Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Rosetta Stone has been around for at least fourteen years, and I remember an early version in my middle school Spanish classes. I had previously studied Japanese for two semesters in high school and five courses at a four-year university (I have a Japanese minor). I never had a chance to practice my Japanese outside of class, so six years after graduation, I was looking for a way to review what I'd previously learned. Rosetta Stone Version 3 has made leaps and bounds from those early versions that were criticized for their lack of interactivity, and includes such features as voice recognition (with visual pronunciation feedback) and audio companion CDs which can be uploaded as language podcasts for easy practice during commuting, etc. The stock photographs are high-resolution and colorful, and there are native speakers modeling pronunciation (with slowed-down exaggerated pronunciation available for most screens).

Rosetta Stone works on the theory that learning a second language can be approached via the same methods we used to learn our first language as infants: visual association (beginning with color words and simple objects such as liquids and fruits), intuition (fill in the blank based on previous models), and repetition.

Not everyone learns in the same way. Certain learners are visual: they have to SEE it to learn it. Rosetta Stone excels in this area, with its bright, clear photographs. Others are auditory, having to HEAR examples. There are very clear, native-speaker modeled digital recordings here, another plus. Some learners are kinesthetic: they have to use their hands or move in order to learn; Rosetta Stone is not as successful at addressing these learners, although some activities involve matching (via clicking) and typing. Despite the emphasis on "interactivity," Rosetta Stone's method still relies on the audiolingual method, where learners largely learn language by repeating pronunciation and grammar drills. Such repetition throughout the many exercises quickly grew redundant : match the pictures. Repeat about forty times. Move on to the next unit. Match the pictures. Repeat.

First, the good: Rosetta Stone features an extremely easy-to-use interface, with lesson tracking for completed lessons (complete with dates completed). The high-quality photographs are easy to discern, and using Krashen's i+1 theory (challenge the learner above and beyond their comfort level by utilizing context, accomplished in Rosetta Stone through the visual prompts contained in photographs). The voice recognition can be finicky even when set on "normal," but generally does a good job of eliciting accurate pronunciation. Rosetta Stone is split into three levels for each language (available separately), with each level containing four units covering everyday themes such as food, health, activities, friends, and dining out. Each level contains a core unit, as well as additional speaking, reading, writing and listening practice.

The grammar presentation is lacking in explicit grammar instruction; this is a huge issue with languages that are significantly different from English, such as Japanese with its subject-object-verb word order (think Yoda-speak: Children, apples (they) eat) and particles, and counters (there are different suffixes for counting animals, people, birds, buildings, etc.), and honorific speech, for example, and you'll find yourself longing for a more traditional textbook to explain the finer points.

Also problematic are languages that use alphabets that are different from English; in the case of Japanese, there are *three* unique alphabets used: hiragana (for words of Japanese origin), katakana (for loanwords), and kanji (Chinese characters). Rosetta Stone offers four options: Romaji (presenting Japanese words in Roman script), hiragana only, kanji only, and kanji with furigana (small hiragana above Chinese characters so that you can sound out words, since each kanji symbol can have several pronunciations). There are no writing/reading exercises that address the kanji readings (onyomi and kunyomi; Chinese/Japanese pronunciations), stroke order, or kanji combinations; when you type answers, you do so using your (English) keyboard, so Rosetta Stone may not be as helpful for kanji (although a separate lesson on the hiragana alphabet is provided).

Perhaps the biggest shortcoming for me was the lack of *culture* embedded in the lessons; you're learning the language, sure, but the stock photos feature people of different ethnicities and regional costumes that often have nothing to do with the language being studied (a bearded, brightly decorated Indian man saying "Sayonara" felt out of place). Although some traditional Japanese foods such as rice and tea are mentioned, I didn't find any mention of traditional Japanese foods such as kaiseki. The same applies for traditional Japanese dress (kimono), hot springs and ryokan hotels; if you want more information, you'll have to read up elsewhere (I originally studied Japanese using the Yookoso! Invitation to Contemporary Japanese Student Edition with Online Learning Center Bind-In Card and Genki 1: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese 1 series along with Kanji Cards, Vol. 1 (Tuttle Flash Cards) and Kanji Cards, Vol. 2 (Tuttle Flash Cards)).

