Customer Reviews

Rosetta Stone V3: Hebrew Level 1-3 Set [OLD VERSION]

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

 

 

OK the good:

1. Version 3 has snazzy interface (when it's working).
2. Has a somewhat interesting progression of vocabulary.

The bad:

1. Very glitchy. It freezes windows XP on my Dell 710 every 15 minutes. I have the latest drivers and no other program causes this issue. Apparently Rosetta Stone is aware of this issue. Hmmm...why don't they mention this in their commercials?
2. The curriculum is mostly multiple choice - choosing the proper answer is actually too easy. It does not 'force' you to remember vocabulary or grammar. My Pimsleur Spanish CD's are quite a bit better at this.

OK, one more 'good' thing. My company paid for this. Otherwise I'd be trying to get my money back.

The Rosetta stone virtual immersion is by far the coolest way to learn a language and definitely better than the good ol' days of memorizing verb conjugation.

After trying the online version for about one month I actually bought the $400+ Ver3 package. From my limited use over those couple months it really seems to work. The only problem (but it's a big one) is the program was not stable in my hands. The program would stall at a certain point and I could not go forward. With the online version the program seemed to "correct itself" if I logged off and came back later. With the CD version the program froze up at a certain lesson and would never go forward beyond that point.

The customer service was atrocious. Since I work for a living and have the program installed on one of my home computers I had no choice but to call in the evening after work, and then had to call before 8 PM. The wait time could be 15 minutes or more and they really offered no solution other than to suggest that I reinstall the level. They also suggested that the 504MB of available RAM on the computer I was using was the culprit since they required "512MB"; I installed another 1GB and didn't help. I was more than a little annoyed at the extraordinary convoluted process I had to go through to inactivate the product and that I had to pay to return their defective product. I really wanted to keep it and wish they would have fixed it. The one redeeming feature about custome service was that the people were generally very nice although a bit matter-of-fact for my taste (like talking to robots).

Bottom line, I love the program but would never by another one of their products myself. Based on usability I gave it the lowest rating.

This is the best language learning tool I have ever used. It is very good for the visual learner. Also, it has clear sound, which is great because other audio language learning tools I've used were never clear enough and I wasn't sure if I was pronouncing the words right.
It is extremely fun to work with and I love doing a little each day. Having only had it for about a month, already I am able to recognize short phrases.

The basic program idea is well done and the variety of exercises maintain interest and make learning fun. The problem is that this version of the software has glitches that cause it to freeze at various points. After several emails to the company, they finally acknowledged that the problem was not my fault (!) and "they are working on it". I have yet to see any progress on the much needed upgrade. I would not purchase this until they have fixed the problem. For the money paid, I am not satisfied.