Rosetta Stone V3: Chinese (Mandarin) Level 1-3 Set with Audio Companion [OLD VERSION]

by Rosetta Stone

Product Features

• Rosetta Stone teaches you a new language naturally, by getting you to think, live and breathe the language
• Innovative solutions get you speaking new words, right from the start
• Rosetta Stone moves forward only when you're ready--you drive the pace, you set the schedule
• With Rosetta Stone, you'll discover a foundation of key vocabulary that you'll use to build into a whole new language
• Audio Companion lets you take the Rosetta Stone experience anywhere: in the car, at the gym, or on-the-go

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B001AFCWBO
• Item model number: 20285
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 9, 2008
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (69 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,052 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
  • #31 in Software > Education & Reference > Foreign Languages > Asian

Product Description

Amazon.com

Rosetta Stone Personal Edition contains everything you need to give the voice inside of you a new language. The method used recreates the natural way you learned your first language, revealing skills that you already have. This approach has won numerous awards, and has been adopted by countless organizations, schools and millions of users around the world. Join the language revolution today. Only with Rosetta Stone.

The comprehensive language-learning solution that fits your life.

Learn Naturally
Learn your next language the same way you learned your first language. Dynamic Immersion empowers you to see, hear and comprehend without translating or memorizing. You already have this ability. Rosetta Stone simply unlocks it.

Engage Interactively
Get feedback to move forward. You learn best by doing, and you'll apply what you've learned to get to the next step. Rosetta Stone adapts to your individual needs and skills, because you drive the program with your progress.

Speak Confidently
Start speaking immediately. From the very first lesson, you'll speak. You'll begin with essential basics, which form the building blocks of the language. Soon you'll create new sentences on your own, using words you've learned.

Have Fun
Best of all, Rosetta Stone is addictive. With every entertaining activity, you'll feel success. You'll want to use Rosetta Stone to have that next moment, that next breakthrough. So you'll keep using it, and you'll learn more!

That's language-learning success.
That's Rosetta Stone.

No translation or memorization required.

The most effective way to learn a new language is to be surrounded by it. When you were an infant, your parents taught you this way, by intuitively associating words with images. That's the ultimate language lab, but most language-learning programs completely ignore this.

Think about all of the ways you've tried to learn a language: classes at school, tapes and cassettes, even software that uses your native language as a base for your next one. What do they all have in common? Translation and memorization.

Instead of taking a "direct flight" from your brain to your new language, translation and memorization connects you to your old language. You always have to "fly" from your brain, to your native tongue ... and then translate what you've memorized to communicate.

That might work for a few words, but what happens when you get to a sentence or phrase? When you have to change tenses? You're going to make a lot of "connecting flights." That's why those other methods are so frustrating ... and why they fail.

Enter Dynamic Immersion.
This method encourages you to think like a baby. You'll pair words with vivid, real-life images and make connections between things you know and the new language. Soon, you'll be thinking in a new language, stringing words together into phrases that you create.

Innovative technology.
Rosetta Stone places this Dynamic Immersion method at the core of a suite of software that works with you to develop your skills. The simple, intuitive interface helps to keep you engaged in the solution, while advanced speech recognition technology makes certain that you're speaking correctly and accurately. Best of all, Rosetta Stone never leaves you behind. You'll only move forward when you're ready, when you've become comfortable and confident.

Communicate and connect with the world: Level 1, 2 & 3 Set.
Rosetta Stone Level 1, 2 & 3 Set will take you on a journey from the basics to a whole new level of sophistication. You'll build a foundation of fundamental vocabulary and essential language structure. You'll quickly gain the confidence to engage in social interactions. Say "hello" and "goodbye," arrange travel, order food, go shopping and more! From there, you'll share your ideas and opinions, express feelings and talk about your life, your interests and more. You'll discover a voice. In a new language.

Audio Companion
With Audio Companion, you'll enhance the Rosetta Stone experience wherever you go. You'll learn new skills on the computer, and then reinforce what you've learned with Audio Companion. Simply play the CDs on a stereo or download them to a MP3 Player. Each Audio Companion activity corresponds to a lesson in the Rosetta Stone software, so you can turn your travel time into productive language-learning time.

