read it, you probably wouldn't learn anything new from this software anyhow.

A noble effort, and perhaps one that works well for Indo-European languages, but frankly Rosetta Stone's not worth the expense. If you do get it, expect to supplement it heavily with other materials as you will *not* become fluent (or, arguably, even comprehensible) from this. The Pimsleur series is a good, if pricey, start and texts like the Japanese For Busy People series (preferably with accompanying cds) and James W. Heisig's Remembering the Kana & Remembering the Kanji are much more comprehensive. Ganbatte!

This software is designed around the immersion approach to learning languages. A drill will show you a picture of an apple, and you'll see the word spelled out while a narrator gives the pronunciation. At various points in the drills, you will have the chance to read the Japanese word for apple, use your logic and language skills to pick the picture for apple after hearing the word in Japanese, and more. Its target audience is the self-motivated learner who's serious about learning and mastering basic Japanese over a 1-2 year period. Anyone looking for a quick and useful phrases for a short visit to Japan should use the Rosetta Stone Explorer or Traveller programs instead of this set. That said, using the Rosetta Stone is a lot cheaper than a plane ticket to Japan, or the tuition fees at intense summer Japanese courses at various universities around the US. If you master all the drills and vocabulary in the program, you will be well equipped to go to Japan, and to continue learning the language in an immersion environment.

The student who has headphones and microphone attached to his or her PC will be able to take advantage of all the listening, reading, speaking and writing drills in the program. Users can switch back and forth between the romanized, hiragana and kanji scripts.

Your Japanese teacher may not have the time (or patience) to give you individualized, repetitive drills. That's not a problem with this program - you can practice all you like and the program will never get tired of you! As such, the program is a good supplement for people formally enrolled in a class.

For the student who dislikes the immersion approach and prefers to learn Japanese scripts and grammar before tackling any listening or reading, I recommend the Power Japanese and Kanji Moments programs from Bayware software.

Once you have completed the Rosetta Stone programs, you will still need some formal study of grammar, but this program covers basic principles like the subject-object-verb order characteristic of Japanese, and basic verb forms.

I used the online version of RS Japanese, and was extremely happy with it, but only because I have very high-speed internet access. Once my use license expired, I could no longer access the programs. If I had the CDs, I'd always be able to refer to the program later. Take your pick based on your own personal convenience.

I liked my RS Japanese experience so much, that I took the plunge and bought the Level 1 Korean edition on CD.

As others have stated, you listen to a speaker say a word in Japanese and have to match up what they say with one of four pictures. This is all fine and good for words like boy, apple, dog etc. However the same process is repeated for sentences; where you are left to recognize words within the sentence just to make a guess at which of the four pictures is correct. They give a PDF file that has the translation of those sentences in English, but this DOES NOT help with learning the Japanese equivalent.

English sentence structure is Subject Verb Object, while Japanese is Subject Object Verb. This means you can only make a guess at what exactly is the Japanese equivalent of the English translation given to you.

You are NEVER taught any grammar, sentence structure, or Kanji/Hiragana/Katakana!

Basically you are better off buying a cheap phrase book, which is basically what this program is. If you want to learn Japanese this is NOT going to help you in the least.

I don't recommend this software for several reasons:

1) You're learning words by associations frame by brame, picture by picture. Think about this. A baby will spend at least 2 years of immersion before he can speak anything that makes sense. As an adult, how much comprehension will you get from this software by spending 1 hour a day?

2) The set of pictures that you're shown is flawed and unintelligent. In most cases, you can get the right answer by process of elimination. The same set of pictures that you see in this Japanese version is also shown for French and other languages. This software is systematically put together without any specific focus/customization for the Japanese language.

3) The pictures themselves are sometimes unclear. At times you really don't know what the japanese sentence is referring to in the picture. This can get very annoying and frustrating!

4) The software gives you no insight as to how to read kana and kanji, and of course none on japanese grammar.

If you want immersion, you'd be much better off watching a Japanese soap opera. This software does have some usefulness when used in conjunction with other learning methods, but for its price, it's really not worth it.