Also, even though Rosetta Stone allows you to work on correcting your pronunciation, there are no real allowances for spontaneous conversation, an important step in truly becoming fluent in a language. Spontaneous conversation allows you to test out language hypotheses and to express creativity at more advanced levels; in Rosetta Stone, you're merely parroting back what the model has instructed you. In the later Milestone lessons, you're expected to recall material that was studied across the previous four units.

One last point to consider is that Rosetta Stone requires a fairly large investment of time and money. Each unit takes a minimum of several hours to complete, more if you do all the optional pronunciation exercises and if you don't skip the activities. This is not something that you can pick up a weekend before your trip to Japan, so don't expect be fluent in basic Japanese in any short amount of time. Also, the cost for the complete sets (Levels 1, 2 and 3) is close to $500; you might also consider enrolling in a language class at your community college for that price. However, if you're interested in a less-commonly-taught language such as Pashto, Irish, Indonesian or Welsh, Rosetta Stone presents a valid option. Rosetta Stone comes with the software (bundled together for all three levels), three separate Audio Companion CD sets (one for each level), and a headset with microphone. It would probably be very effective for children, since they are hardwired to pick up languages until early adolescence, but as an adult learner I found the activities to be too repetitive to hold my continued interest, and the lack of explicit grammar discussion (and the omission of Japanese culture) was also a disappointment. That's not to say that Rosetta Stone isn't effective, but it may not be the optimal language learning tool for everyone. Even so, it's one of the most impressive attempts at dynamic language learning on the market, and deserves a trial.

Most people would agree that immersion is the best way to learn a language--but let's face it, a lesson spent in front of a computer isn't really immersion. On the flip side, how can you teach a language so different from English without using English to explain the rules? I have to admit, Rosetta Stone Japanese has surpassed my expectations.

Let me spell out where I'm starting from and what I was hoping for, since this kind of product, more than most, will be rated largely depending on your expectations for it. I got interested in learning Japanese about four or five years ago, largely prompted by my pre-teen's interest. We bought some books on kana (the syllabaries), a dictionary, a book on kanji, even a couple of grammar books. And then got overwhelmed. The grammar is SO different, the syllabaries are easy to learn but written kana has no inter-word spacing, so without the familiar "word boundaries" a sentence is just one long string of symbols. We don't know any native Japanese speakers willing to descend to essentially a kindergarten level. And listening to Japanese spoken in movies or trying to read manga? Fuhgeddaboudit!

Fast forward to today. Pretty much all I remember is (part of) one syllabary. A, i, o, something, something, ka, ki, ku, something, ko, sa, shi, su, something, something, ta, ti, no that's not right, shi, tu? uhh ... well, you get the idea. Not much in the way of retention! Just enough, however, to dive right in to Rosetta Stone. Their premise, of course, is that you do all your learning in the target language. There are several mechanisms:

You see a picture, you see a written phrase, you hear it spoken. Repeat it correctly if you can (replay the audio as often as you please).

You see four pictures. You see and hear a phrase. Click the picture it names.

You hear a phrase. Can you choose the correct picture solely by hearing it?

... and so on. There are enough variations on this theme to keep your mind busy. The photos are colorful, attractive, professional (and very multicultural!) There are short lessons focusing on the characters and their sounds, but most of the learning is illustrated with these slick photos.

So, it should be fairly easy to understand how RS teaches vocabulary, pronunciation, even some reading. See a picture, see or hear the word, it's not that hard to learn it. But grammar? Japanese grammar is quite unlike English. The function of words in a sentence is determined, not so much with case and position like English, but rather with helper words called particles. [Subject] wa [direct object] o [verb] is a very simple example. The "wa" means "this is what we're talking about" and the "o" denotes a direct object. Or here's another: in English, we use noun phrases all the time... stringing together nouns where some of them act as adjectives. "Dog house" doesn't mean "dog and house," it means "dog's house;" "girl child" means "child who is a girl." Neither dog nor girl are adjectives, but they're used like adjectives, see? In Japanese, you can do that with the "no" particle, like this: [noun] no [noun].

