Customer Reviews

Rosetta Stone V3: Dutch Level 1-3 Set with Audio Companion [OLD VERSION]

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

About two months ago I realized I'd have to move to the Netherlands soon, so I got the 1, 2, and 3 level Dutch set. The price is high compared to other software, but it is much more sophisticated than anything else I've seen.

First of all, when learning Dutch, NO English is used. This can be a little annoying when getting to more abstract concepts, but I've always been able to figure it out after staring at the photos and seeing how they're similar or different. My wrong assumptions got corrected pretty quickly after seeing one or two additional photos illustrating a dutch word or sentence. If really stumped, there's always the option of a dutch dictionary or free online translation website.

I really like the method of matching photos with Dutch phrases. It seems to work pretty well for nouns at least, and I feel confident in my ability to name most things I learned in level 1 (haven't gotten to 2 and 3 yet). I found the writing exercises to be the most useful in learning sentence structure and spelling. Even though I hear what to write, it makes me break it down word by word, which seems to help it stick.

I usually don't use the headphones because I don't like headphones. I'm hoping I can get a microphone and get normal audio through my PC speakers at the same time. The speaking lessons seem to work fairly well, though occasionally the word that I should repeat is not registered correctly. For example, Spanish 2 once asked me to say the word "auto" in a phrase, but would not recognize it until I said "otto" like an American. It happens pretty rarely but is VERY annoying when it does. My Dutch fiance also pointed out that the voices in the software are speaking with a "snobby" accent not used by normal Dutch people. But that's typical for all language software unfortunately.

One thing that I found weird at first was that the software seemed to be doing a very lax job of "testing" me when matching pictures, etc, because the answers were fairly obvious. But even when it's asking me to respond correctly, it's really trying to teach, not test. The repetition and increased demands on me using the same concepts are really just a way to get those concepts/vocabulary better set in my understanding. The software doesn't test at all, in my opinion, but that makes sense for a tool that is designed to teach self-motivated students.

I felt uncomfortable with the grammar at first, and some of the irregularities in the language, but after completing the first level, I've gotten the feel for a lot of the grammatical rules covered so far, and I'm starting to get a grip on others. I'm pretty confident that the 2nd and 3rd levels will help me nail down those tricky bits.

Overall I think Rosetta Stone is as good at teaching a language as any software could be, and can't substantially be improved. I doubt I'll be fluent when done with the 3 levels (maybe someone would in a language with 6 levels), but I'm pretty sure I'll be ready to handle a lot of normal interactions Dutch - I won't feel totally cut off when I'm over there :-)

UPDATE: 14 December 2009
I just finished the 2nd level. Yay!

So basically level 2 works the same as level 1, but sentences get longer and more complicated, and past and future verb tenses are introduced as well. More vocabulary is added of course, and the new concepts/vocabulary usually make use of what was learned in level 1 and earlier in level 2. So there's still some reviewing going on while learning the new stuff, which works well for keeping things fresh in my mind.

I'm feeling very confident now with the irregularities of sentence structure I learned in Level 1, and pretty good about the ones I've learned in Level 2. Presumably Level 3 will help me nail down what Level 2 started teaching me. I do feel tempted to re-take Level 1 and/or Level 2 at this point however ... a lot of words have been added, and while I feel like I would recognize them in the appropriate context, I think there are quite a few I would have difficulty remembering if I were doing the talking. But ... level 2 reinforced level 1 very well, so maybe level 3 will reinforce level 2 the same way and I'll be fine. I guess I'll try level 3 first, then review as needed. It's hard to have faith in software, but so far it's worked out well. I'll let you know how that works out when I finish level 3 :-P

Something I meant to mention in my first review is the biggest difference between Rosetta Stone and learning in classes or from other software or books: With other methods you have to work HARD to study and memorize the words and grammar. Rosetta Stone, on the other hand, pretty much shovels the info into my head without a lot of effort on my part. I listen and watch and pay attention, but no hours of mind-numbing repetition are required. Much less brain strain involved, yet much faster and thorough progress than I made learning Spanish in high school and college.

I bought this for my two daughters in college taking Dutch for foriegn language. They both use it extensively as it is very well done and uses a microphone to listen for your pronunciation, which is almost like a tutor giving you pointers. $500 for a piece of software is pretty tall, but they have improved so much so quickly I say it is well worth it if you need to learn the language. The headset microphone connector broke within a week, but Rosetta tech support sent another out without delay. The kids almost fight over who gets to use it.

Despite their extensive marketing, they would be better off working on updating the software to work on modern computers and in improving the "speech recognition."

My primary complaints are with the parts in which you are asked to make noises resembling the target language. Quite often the software simply cannot keep up with more than a few words at a time, so you end up repeating words from your sentence that it drops. If you don't sync these repetitions correctly, it dings you as incorrect. Note that speed-wise this is on an Apple iMac computer released only a few weeks ago, so it's not a question of a slow processor speed. More generally, the "recognition" is a joke. Saying the word the same way a minute later may or may not be recognized as correct; often my mistake in using the wrong word counts as correct as long as it sounds like the correct one. Even more amusing / frustrating is the fact that at times the software-spoken hint loops from the speaker to the mike, so it is picked up by the software as if I were saying it, giving me credit before I even open my mouth.

All in all a credible effort toward usable software, but not at $500.

Here's my experience with this product, after paying hundreds for it: I tried installing it once, it wouldn't work. I installed it again and began to use it for a few weeks. It started telling me I needed to update the software (funny because it was working just fine). I ran the update: in the end, my software got wiped out by the update. I tried to reinstall the software and I found out you can't install it a third time.

So for all that money I got... pretty much nothing. As for the program itself- it is decent. It will teach you basic words, but will NOT make you fluent or even able to understand a basic conversation in a language (even if you complete all 3 levels). To truly learn a language, you need years of constant interaction with the language.