This is a great program for a few reasons. One is that you have plenty of time for listening and taking in the language before you actually speak it (great for pronunciation and comprehension--my comprehension sucks, so I was really happy with this). Two, there's no explicit grammar instruction, which makes it easier to speak the language in the beginning--you're not sitting around silently trying to think of the correct grammar structure instead of just speaking and getting your point across, regardless of grammar troubles (you'll want to work on grammar with a book or some other program when you reach high-beginner/intermediate levels). Three, it's fun. And you're learning the same way you learn your first language, association of words, phrases and visuals. The price is worth the product.

One problem is that what you learn is not immediately useful in actual conversation. My experience was that I needed to get to about level 4 of the first unit before I could actually start "talking" Japanese. If you want straight-up conversational Japanese in a few short months, I'd suggest Pimsluer, which is overpriced, but will get you to where's-the-bathroom-and-what-time-is-it land in a jiff. Another problem is that there is no actual writing practice. You place the characters in the right spot with your mouse to form correct sentences, which helps with character recognition, but not hand writing. Finally, the voice recognition is innacurate. I had a native Japanese speaker listen to my speech. In several instances, I was told by the program that I couldn't be understood, but my Japanese friend said there was no problem in understanding me.

You can make up for the lack of grammar instrcution and hand writing practice by getting a book called "Japanese for Everyone" for grammar work after you half way through the first RS cd, and picking up "Remembering the Kana" for learning to write Hiragana and Katakana in a pretty painless fashion.

I have been studying Japanese longer than I care to admit and STILL cannot produce a spontaneous simple sentence with confidence- either for my stumbling over grammar or plain pronuciation insecurity. I studied for two years, took a one year break, then went to Tokyo for a solid year for study abroad, which ended one year ago. The first three months there, I made the most progress because I lived with a good host family and attended a 'JSL' or Japanese immersion school, where most of my classmates could not speak English. For the first three months, I was truly, socially and linguistcally, immersed in Japanese. Rosetta Stone, or any other 'stand-alone' media, will never be able to match true immersion.

That said, let me explain why I went Rosetta Stone. 50% of my decision was based on the speaking exercises. A native speaker (the man and the woman are from two different regions, and even though Rosetta is using the standard dialect, you can hear that they come from different areas) describes the photo first, and his/her voice is charted. Then its your turn to try, your speech is similarly charted so you can compare, and there is also a rating meter to tell you how you did overall for that particular phrase. As soon as you are done saying the phrase, the program immediatly plays it back for you so that you can hear your own voice. I have a habit of going through all this, and on phrases I feel I could improve my pronunciation on, I replay the native speaker, and then I replay my own. The program doesn't save your work in the speaking section, in fact if you move on to the next phrase, the one you just did is gone. For anyone that is concerned with their speaking skills and cannot find a decent conversation partner, or is just plain shy, quiet, or self-conscious (like myself), this is a great way to get used to speaking. I have been using this for a week and already feel like I am improving and tripping over my own tongue much less. I am also getting used to the sound of my own voice in a foreign language, and I think thats helpful. No criticizing at all, very safe and comfortable way to practice speaking.

As for the rest of it, I could have used it better before my study abroad, but this is definately not a stand alone. I recommend you have have at least a semester of Japanese under your belt, basic grammar is a must. Also do yourself a favor and drill on your hiragana and katakana first. It is possible to go through this program without knowledge in either but it is so tied into the grammar and pronunciation that you really should have these two things down. As it is and as I am, this is great for review, and I do find myself learning a new word here and there.

The program is a little tedious, and I would recommend shaking your study up with reading and listening excercises from other sources, at a level you can handle of course. Find readings with CDs included and stuff those tracks into your iPod. I have CDs that came with my college textbooks that I am revisiting lately, they tell a whole story and ask comprehension questions after. Of course I don't answer out loud but its much more interesting than grammar drills, imitates and improves more realistic listening and comprehesion.