Now, imagine explaining that without using English!

Well, they do it. You are given the photos and the phrases, and they highlight (with red characters) the parts that are different, or in some cases the parts that are the same. "Onna no ko" is girl child. "Otako no ko" is boy child. "Onna no hito" is woman. "Otoko no hito" is man. After you get familiar with the words for woman, man, boy, girl, you start on sentences like "the woman is eating," "the boy is running." Hey, where did that "wa" come from? Ohh, I see... Then they do simple sentences with direct objects: the boy is reading a book, the woman is drinking tea. The "o" particle makes its appearance. You infer the rules from the examples, just like children do. It's really rather nicely done!

I'm of course in no position to judge the purity or otherwise of the speakers' accents, but they're surely more helpful than reading about vowel sounds in a book. The voice recognition (VR) is adjustable (freer or more strict), although I'm not sure how well that's calibrated. I do know that the very first word you have to pronounce, konnichiwa, has a Japanese N, which is its own syllable--in other words, "ko-n-ni-chi-wa" is a five syllable word, not four--and the VR did NOT pass me when I tried to say it ko-ni-chi-wa (without the extra N). I'm surprised by how comfortable the speaking and listening is becoming--especially since those are my weak areas in language learning. The package comes with a headphone/mic set, by the way, so you don't have to buy one before starting. There is a set of "audio supplement" CDs, but as they're simply repetitions of the phrases you hear in each unit and lesson, I myself don't think they're worth the $$ difference.

On each screen, you have the option to see the kana (syllabary); kanji, the Chinese-based characters; kanji plus furigana, which basically means little hiragana over each kanji to tell you how it's spoken; and (shhh) romaji, which is Englished kana syllables. Try to avoid using the romaji, as nearly everyone says that it's a terrible habit and a habit you'll soon wish you had never started. In this respect, here's my advice: take a day or two to learn the hiragana before you start this program. There are fewer than 50 syllables, and even a rudimentary acquaintance with them will enhance your Rosetta Stone experience A LOT. Jimi's Book of Japanese: A Motivating Method to Learn Japanese (Hiragana) is a cute hiragana book with the bonus of little tidbits of cultural knowledge, and Kana Pict-o-Graphix: Mnemonics for Japanese Hiragana and Katakana is a pocket-sized book with effective memory cues. But back to the screen... whichever type of character display you select will be remembered until you change it again or quit the program. It defaults to kana, which is a sensible decision IMO.

A few other things about the interface: Reading the user guide made it look a lot more complicated than it is. Basically, there aren't too many controls you have to worry about. Just take the path they suggest through the program. I will say, however, that I'm repeating each lesson a few times, because I know my short-term memory is getting shorter every day. One oddity is that it will forward you to Lesson 2, then circle back to pick up some other activities from Lesson 1. They don't explain why, but I suspect this is an attempt at an SRS, Spaced Repetition System, which helps reinforce what you've learned and (in theory anyhow) help move it from short-term to long-term memory. If knowing this disturbs you, you can choose your lesson activities from a complete menu. Do them in any order you please, repeat them as often as you want, you're the boss. But really, you might not even notice that the Lesson 2 path contains Lesson 1 activities. After choosing my own path for a few lessons, I have now settled into their path without a problem. Each activity has a "you are here/navigation" bar at the bottom, showing the number of frames in the activity and which one you're on at the moment. A "grade" icon at bottom right will show you how many you got right and wrong and your percentage. If you revisit an activity, the frames you missed will be colored differently so you can go right to them.

Here's the organization of the whole program: 3 levels > 4 units/level > 4 lessons/unit > 9 activities/lesson. An activity ("listening and reading", "pronunciation," "vocabulary") takes around 10 minutes, sometimes 5, sometimes 15. You can see that there's quite a bit of instruction in this set.

