Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This is a great product that has some installation and minor sound system issues that go along with it. I am running Vista on the computer I installed the program on. Although I followed installation directions faithfully, I was unable to update the product when following the suggested steps. I could not update it until after I had completed registration, so I would advise registering the product before trying to do much else. After registering the product, updates were installed seamlessly. Updating was time-intensive, taking over ½ an hour over a DSL connection. Luckily, this appears to be an infrequent occurrence. After installing the updates, I set up the headset (a minor repair had to made--an ear piece had come apart and was easily fixed), and proceeded to try the program.

At first I was unable to try the program because of sound issues. Although my system volume was not set high, the sound coming through the headset was entirely too loud to be listened to. I had to go into my volume mixer and reset a variety of sound levels--and located the separate Rosetta Stone volume control--before volume was at a workable level. All of the tries at updating and then sound issues made for a very slow start to beginning to enjoy the software. But once all of the "dust" settled and I was able to begin the program, I was very favorably impressed.

The language-learning portion of the program is easy to use and customizable to what you wish to learn. Are you more interested in spoken language? Well, you can emphasize that and spend less time with written language. The program's approach is indeed an immersion approach and doesn't require that you spend time overtly memorizing by rote, as many approaches to learning a language seem to take. This makes the program a pleasure to use, particularly for visual/auditory learners. The more you use the program, the more you will find yourself remembering and the more success you will have in your chosen language. And, the more success you have in learning Italian, the more you will find yourself wanting to use the program. You will be learning language in the same way a native speaker of the language learns. The program creates such a positive learning experience, I find myself not wanting to miss a day of practice!

Currently, three of us are using the program, as the program does let you add users on the same computer. Everyone proceeds at his or her own pace, and you may revisit lessons and set your user interface to learn whatever aspect of language interests you most. The ability to go back and review is invaluable. You may also set up your voice recognition software to be more or less "strict" about what it finds acceptable in terms of pronunciation. One of the three program users in the household is taking an accelerated course in Italian at the local university and finds that this program is a wonderful adjunct to the live class, giving them extra practice and a pronunciation leg-up. Other than the initial set-up hurdles, the three of us give the program a very big "thumbs up." The program is well worth the price. I've taken many language classes over the years and find this to be one of the easiest and most fun approaches I've been presented with.

The weakness of this product, staring into and responding to a computer screen: your learning experience lacks the language reinforcing mechanism of emotions inherent in human conversation, but traditionally as that can only be captured by expensive school attendance, RosettaStone is a broad-beginning-learning tool which will strongly familiarize you with a language.

Have been extensively using Rosetta Stone for the past month; deeply "immersed" to use the word of the product. It is a good tool for speaking a learned language. But having almost completed the first of three levels (complete package available for a language), I find the written instruction very lacking. The headset came broken which was obviously packaged broken as the box was undamaged--poor quality control. It took four phone calls and a fax to get a replacement headset. This is very poor for such an expensive product. Tech support is there via phone with not much difficulty, but customer support is poor. I would check out the competition, Pimsleur, were I to start again. Also, RosettaStone way over rates how well one can speak the language once the sections are completed. I say this objectively because one is graded how well one performs in learning. Good performance (say over 90% correct responses, your performance graded by the program) does not equal good language skills.

I would recommend this product to be complemented by the traditional method of textbook learning -on your own or better in a class room. But the best use of this tool is as a precursor and compliment to speaking the language with other people. In this context, RosettaStone really shines and will propel your linguistic skill faster than any other method alone.

5/09 Six months after starting program, I am almost half way through (of all three levels; advancement slows as reviewing takes up more time) and I have same opinion as before.

Bad: poorer product for learning to write in the foreign language; I am good at achieving high program scores (it ranks your performance), usually scoring above 95% but I feel i am not equally proficient at the language as the program or the people at RosettaStone suggest; i have found errors in vocabulary, i.g. a photograph of the inside of a bookstore and calling it a "biblioteca" when it is actually a "libreria"; cultural errors such as teaching time in a 12 hour format rather than expressing the time in a 24 format as is customary in Italy; pronunciation inconsistencies (ig "portrai" -you may- pronounced both with a hard "I" and a hard "A" at the end of the word); errors in grammar as well; there are program glitches which are annoying: in pause mode, often the audio fails to work on replay and the program's ability to asses the first verbal response on a screen is very poor (this is annoying as you pay more attention to over-pronunciation as opposed to learning). For a $500 product these errors are not acceptable.