Recently I ordered and have yet to recieve a few more books, 'How to Sound Intellegent in Japanese', 'Basic Connections: Making Your Japanese Flow', and 'Core Words and Phrases: Things You Can't Find in a Dictionary', and will be reviewing them in a few weeks.

Currently I own like 20 books on Japanese language, and of them I would most highly recommend Kodansha's 'Kanji Learner's Dictionary', for the beginner/intermediate learner. Don't even think about taking JLPT without it. 'Minna no Nihongo' (Japanese for Everyone) is a great textbook, but I would only trust it in the hands of a good teacher. 'Kanji Pictographix' is great for the visual learner, and offers some great pneumonic devices for memorizing kanji from the radicals. My favorite textbook for kanji (and good with grammar if you have lived in Japan 1 year or studied outside for at least two years) is called 'Nihongo ga umakuni naru hon' 1 and 2, I don't think its availible here, but you can find it on the University of Utah bookstore website. Excellent explanation of radicals and how to use them to figure out kanji and help memorize them. It also gives instructions on the best way I have yet known to make kanji flash cards. Last, I recommend 'Words in Context', helpful for a learner of any language especially Japanese language on understanding how language affects our worldview, be careful it could lead you into something much bigger than learning a language.

I was very impressed with this study aid. I can understand the frustrations a tyro would have. Japanese isn't easy to learn. But if you study this in conjunction with regular classes and other supplements, you'll be well off.

This is great for drills. What you would pay for a private tutor for the same drills would more than cover the cost of the materials. It really reinforces and gells what is foggy in your mind. I was astounded how well the voice recognition works. It really helps you improve. I teach ESL, and students who use RS improve their pronunciation. Sure, I can understand them, but their English sounds stilted.

Don't think of RS as the final word in language learning, but it's a great help. Japanese for Busy People, and the Pimsleur CD's also will help.

One thing RS doesn't have that would be useful is a dictionary. I have been able to work out the meaning of words, but I like to be reassured I'm right.

I will definetly buy the other guides to help with languages I've learned, but have gathered cobwebs in my brain. I find myself addicted to the lessons, something that has never happened to me before.

This software works great for me. I am very lazy, and this program is the only way I can force myself to study. I have already passed Japanese Language Proficiency Test Level 4 and this year I will take Level 3. I have never taken any Japanese class, all my achievements are thanks to this software.

I love this software, because it has helped me understand a lot more Japanese than the tapes from my textbook. The language is very natural, and the fact that you can see pictures and read the sentence being spoken at the same time helps significantly. You can repeat the lessons as many times as you want to help you master the content, without the exercises becoming boring or excessive. I practice almost two hours a day, and after a week I started to notice improvements. Now when I want to say something in Japanese I don't do any translating in my head first, I can feel the Japanese words coming together. However, I already knew some Japanese before I bought this software, so for a true beginner this program might be a bit advanced. In addition, the immersion method this software follows might not be for everyone. Finally, you do need to have the discipline to study regularly, preferably one hour every day. Ganbatte kudasai!!

This is the worst way to begin learning Japanese. Rosetta Stone shows you four pictures, names them in Japanese, and asks you to identify the correct picture (that's really it!). It does not give you definitions of words. It does not teach sentence structure, or tense endings. It does not even teach katakana or hiragana. Rosetta Stone never gives a straightforward definition for a single word in the entire program. What it does is let you decipher what words mean. When learning a new language, guessing definitions is not the way to go. You will have to teach yourself kanji as well. And when doing the program, if you know just one word you can manage to choose the right answer (if it's the only picture with a table in it, and you know the word for table, you will get it right even without knowing any other words). One lady on here said she had been studying Japanese for 3 years and has even lived in Japan, and yet still learned new things from Level 1. No offense, but that is very hard to believe. I have been studying by myself for 6 months, and am able to clear the entire 1st unit (and no, I did not learn anything new). Please don't waste your time with this, there are better resources.
P.S.- Rosetta Stone is also not tailored to a specific country, so you will not learn things that are more important to that culture. It teaches some 30 different languages, and each follows the same system, and uses pictures of the same things.