Writing is probably the weakest link in the program. Obviously, Rosetta Stone has judged that the percentage of their users who have graphic tablets or some other touch device is too small to cater to, so "writing" means "looking at pictures of writing." Better than nothing, I guess, but if you picked up a pen and started trying to imitate those characters on paper, you'd probably benefit. Again, having a book on the kana, like one of the ones mentioned above, will be of use here, to teach you the stroke order (important for proper writing). The Kana Flashcards from White Rabbit Press would be a good alternative.

It's far too late to make this long story short, so I'll just say: If you're a beginner who is interested in learning Japanese and willing to dedicate short blocks of time to it on a regular basis, I think you'll really enjoy the Rosetta Stone package.

I think that this is a superior way to learn Japanese compared to slaving over the "Genki" JapanTimes curriculum or other homeschool options. These lessons can be monotonous but at the same time you really wind up learning the intricacies of conversational Japanese. My wife is fluent and has been impressed with how I can express myself simply but effectively.

This reinforcement approach is particularly useful regarding essential grammatical concepts which your mind is better off just getting the hang of as compared to reading in a book. Particularly with Japanese & its particles -- plus the fact that it is such a "phonetically poor" language, one needs to hear native speakers and their emphasis as much as possible.

My only complaint about the Rosetta Stone course thus far:

It is a little TOO much based on repetition of the same pictures and phrases; interactivity could be more advanced. By the time you reach the "milestone" tests it can be a bit daunting with the complete immersion in real-world language confrontations. In other words, I routinely get 100% on the lessons until the final one where I get an 80%. That's a bit frustrating. And because there is only a single milestone test per unit, you only get one shot to strut your stuff -- if you retake it you will remember the answers and thus not be truly tested on your weak areas.

I don't think the program should be so sheepish about verbal drilling as not to offend one's "grade". It might be a bit humbling but also speed up the learning curve. People learn by making mistakes. But Rosetta Stone is really onto something here; with increased interactivity, maybe even the program being able to detect specific weak spots in a student's responses, this technique will be even better.

As a testament to how highly I think about this product -- it utterly surpasses the UCLA Extension language course I took for a semester (although that was for Latin). Yes it was good to have a teacher to answer grammar questions and the rest, but more often than not her answers wound up going over our heads and we were better off just plugging away and making little mistakes here and there. I am now a firm believer that you should not over-intellectualize learning a new language; immersion is the key.

(Incidentally, this was an item that became available through the Amazon Vine program, and as such now has many reviewers who obtained it for free, drove it around the block, and wrote relatively superficial reviews. I cannot believe that all of these others have spent the 40-50 hours that I have with the program. Japanese is a very complicated subject that requires a lot of dedication, and is not for the faint of heart.)

So that anyone who reads this review understands where I'm coming from, I will just briefly state that I have a bachelors degree in linguistics and have taught myself three languages to the point where I could go and attend fairly advanced (i.e., second-year University-level) courses. I learned two of those languages (Italian and French) using textbooks only, and one (Greek) using audio tapes (although you also have to use the book that comes along with them). I also learned Spanish in junior high school using a textbook that had a fairly intellectual approach -- for example, it explained the difference between the preterit and the imperfect past tenses by looking at events as being cyclical and having us choose the proper tense based on the point in the cycle at which the event occurred. The approach was not for everyone, but I really liked it -- understanding the differences between English and Spanish intellectually help me to avoid him the mistakes most people tend to make in selecting the proper past tense when learning other Indo-European languages. I should also note that I've previously taken about four months of Japanese, although I had forgotten pretty much everything by the time I started this program. I've wanted to study Japanese again, but haven't been too motivated to pick up a text book. So I was quite excited to have been offered this interactive approach through Amazon's Vine program. Is it worth the price, however? That depends on how motivated you are and how you learn best. I'm not crazy about the Rosetta Stone approach, but compared to audio tapes or textbooks, this software is probably more comprehensive for most people.