Good: irrelevant of drawbacks, I feel a growing grasp of the language and a confidence at this level which I did not feel during 1 year of college classes in Spanish. The program does work. I recommend this program but would still review more the Pimsleur product were I to start again. I do not know which product covers more language ground; it is not only the method of teaching and the price difference to consider. I have and still advise to supplement the RosettaStone product with a text book. In addition I transcribe/read a newspaper in Italian (using a two-way dictionary and Google Translate) from which I make vocabulary flash cards, as well as listen to Italian radio (Radio Uno via RealPlayer) over the net and watch Italian movies (tv would be better though).

Particularly regards "reviewing": the RosettaStone program has review sections which are vastly insufficient. I would recommend using the "Core Lesson"s in each unit as a means of reviewing; although it takes more time and slows progress thru the program, it is learning the language for practical application that counts and not program completion. And as to the the program's weakness in learning method (staring into a screen and lack of emotions in conversation which reinforce learning a language), I recommend when reviewing, speak your response whilst not staring at the screen and feel yourself (use imagination, w/out going overboard) in the context of the pictorial context.

I knew no Italian before working with this program, and I found that I was easily able to follow it. It's efficient, enjoyable, and practical.
Initially, I questioned whether I would actually remember the new things I was learning. It seemed as though getting the right answers -- which I did -- had more to do with problem-solving skills than with actually learning the language. However, I found that I was able to build on what I had learned,and the program has review designed into it.
This really is painless language learning.
I had worked through the French language as well, to brush up on and improve my language skills, and I found that installing a second language with the Rosetta Stone software was easy and convenient, though Italian did require a lengthy "update" session which kept it from being fast. I was also able to put it on my laptop, so I could take it along with me and practice while traveling.
The other concern I'd had was that the two language programs might be identical apart from the language itself --the same pictures, the same sequence, etc. -- and thus confusing. This was not the case.
I strongly recommend the series.

If you really hate traditional language learning--textbook, grammar, vocabulary lists--then this is a decent alternative at a very high price. It's a fun method that tries to emulate the way children learn language, hearing phrases and sentences while viewing images and making connections. After working your way through all three levels in this set, you should have a basic understanding of Italian prounciation and a grasp of some simple sentence construction and a small vocabulary. Most of the learning is done while seated at your computer, but the set includes some audio CDs you can listen to for additional practice.

If you want to learn Italian in preparation for a trip, then this set won't be of much use. You'll be able to say tell someone that a girl has fallen off a fence, but you won't be able to reserve a hotel room with a double bed. You'll be better off with a short CD course that emphasizes common travel expressions and a phrase book.

If you are serious about learning Italian and are willing to put in the work involved in learning grammar and vocabulary, there are traditional options that will give you much more in-depth comprehension at a much more reasonable price. Unfortunately the excellent Living Language Ultimate Italian set, which contained a good textbook along with companion and supplemental audio CDs, is no longer in print.

Rosetta Stone's method is based on a technique called "Dynamic Immersion." You're immediately thrown into the language you want to learn -- there's no English allowed. This sounds daunting, but the software starts you off at such a rudimentary level it isn't intimidating.

I really like how the program keeps track of what areas I'm botching and pulls me back into those areas for more work. I also like the pronunciation practice via the included headset, although I can't verify it's always catching me when I'm mispronouncing things. To my ear I'm doing OK, but my ear isn't the best, hence my use of this program. If I'm pronouncing things badly and the program isn't always catching my errors, I'm not sure how I'd know, if you see what I mean. My hope is that I can nail the rudiments of Italian and get a good grip on simple conversations using Rosetta Stone before trying to find people to practice with/on, thus keeping my embarrassment factor low.

Thankfully, the app employs a good variety of interactive methods (matching pictures to sentences, writing caption for photos, hearing words and phrases pronounced correctly by native speakers, etc.) so the "by rote" factor stays low. Rosetta Stone says its techniques are modeled on how native speakers actually learn their own languages, usually while still kids, and I think that's a good description for what the software delivers. You start with words and then move on to phrases, and then with level two you get to conversations. Level three kicks the conversational up a couple of notches. It's a natural progression.

I think there are people who prefer a more standard "grammar-first" approach because they've found in the past that this is what works for them. I imagine there are also people who don't like looking at computer screens for lengthy periods. These are valid concerns. There are different pedagogical approaches for a reason -- not everyone learns in the same way. My guess is that Rosetta Stone would serve the majority of people very well, especially students who are comfortable with computer-based learning. Ideally, I think this program will work best for people who are studying a language using many "inputs" (text books, audio programs, computer apps, foreign-language media, foreign flicks, native speakers, etc.) All of these things will ultimately reinforce one another. The more immersion, the better.

Overall, I am very pleased with this product. The program's interface is well-designed, I've experienced no bugs or glitches, and I am making progress faster than I thought I would (or at least I think I am). I'd give the app five stars but I cringe just a little bit at the price. I don't think it is overpriced for what you get, mind you, but the cost -- well, it is what it is. There is a demo on the Rosetta Stone Web site that I encourage you to try before buying. It'll give you a good idea how well this program will work for you. If you like the approach, the price for all three levels is well worth it.