Inside the box, you'll find:

• Version 3 Personal Edition CD-ROM software for Levels 1, 2 & 3 (Windows/Mac)
• Headset microphone
• User's guide
• Audio Companion, a multiple-CD set to play or download to your MP3 player

Product Description

Foreign language learning with Rosetta Stone Chinese Levels 1, 2&3 you connect with the world around you. With level one you begin learning fundamental vocabulary and essential language structure, from greetings and introductions to simple questions and their answers. Gain the confidence and enter the intermediate level where you will be able to talk about your environment; give and get directions, tell time, dine out with self-reliance, shop and enjoy basic social interactions. Taking what you’ve learned in Levels 1 and 2, we help you reach an advanced level of competence. This competence allows you to connect with the world around you. You will learn to share your ideas and opinions, express your feelings and talk about everyday life; your work, current events and much more. Now Rosetta Stone with Audio Companion allows the learner to take Rosetta Stone anywhere: in the car, the gym or on-the-go! What is Audio Companion? Audio Companion CDs are activities that correspond to the Rosetta Stone CD-ROM software lessons. The learner can listen to Audio Companion and practice what they’ve been learning on the computer, turning travel time into productive language learning time. Audio Companion lets the student access the power of Rosetta Stone lessons whenever and wherever they want, they can play the CD’s on a stereo, or download them to a MP3 player. It empowers the student and helps reinforce the lessons in any busy lifestyle!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

473 of 483 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Lipstick on a Pig - a poor program dressed up in a nice interface, April 17, 2009

By 

Timothy Bender - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rosetta Stone V3: Chinese (Mandarin) Level 1-3 Set with Audio Companion [OLD VERSION] (CD-ROM)

I have fond memories of using Rosetta Stone software to learn German - they have a great interface and it really enhances the fun of learning a language. Unfortunately, after carefully working through all 3 levels of their Chinese software, I sadly have come to the conclusion that it is a very poor choice for learning Mandarin Chinese. There are three, interconnected reasons for this:

First, Rosetta Stone has made no effort to adapt their software to the Chinese language - they have merely slapped Chinese audio and text onto the same course they use to teach western languages. This problem manifests both as bothersome errors and missed opportunities. I will give a few examples:

a) Instead of using Chinese names and Chinese currency, the program uses transliterations of Western names and a grabbag of difference currencies. Thus it overwhelmes the learner with the long, convoluted transliterations of Western names, leaves them unaccustomed to Chinese names, and completely unable to confront the potentially confusing Chinese currency system (with both colloquial and formal names for the different types of money).

b) Mandarin Chinese is a tonal language, with 4 tones (which determine the meaning of a sound) plus the neutral tone. A word said in the neutral tone is much softer and shorter than normal. Unfortunately, Rosetta Stone seems to have neglected to adapt their voice recognition software for this. It will often fail to register a correctly pronounced neutral tone word. The program actually is training people to pronounce the neutral tone incorrectly - too loud and too long. Further, the voice recognition system has trouble when the learner doesn't speak very slowly - a problem, since Chinese is spoken at a somewhat rapid rate. Both cause it to train bad habits into the learner.

c) The stock pictures, situations, and statements, do not at all reflect the cultural realities of Chinese language. For example, why is the learner constantly saying "xiexie" (thank you), when this is comparatively less common in China? How about teaching them to respond to complements by saying "nali nali" (where, where), a culturally appropriate response, even if strange to western ears? Why is everyone using credit cards everywhere - try relying on a credit card in China. Instead of just people buying "yao" (medicine), how about introducing the learner to the important distinction between "xiyao" (western medicine) and "zhongyao" (Chinese medicine), common terms they will confront? The program fails to give any cultural insight - and thus misses one of the most enjoyable, interesting, and useful parts of learning a language.

d) In learning Chinese, a very helpful reality is that the meaning of multisyllable words almost always has a logical relationship to the meanings of its syllables. For example, "Huo" means Fire, "Che" means Vehicle, and "huoche" literally FireVehicle, means train. This can be very helpful to the learning process - if one first learns the one syllable words, learning the combination is quick and easy. Rosetta Stone makes no effort to deviate from its stock lesson plan to take advantage of this, however. So, using our example, the learner is confronted with both "che" and "huoche" early, and isn't exposed to the meaning of "huo" until near the end of the 3rd level!

e) The "writing" exercises are absurd. You type in the pinyin (the alphabet spelling) and then are done. This is NOT writing Chinese. Writing Chinese is either drawing the character, or typing the pinyin and selecting the appropriate character from the list of characters that have this pinyin spelling, or the more complex typing methods. Most literate Chinese people are not going to be able to understand if you write them some pinyin, you need the characters. This is pure laziness on Rosetta Stone's part - they fail to incorporate what Google published free applications for!