The main issue I have with Rosetta Stone is that the basic concept of total immersion just doesn't apply and doesn't work. Total immersion would mean living in Japan and being exposed almost exclusively to Japanese during every waking hour. 30 minutes a day, or however long someone is likely to spend using this software, just doesn't count as total immersion. Moreover, the notion that you can learn a new language as an adult the one same way you learned your first language is erroneous. Linguists have managed to discover people who didn't acquire language as children, and while they can learn to speak, they never learn to speak right -- it always sounds off. After the two hemispheres of the brain separate language can't be acquired in the same way. So I found this program really frustrating in that it never explained anything and for a language like Japanese, which differs so extensively from English, I really wanted more explanation. Had I not previously studied Japanese I think I would have given up on this. It is, however, really nice having visuals and interactive material. For Japanese, at least, this is something I would use as a supplement to a more traditional program. Here then is a summary of the other pluses and minuses of this program:

PLUSES:

1. Photos: particularly useful for learning nouns and adjectives, although somewhat confusing for other parts of speech where it's hard to interpret what someone in the picture is doing.

2. Mix of activities: the program takes you through pronunciation exercises, vocabulary, grammar and reading and writing and has a nice mix of having you click on pictures that best match the phrase, having you fill in missing sentences, etc. I used the headset and microphone that came with my Dragon Naturally Speaking software and it worked just fine.

3. Nice pacing: each sub lesson is about 30 minutes long, which is really useful for planning out study time. It took me awhile to realize that the lessons don't completely go in order and that you wouldn't get certain things in lesson one until you had already done parts of lesson two. Once I figured that out though, I liked the fact that I could measure my progress by seeing how much easier things in an earlier lesson were after having completed subsequent ones.

4. Audio tapes: they just repeat the words and phrases from the computer program with no English translation, but it's nice to have the option to try to spout out Japanese while in the car. They make no sense, however, until you've done the equivalent program on the computer. If you have regular access to a computer and not much other opportunity for audio-only practice, you won't need the tapes.

MINUSES:

1. VR Software is buggy: the program lets you get away with absolute murder and marks serious mistakes as correct. Totally wrong words are recognized as being right. On the other hand, it often says you've done something incorrectly when you haven't. I mean how can you really screw up making the sound "n"? According to the software, quite a bit.

2. Writing: this is the single most frustrating thing about this program -- it never shows you how to actually write Japanese characters. While I understand there not being any video in this program instead of photographs because of space limitations, they could at least have shown which part of the character to draw in what order and in what direction. My previous Japanese textbook had this and it was extremely helpful. While it's nice that you don't need to have a drawing pad to do this program, it isn't really practice writing when the program shows you a character and has you type out the equivalent English representation of the syllable.

3. Program stalls: sometimes the program just stalls for no apparent reason and it's not my computer. I have more than the minimum requirements and I usually run Rosetta Stone with nothing else in the background. Sometimes the lesson screen just doesn't come up and sometimes it doesn't reset after you've incorrectly said a phrase. Unfortunately this happens frequently enough to make using the program annoying.

4. Long phrases: The program makes you say really long phrases in Japanese from the first lesson. You can skip over the phrases, but it makes for a great deal of annoyance and frustration, which makes it not fun to do.

5. No explanations: personally, for Japanese, I find it useful to know what function all the different particles have in a sentence. I don't know that someone who has never taken this language would figure out that both "wa" and "ga" are subject case markers. I still don't know what the difference between the two is and the immersion approach will never explain it to me. I would prefer having some English explanation available because I find that intellectualizing the syntax a bit is useful. You can learn without these kinds of explanations but it takes a really long time. A combination approach would be so much more effective, at least for adults.

6. Text options: You are able to select in certain cases whether text appears as Kanji, Katakana, Hiragana or Romanji. Annoyingly, however, this option resets itself on every subprogram and not to the one I want.

I will probably and update this review after I've been using a program for a few months. I do know, however, that my Japanese is never going to be even halfway decent unless I also pick up my old textbook and engage in additional study and practice writing the various styles of Japanese characters. If this program could have combined everything it does with some more traditional learning it would be a great program. As it is, it seems more geared towards someone who prefers a loose approach to studying language, rather than someone who seriously wants to learn to speak a foreign language well. My guess is that using this approach along would work better for something like Spanish, Italian or French. For Japanese, it's just okay. But for someone taking a course in Japanese in school, this program would be a brilliant accompaniment and a very worthwhile investment.

