Customer Reviews

Rosetta Stone V3: Spanish (Latin America) Level 1-2 Set with Audio Companion [OLD VERSION]

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I have to admit how impressed I am with this product. The "immersion" approach to teaching you the language is highly effective and I find that the material sticks with me.

I would have given this product 5 stars, but I decided to give it 4 stars for the following reasons:

1. You are taught the language via process of elimination, viewing what the characters are doing, etc. In a few cases, its not clear to me what word is trying to be taught and I have to look up the word that I am not sure about.
2. The voice recognition technology works about 90% of the time.

These are minor reasons and I have no regrets about my purchase, but I just wanted to share my experience.

I purchased my Rosetta Stone Spanish product in April 2008. The product is fine - slowly but surely I'm learning the language. In August 2008 my computer crashed and I replaced it but when I went to load the software I got a message saying it was already activated and needed to contact customer service. I've tried phone calls and emails and it's now two weeks later and it still hasn't been done. I've provided a copy of my credit card statement, a copy of the box with the product code, and a copy of the Activation ID page that came with the product...but I can't find a receipt. They appear not to believe I'm the owner of the product, although I did register it the day I bought it. Days go by between contacts. All in all, I'll never buy another Rosetta Stone product.

My daughter did learn SOME Spanish from this program but I cannot give it a good rating because of the COST!!! Good grief! Not only is it outragiously expensive, you CANNOT resell it! Rosetta Stone is making so much money that they are PAYING people to sit around 24/7 and watch the resale market (Amazon included!) and will SHUT DOWN YOUR AUCTION! Even though you never signed an agreement not to resell it (public/private schools do this)and you ARE the legitimate owner of a NON-PIRATED item, they will accuse you of such. Therefore, you are stuck with this expensive item forever! SHAME ON YOU, ROSETTA STONE! I have lost all respect for this company. I have purchased curriculum for 10 yrs from many companies and this is the ONLY company that practices JUNK YARD DOG treatment of their customers, AND they are by far the MOST EXPENSIVE! I will NEVER purchase another R.S. product and do all I can do to get the word out there to others that are considering a purchase like this.

BEWARE! If you buy this product you can never resell it. Never return it. Never upgrade it. You better love it. Because you're stuck with it. I purchased version 2 a year ago and wanted to upgrade to 3 so I thought I'd sell my version 2. Rosetta Stone cancelled my eBay auction and threatened LEGAL action for attempting to resell an original legitimate in the box version of their product. They will only let you return it for 6 months and ONLY if you bought it directly from them (sorry Amazon) and there are NO upgrades. Basically, I'm out $500. Though I would never ever consider buying another Rosetta Stone product, where the customer is always wrong. BEWARE of this company.

I bought this product and worked diligently with it, doing at least one lesson every day. After a month, I couldn't even respond to "How are you?" But I do know how to say horse and butterfly (although I can't pluralize or conjugate either word). Whoop-de-doo. I ran into a tech problem in the process and RS's customer service was exactly as bad as many others on this site have reported. I was left to my own devices to find a solution and I eventually gave up. My only saving grace was that I bought the program directly from RS when they had a 6-month money-back policy. I sent the program back and received a refund. This company has become extremely commercialized, aggressive and, well, greedy. I'm now looking for another program.

I feel very sad the people who are suffering because of RS poor customer service.

I am one person who gained tremendously because of the product. My spanish was low intermediate about 10 years ago, after having had 2 years equivalent of college spanish over an intensive program of 17 weeks. But not using it for 10 years and it got rusty.

With rosetta stone level 2 and 3, I got my spanish back to my former level over about 3 months. I went through the program twice... and I can imagine going through it a third time if my spanish were to go rusty again.

It is a quick, fast, and easy way to refresh your spanish. I am not sure if you can actually learn spanish from the CD's alone. It is completely lacking in didactics.

There are good free courses on the internet that can help introduce you to some simple spanish grammar rules ([...]), there is an inexpensive program here on amazon for [...] that introduce you to spanish grammar (read one of my reviews), there is a free conjugator download that I got from the internet that drills you on spanish verb conjugation that will complement rosetta stone well.

My guess is, if RS will decrease their price by 1/2 or 2/3, many people will love their program..... and profit might remain the same.

It is an innovative, intuitive way to learn, and I complement the company for putting together an interesting product that kept me to the program for 3 months. Compared to the price of "immersive" program - I still think RS is as close as you can get...

If you exercise like I do, look at the free MP3 downloads like FSI spanish tape (google it, it is free) or buy it from ebay for about [...], or a similar product like Pimsluer. I believe that FSI spanish has been redone in higher quality recording, but it is not free. This can complement your RS program also.

I know this is a strange idea for many who seem to make this set of reviews a second home, but I am going to review the product, not the price nor the license agreement. I figure, if you have some idea of how well it works, you can decide for yourself whether the high price is worth it. And now that you know, from the many other comments, that the license agreement does not allow you to sell it when you're finished, you can also decide for yourself whether the high price is worth it. (Didn't I just say that?) For those of you who are angry, I feel your pain. I wish I could sell it when I am finished too, but I went into this with my eyes open and it has been worth the price to me.