Second, consistent with the above point, the "Roseetta Stone method" as they call it, is unsuited to learning a language as distant from English as Chinese is. The Chinese sounds represented by the consonants "sh" "s" and "x" are all going to sound alot like the English "s" to a learner, the "zh" and "j" are all going to sound like a "j", and on it goes through virtually the entire alphabet. Even if the learner eventually stumbles into being to hear the difference in normal speed speech (a big if), without some instruction he/she will never learn how to properly produce the differences. The fact is, we aren't kids anymore, and we bring the baggage of our native language with us. Ok for a Western language, perhaps, but dangerous for a far distant one like Chinese. We need to be expressly taught - "to produce the sh or zh sound, you need to have your tongue point up, while the x and j has your tongue against your lower teeth. Practice and you'll hear the difference, even if they sound somewhat alike." More subtle points also exist - Rosetta Stone is not going to stop you from pronouncing "kao" like the American way of saying the animal Cow, or that the Chinese "b", unlike the English one, is unvoiced, so you need to stop vibrating your vocal cords - that kind of refinement takes conscious effort and instruction. The same is even more true for learning the tones, and especially the "Tone Sanhi", the way they change in context, though this review is complex enough without me going into that. If you ever hope to sound better than a guy with a $10 dollar phrasebook trying to use English sounds to mangle the Chinese language, Rosetta Stone won't get you there (even if its overgenerous voice recognition gives you plenty of pleasant sounding "you are correct!" sound effects, that trick you into feeling like you're progressing).

Third, the software, despite being priced at many times what other programs are, actually barely introduces the language. Sure, diligently work through its 3 levels, and you'll learn a number of verbs, some names for food (incidentally, the kinds of foods common in the West, not generally Chinese dishes), and a few grammar particles. But you will remain completely incapable of functioning in China. Sure, they drill you in understanding that "xingqi" means week, but you'll be out of luck as soon as someone says the other word for week, "libai". They focus on "zheli" and "nali", but you will more often hear "Zher" and "Nar" in the North of China. They always say "na" meaning "that", but only once did I hear them say the just as commen "nei." They give the illusion of advanced vocabulary, by teaching you how to say pinetree, but in truth they neglect countless essential words, like "kuai", the colloquial expression for money.

At its price, this program should offer more than Chinese audio and text clumsily slapped on to a stock design. As is, you can get much, much more culturally adapted and in-depth programs for a small fraction of the price. In truth, the Foreign Service's old language tapes and workbooks for learning Chinese, available in the public domain with a google search, is a much better program, and is offered entirely free! Then take less than half the money you would have spent and buy some of the many excellent tools and books Amazon has - books on Chinese characters Reading & Writing Chinese: Simplified Character Edition, flashcards Chinese in a Flash Volume 2 (Tuttle Flash Cards) (Chinese Edition), some of the older programs from the Beijing Foreign Press Elementary Chinese Readers (Volume I), which have nice short stories and excelent instruction in how to make the sounds - and you'll have a much more effective learning program. For extra fun subscribe to ChinesePod, and get 1000s of dialogues, all culturally authentic to Chinese life, and you'll hear how language is actually used in China, and learn the all-important term for the street food vendors. All you'll miss is the pleasant bells and whistles of the Rosetta Stone interface, and the false promise that you can absorb a language as complex and foreign as Chinese as if it were a Western language.

62 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very well produced program, but still very hard to learn to speak accurately, September 4, 2008

By 

Ivan W. Ong (Charlotte, North Carolina United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rosetta Stone V3: Chinese (Mandarin) Level 1-3 Set with Audio Companion [OLD VERSION] (CD-ROM)

(What's this?)

The Rosetta Stone (RS) learning interface is well designed and very clean. It is the most user friendly language learning program I've experienced. What's more, the user interface applies to all of their language modules so learners of multiple RS language modules will be comfortable and at home with the "dynamic immersion" approach.

At best, the RS Mandarin will train you to be conversational in Mandarin. It will not allow you to recognize and write Chinese characters easily- that is an entirely different discipline better served by other instructional approaches. It is possible to speak and not be able to read the characters at this stage.