The first thing you notice when you look at this product in a catalog, at least I did, is the price. Whew! Compared to bargain bin language software, it's a bite. After getting my hands on the Rosetta Stone offering, I think you get what you pay for. I am reviewing the Japanese version of the software from a package with all three levels.

Again, sometimes the bargain bin products give you a lot of CD's, too, but Rosetta Stone gives you a lot of useful CDs. Also, the extra cd's from bargain bin packages I've tried didn't seem to have much more depth than the first one you install.

With Rosetta, you get some printed manuals, a nice yellow box to put everything in, a collection of software CD's by progress level (3 levels), a USB headphone/microphone set (okay that could be a little better but its acceptable), and 3 whole sets of audio companion CDs (12 total) by progress level.

When you set up the software, you get to pick what you want to emphasize the most: reading and writing, speaking and listening, or detailed speaking and listening. I chose reading and writing first. It's enough for me now, and I'm working through it. The other parts of the language aren't ignored, it's just supposed to emphasize your selection in the lessons. You can go back and try the other choices to see how it's different. I'm going to.

This is a total immersion system; i.e., you'll not be using your native language at all (except for operating the software.) Boy, is it a tough swim at first, especially with an alphabet that is foreign, too. But you'll get the hang of it pretty quick; that's where the repetition is needed. It's not a boring, static, repetition of a word and then the English translation. No, it's a form of the word or phrase with variations of setting in pictures to get your mind to induce meaning and context. There's a lot going on there, it's not as simple as it sounds, even if simple to use.

I am surprised at how quickly my progress is, but I'm going to have to go over some of it again. Nothing wrong with that.

There are four units in level 1: a "Core" or the Basics, Friends and Family, Work and School, and Shopping. I've jumped ahead to the other Rosetta Stone cd's for the purpose of this review, and they indeed look a good deal more advanced than the first lessons. Level 2 had: Travel, Past and Future, Friends and Social Life, and Dining and Vacation. The units of the third level were: Home and Health, Life and World, Places and Events, and Talking About the World.

I am really looking forward to working up to the section on discussing politics. Unless you are already trained in the language, you will have lots of room to grow.

I think it's fair with the price, to compare it to a community college class. Of course, it is not literally as good as real human interaction, but it has the very real advantage of being available whenever you are ready. And for people who are shy, or have trouble with languages... nobody is going to laugh at you. No parking a mile from campus, no high priced books that depreciate by the end of the semester... you get the picture.

So, if you've got the means, or you can talk your employer into getting it for you, I think it is a reasonably satisfactory value for the money if you go into it with an open mind and dedication. [You can buy each level separately, too, which might make it easier on the budget, but I think the complete package is the best deal if you can afford it.]

Someone clearly put a lot of time into creating the Rosetta Stone program. The production values are pretty good. But, the purpose of the program is to learn Japanese, and the amount of Japanese you can learn from all three programs is very limited. Better to spend the money on covering more material, and skip the bells and whistles.

In my estimation, all three programs are insufficient to equal even one full year of college Japanese. I'm not saying that the program is bad, just that it is limited in the amount of material covered. Perhaps my expectations were too high, but given the shockingly high price, I think I had a right to have those kinds of expectations. I would have returned it if I could, but I foolishly bought it on sale when it cannot be returned.

First of all, the Rosetta Stone (Version 3: Japanese Level 1, 2 & 3) box contains one USB headset microphone, 12 Audio Companion CDs (three packs of four (one pack for each of three levels) for practice away from the computer), and 4 software CDs (one program CD and one language level CD for each of the three included levels). In my case, one earpiece of the headset was unattached, but I simply snapped it back into place. A very nice package.

Under Vista Ultimate x64 w/ SP1, installation went fine. But, upon launching the program, I got:

"WrapperP Application has stopped working."

Some research on the web pointed me to an entry saying this is a problem with the Data Execution Prevention settings. To get around that, I had to go to System | Advanced System Settings | Settings | Data Execution Prevention and select "Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I select." I then had to select the Add button and browse to the folder where I installed the program (the default is "C:\Program Files (x86)\Rosetta Stone\Rosetta Stone V3\"). I selected "RosettaStoneVersion3.exe" and "WrapperP Application" appeared in the list of DEP exceptions.