Keep in mind that learning any foreign tongue will realistically take a while. Rosetta Stone shortens the learning period a good deal and makes sticking with the program easier, but it's only a foundation. Still, it's a pretty darn good one, and I can see why it's so popular with the international business community.

Overall, I like this product, and find it useful, but not great. I don't believe it is worth the almost $500 I paid for it, either. Here are some of my biggest complaints:

1) Poor voice recognition. The application listens to you speak in Italian, and decides if you pronounce the words correctly. It probably has as many false negatives as it does false positives, so I'm ok with that, but what is maddening is when it tells me over and over that I pronounced a single syllable word (e.g., golf) wrong, not once, but up to 10 times in a row. I'll sit there repeating it over and over, exactly like their speaker pronounces it, and have no idea why it's being rejected.

2) no explanation for the grammatical rules. Here's an example: On one screen with Five slides, the first two are "Questo edificio e _ New York" and "Questo edificio e _ Barcellona". The user is supposed to decide if the blank is "a" or "in", and the correct answer is "a". The next slide is "Questo edificio e _ Australia". The correct answer is "in", so I assume it's because Australia begins with a vowel. The 4th slide is "Il bar e _ centro". If I use the rule I just assumed, and say the missing word is "a", I'm wrong, because RS says it is "in". So there is a grammar rule that is not obvious and never explained. How I am supposed to learn? Is the rule that you use "in" if the place is a formal name beginning with a vowel OR an plain noun? I don't know why "a" or "in" is used, and RS doesn't explain it.

3) I would like to be able to switch between using this on my desktop and my notebook, so I thought I would install the software with the data files on a flash drive. Not only did that not work, but it ran incredibly slow (don't ever install RS to a flash drive), taking many seconds between screens.

There are other issues with this software that are annoying and shouldn't be present for a product this expensive. If I want to learn another language after this, I won't use Rosetta Stone.

This program does not live up to the marketing. I speak French, so I am receptive to other languages, but this Italian course progresses at a painfully slow pace and many of the phrases taught are unlikely to be of much practical use . How often am I likely to need to say "he looks at the fish"? The pure immersion technique sounds good, but it is a very tedious way to figure out when to use each of the seven different words for "the". Including a simple guide would be helpful even if it offends purists. I have learned far more in less than hour with Rick Steves Italian phrase book than I have after many hours on this expensive program. Try to test it somewhere first before you buy.

I purchased Rosetta Stone Italian 1, 2 &3. There are too many program glitches for such a high priced product and I have only been through the first Unit of level 1. Very frustrating, especially when it jams up completely such that I have to shut it down and start again. Definitely not the smooth process it should be.

Italian isn't that difficult to learn for me, as it's the cousin language of Spanish, and so many (words, grammar, etc) things overlap. Rosetta Stone, for me, is mainly about helping to understand what words/phrases go with what picture/scenario, and most importantly of all, pronunciation. If you can't pronounce a word, what the heck is it worth then?
This is why RS is such a good study-at-home program. The main reason, being the voice recognition technology which is worth its weight in gold. You will speak into your mic. And the program will analyze the sound waves, letting you see and hear how well you did compared to the native speaker. Please note however, that no mic. Is perfect, and don't waste your time sitting there for hours, trying to match every sound wave. Use your judgment and decide when you've learned the proper pronunciation well enough, but without having to be perfect.
In addition to the voice recognition technology, the audio companion is really well worth the money. Just having the ability to take the program on the go, and listen to what you have already learned is really neat. First, it keep the material fresh in your mind, and second you get to once again, listen to the proper pronunciation, and try to repeat it back (hopefully not in a public place like a bus, as you might get a few odd stares).

I first used Rosetta Stone at my library a few years ago to brush up on my high school and college level German. Apparently Rosetta Stone isn't selling to libraries any longer, forcing us all to buy their expensive product. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad product. I love being able to download the CDs to my mp3 player and listen on the road. And the learning does come naturally and easily, not like the torture that I remember 6th grade French being. But it's not going to get you fluent. You'll learn useful phrases and will probably be able to get around fairly easily after going through this course. But a flight to Italy isn't much more than $500, from the east coast at least, and you could get a cheap guidebook and make your way around Florence picking up similar phrases!

Also, keep in mind that there is a competing product called Mango Languages which is now available at many public libraries in the US, and while it's not quite as good as Rosetta Stone, it's not $500 either.

All in all, this is a good, quality program and you're paying for it. They advertise this program as being like having your own private tutor, and it is, in many ways. So I can't complain - I just don't think it's worth $500. But if you're in a hurry and need an "immersion" course quick, then go for it.