Mandarin is hard language to speak for most westerners. The 4 primary pronunciation tones (see Wiki's Pinyin article for an excellent overview) sound subtle to western tongues and are very hard to pronounce for the typical English speaker. This is because the way the mouth (lips, tongue, breathing) moves in pronouncing Mandarin is completely different to speaking English. My wife, an American from the South who speaks English with a somewhat relaxed and dragged out accent, has incredible difficulty in discerning the tonal differences, let alone pronouncing them accurately. Discerning and learning these tonal differences is crucial to successful conversational Mandarin. If you remember the 70's-80's Kung-Fu movies, they sometimes have a Westerner as a sparring combatant and they will sometimes speak some Mandarin in between the flying punches. To the Mandarin speaker, it always sounds really funny because they have typically messed up the tonal inflections. For example, "ma" can mean mother, horse, to scold, to wipe, a question, measles, etc., when used with the correct tone and context. So, to avoid speaking "Kung-Fu Mandarin" (comical and embarrassing in a business meeting, but at least it gets them smiling), it is essential to listen to the Mandarin speakers on the RS software very very carefully and practice repeatedly. That said, the speakers on the RS software have clear excellent accents but the microphone pronunciation feedback tool is not tight enough and will tolerate tonal mis-pronunciations.

If you are learning Mandarin alone, it would be very helpful to still seek a native Mandarin speaker. It helps to observe the mouth when pronouncing the words (I wish RS would have avi's of the speaker's mouth up close as a pronouncing aid). It also helps to be corrected immediately to avoid entrenching bad habits. And if you are finding an instructor, get an educated person that speaks with a proper accent. You want the Beijing news reader quality. China is a large country and speakers from different parts of China have very different accents. For example, speakers from HK or Canton will often speak (if they even can!) Mandarin that is heavily tinged with a Cantonese accent. No point learning that. Should you be discouraged? No!!! If you are in China or get Chinese cable programs, you will notice some westerners on the language and outreach programs. Folks, these guys speak a brand of Mandarin with such accuracy and poise that would put most native speakers to shame!

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A highly flawed and overpriced program; not for serious students, June 6, 2009

By 

Marie A. Klingman - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rosetta Stone V3: Chinese (Mandarin) Level 1-3 Set with Audio Companion [OLD VERSION] (CD-ROM)

While this version of Rosetta Stone has an attractive interface, it has several major flaws.

The Chinese romanization, called Pinyin, takes liberties in transcribing the pronunciation of the language. The letter "c," for example, is pronounced as "ts." This is an aspirated consonant, meaning that you must breathe out as you say it. This is the only way to distinguish it from "z."

Stone does not tell you this. In other words, despite the program's high price and mic interface, you will not learn correctly how to pronounce Chinese. The mic's software is too easy on the student, and probably contributes to Stone's absurdly high reviews. Get a tutor, or use the Foreign Service Institute's Chinese tapes (which are in the public domain) if you are serious.

Furthermore, the multiple choice system tests a very low level of comprehension. Questions like, "Is it an apple or a bike?" don't really set your neurons on fire. You can't just sit back and let Stone work for you, as runs the advertising line.

Stone takes a roundabout route to teach some abstract words which it is better to explain than to show pictures of. "Mei2" means "not" in Chinese (incidentally, it can be used only with certain verbs, which Stone tells you nothing about). Stone communicates the meaning of "mei2" by showing you pictures of people...not doing certain things. A simple definition would be more to the point.

Many of the activities, other than the core lesson, are annoyingly repetitive or simply worthless. The writing exercise, for example, consists of keyboarding the Pinyin for a particular word. This does not ensure that you know how to write, or even to read, the actual Chinese character.

Stone is founded on the idea that, no matter how old you are, you can learn a language---any language---just like your first. This is untrue, unless you spend years in a foreign country without a translator. The easy multiple choice system is not a substitute. Make full use of your aged brain, and understand the grammar, and systematically memorize the vocabulary. You aren't five years old anymore.

For about a fifth of the price, you can learn a lot more. For pronunciation, try the Foreign Service tapes. Use these in conjunction with the Beginning Chinese Reader (Beginning Chinese Reader, Part I) series, which systematically introduces characters and provides short reading exercises. For grammatical explanations, which contrary to what Stone says are essential to understanding the sometimes idiomatic structure of Chinese, get Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar (Modern Grammars), which is more thorough and better produced than Schaum's Chinese Grammar. For additional vocabulary, and stroke order (Stone doesn't even mention this), get either Reading & Writing Chinese Traditional Character Edition or Reading & Writing Chinese: Simplified Character Edition. I have all of these, and they have served me well. After several weeks of studying Chinese, I can read (out loud, too) and write short passages with some confidence. With Stone, I would probably still be ravaging the pronunciation, and clicking on pictures of men swimming.

Also, I've spent less than $100. Who says that learning a language needs to be expensive?

If you must have Stone, get it from the public library or borrow it. Don't mortgage anything to pay for the program.