Once past that stage, I tried to install the language levels under Rosetta Stone. When I tried to install a level, it defaulted to putting the data under "Program Files..." instead of "Program Files (x86)...." When I changed the path, it refused to install because of lack of Administrator rights. When I tried again, all I got was "9113 There was an error in the application" and an "Exit the Application" button. Exiting the application, right-clicking on its shortcut and selecting "Run as Administrator" got around that problem. But, installing each language level took a long time (15 minutes per level). It's possible that this was a problem with my CD reader as I've had other difficulties with it.

The next problem was with the mandatory activation. The first time through, it wouldn't see the internet connection (which I had just used to register the program). It offered to tell me how to do a telephone activation. But, I declined that and went through the online activation process again. This time, though it took a while, it successfuly activated.

Finally, to the program itself: the biggest problem I have with it is that it doesn't formally teach grammar. The whole point of the program is to work by immersion. So, it drops you into the language and has you learn it the way you learned your native language -- by example. For many people, this might be the best way to learn a new language. But, personally, I'd prefer a formal grammar I could hang the language around. This is especially so with Japanese since, as far as I can make out, the grammar is different from English's.

The other problem I have with the package is with the writing system used for displaying the words and sentences being taught. The default system is Kana (which includes Hiragana and Katakana). It's easily switched whenever necessary to either Kanji or Romaji. The problem is that everything except the Romaji is gibberish to my Western eyes and everything I find online says to stick with the Kana if you really want to learn Japanese. So, as with the grammar, it would be better if the program started with formally teaching how to recognize these characters.

On the plus side, the software is very well done. For the most part, navigation through the courses is intuitive, and the visual and audio material is excellent. If it formally taught the grammar and the writing systems, I could give it a very good rating. But, without it, I can only give it an OK rating of three stars out of five.

I purchased this product approximately 5 months ago. For about 2 of those months it sat on my shelf as I took one other reviewers EXCELLENT advice and learned the kana before beginning. I, too, recommend that, and I recommend Michael Rowley's kana Pictograph's for that purpose;Kana Pict-o-Graphix: Mnemonics for Japanese Hiragana and Katakana.

Beyond that, when I began using this product, I was an absolute beginner. I have taken no classes and do not plan to. This review is written with that type of student in mind; the SOLO, self-directed, highly motivated learner who is teaching themselves.

I am using products in addition to this product. A Barron's Grammar book;Japanese Grammar (Barron's Grammar Series), and a hiragana writing book; Kodansha's Hiragana Workbook: A Step-by-Step Approach to Basic Japanese Writing. Just FYI.

I run Vista (happily) and also Norton. I had a month's, AN ENTIRE MONTH'S, worth of technical support problems once I attempted to install this program. What a nightmare!!!!. I mention this to add that, if you do have problems, their technical support will work with you until YOU give up. In my case, oddly and bizarrely, we had absolutely exhausted EVERY option, and they sent me out ALL THREE replacement discs, and they worked fine. Zero problems with the replacement discs. Somehow, I had three bad discs, all three, in a wierdo coincidence. But I got it solved, and they never gave up. online chats, emails, phone calls, top-tier tech support, finally personal attention from a lady who stuck with me the rest of the way.

I'm now half-way through the 2nd chapter(out of 4) of the first disc. It is alot of work on my part, but I really feel like Rosetta is doing it's part, and I'm extremely happy with it.

I also feel like, even though there are countless free websites and excellent resources to be had on the internet, that have been put up there by helpful sharing individuals, that I FULLY appreciate and am glad for, and am using myself...I also feel...that Rosetta is previously trod upon ground. Meaning, this software is put together by teams of who knows how many individuals and qualified educators, and proofreaders, and all kinds of people making decisions on what to include and how best to approach interpreting Japanese for an english audience, and this software has gone through probably countless revisions, and gotten more consideration than any other program out there, so...I feel best using THIS software as a BASE, a base on which to put other resources I might want to use, LIKE those individuals websites or the books I mentioned before.

I highly recommend this product. Stick with it to the end. It will give you your money's worth if you apply yourself to it.

I started working with the US-based subsidiary of a Japanese company and so thought it would be helpful to learn Japanese. The first time I sat through a 3-hour meeting conducted in Japanese, I realized this was the right response. But I don't have time for classes - I can't make the regular time commitment due to work requirements and travel schedules.

This is where Rosetta Stone came in.

There are other reviews that describe the pedagogical style better than I will, so I'll skip that. Let's just say it this way: Rosetta Stone works. I knew this when I was sitting at a dinner and my company president was talking with someone, playing what is apparently a common Japanese game where you guess the age of the people at the table. Someone mentioned my age but got it wrong. I corrected them. The table went completely silent - this was the first time I let it out that I could understand anything at all. Unfortunately they then tried to have a conversation with me that didn't revolve around counting or my favorite colors, so that was the end of that. But all kidding aside, thanks to Rosetta Stone I was able to pick out words in the conversation, add my own input, and even for a brief moment take part, and all after only a couple of months. I'm starting to be able to read documents, watch TV, etc. I went to Japan and only got a little bit lost. Japanese isn't the first non-English language I've learned so I've got a benchmark, and while it's not as good as living in Japan would be, this still works way better than I had any right to expect.

Rosetta Stone isn't perfect, or more precisely it's not standalone. I think these are artefacts of learning Japanese though, not necessarily failings in the software. Japanese is very different from English. The Rosetta Stone method of immersion-style learning implies that they're teaching rules and methods, but some aspects of Japanese grammar vary based on criteria that it's difficult to show with pictures and guesswork. If you have to learn the rules by brute force, Rosetta Stone will never tell you that. And since Japanese grammar is so different from English, I've found that buying a couple of texts has helped move me along.

The software also has an annoying habit of requiring you to ask a question rather than provide the answer to the question, which is harder than you'd think because you need to - read the text on the other side, figure out what that says, and then figure out what the right question would be to elicit that response, all within about 2 seconds. But that's a minor complaint.

The length of this review alone should tell you everything you need to know. If you need to learn Japanese without going to school, Rosetta Stone will get you there.

I was very happy to get this product. I am Japanese American myself but am ashamed to say pretty much the only Japanese I know is being able to order from a menu, or else the more impolite words like "bakatare" (stupid) or "yakamashi" (loudmouth) or "monku" (complaining.. hence the "monkuboy" moniker, haha). While my friends went to Japanese school on Saturday mornings I resisted and my parents never forced me so I learned nothing. However, I bet everyone who went forgot how to speak or understand it anyway so we all wound up at the same place.

Regarding this program: The box is impressively heavy. It installed without a hitch using the accurate instructions, though it did take a fairly long time. The headset installed without a hitch also - I use Windows XP and it recognized the device right away and the first test with the software was successful. It is a rather flimsy headset so you have to treat it gently. Also, make sure you turn down the volume on your PC before using it because the voices are LOUD.

The lessons are pleasant to take and the sessions last about half an hour which seems about right to digest things. Even though most of it is intuitive as far as what to do (repeat the phrase, match something to a picture, etc.), there is a help screen present and the guidebook that comes with the set is also helpful.

I find Japanese is harder to learn than say Spanish or French because there's hardly any similarity to English (except when they borrow English words, like "juice" becomes "juisah")in the words or structure. I think the full immersion method is good because it forces you to use the language. I expect to have a basic knowledge after I finish with everything and to be able to converse on a very elementary level.

However, no matter what method you use, it has to be practiced frequently, with a native speaker. Just like my friends who went to J-School back then, if you don't use it you lose it. At least my parents speak some Japanese and I know a few other people who do so I can bludgeon them with my efforts but for those who don't have someone to practice with, it makes it difficult.

I know someone who has the Korean version of this and he likes it very much (and he has a Korean wife so he gets a lot of free help!).

Overall, I rate this as a very good package for those who want to learn the language. The lessons are clear and understandable, and flow from one to the other in a sensible and logical way. I would certainly recommend it.