Okay, here's the review. I bought Levels 1 and 2 of Latin American Spanish straight from RS and have just finished Level 1. I felt that I needed to complete one full level to really understand the product before writing a review. I am in my 50's and have never taken formal Spanish, but I did take three years of French way back in high school and that has actually been mildly helpful. I am going to Peru in two weeks (as I write this) and wanted to be able to communicate basic ideas, order in restaurants, ask for help, etc. It took me just over a month to complete Level 1 and I have spent a lot of time doing that... probably averaging 45 - 60 minutes a day. Although that doesn't sound like a lot, it really is. I had hoped to have both levels finished by the time I went, but that's not going to happen.

My overall experience of the product is that it is very good, but that you need some supplemental material to get the most out of it. It's strengths are that the immersion concept does indeed help you to associate the words with the objects and actions rather than with English words. That is, you do learn to think in Spanish rather than to translate. When I hear the word 'mansana', I don't think of the English word 'apple', I see an apple in my mind. In my three years of French, I never was able to achieve that and I think that is a huge advantage of learning this way. The other major advantage is that it is fun and not intimidating and so you enjoy doing it. Since you enjoy doing it, you actually do it, and there's no substitute for that. You do actually learn.

The weaknesses are that you will not learn the rules of a language well with this method. Have you ever struggled to understand an immigrant to this country as they tried to communicate in a grammatically mangled form of English. Well, they learned through immersion, so I'm not buying the idea that it's enough on its own. In my learning with RS, there were many times when I was very confused about what something meant or why they said something is a particular way, and I would search for it on the Net to figure it out. You'll need to do that.

Another thing I recommend, if you decide to learn this way, is to pick up a copy of Practice Makes Perfect Spanish Verb Tenses, Second Edition (Practice Makes Perfect Series). That gave me the missing structure I needed to move from trying to just memorize that an 'a' goes in front of the noun sometimes, to actually understanding when and why. (It's called the personal a, it has no analog in English and it's used when you are refering to a particular person. You would just never pick that up from context.) So think of your learning as a system. RS is the heart of it and where you spend the most time, and you do a section of the verbs book every day or two, and you use Google Translate and other web resources to help you understand some of the more subtle things going on.

Now, am I fluent after Level 1? Absolutely not. You can't become fluent in a new language in a month. However, I can make my basic wants understood and I will be able to hold simple conversations when we travel. (I want to buy this. I'd like the chicken. Where's the bathroom? How much does this cost? Stuff like that.) I will say that I am enjoying it enough that I will probably go ahead and complete Level 2 when I get home. That should tell you something about my enjoyment of the experience.

Oh, and those reviewers who complain that the course doesn't give you real sentences to learn (the boy runs, etc.) that you might actually use, simply didn't stick with it. It does start that way, but well before you're half way through Level 1, you are learning things that you really can use. I think it's just comforting, when you don't stick with something you spent so much money on, to blame the product rather than your commitment. If you complete the course, you will learn actual conversational things to say.

The last thing I will comment on is the question of how many levels you should buy. That is something I really struggled with before the purchase because, as some have noted, the thing is gastly expensive and you get totally screwed if you buy Levels 1 and 2 and then want to add Level 3 later. These are my suggestions.

First, are you the kind of person who sticks with something? If not, then this may not be for you. It is a real commitment and it'll be a waste of money if you buy it and don't complete it. But if you are the kind who will see it through, then I would recommend only buying Levels 1 & 2 for casual travel. Those will get you through introductions, shopping and getting around. If you have less than 2 months before you go, then you should probably drop back to Level 1 only. If you think you really want to learn Spanish, and this isn't about a specific trip, then you might go ahead and add Level 3, but at that point, I would recommend getting your start here, then finding a real immersion course that gives you a chance to interact with people. There's only so far you can go talking to your computer, no matter how many levels you complete.

Finally, although I love Amazon and buy lots of lots of stuff from them, the uncertainty of this product for any individual probably makes buying from RS directly a wise choice. They will accept the product back for 6 months if you are not happy with it, but only if you buy directly. If you are worried about the higher cost, there are deals to be had even on the RS site if you can find them. I saved 20% by putting in a coupon code I found in a well-known magazine that has a cover the same color as the RS box, that publishes stories on geography and that has its own cable TV channel.

Yes, the product is decent for learning languages, especially the new Version 3 of the software, which is much more intuitive. The problem is you can't resell them anywhere. They'll kick you off eBay, Craigslist, etc if you try. I bought the Version 2 and hated the interface and couldn't figure out where to start or stop, just bought the Version 3, but I can't even get a penny for my old version. Very frustrating. I think this practice of not allowing reselling is illegal and would love to see a class action suit against this company. I'm not selling a copy, can't use it without the original disc, so why can't I sell my original? I can resell music CDs I bought, DVDs I bought. This really seems to go against basic rights.

We have had Rosetta Stone for years, since the first version. Back then, the customer service was exemplary. As I was buying the Arabic, I was unsure about whether to get Level 1 or 2. The representative told me that 2 wasn't finsihed yet, so why didn't I take level 1 until 2 was ready.

If it turned out to be too easy, they would exchange it for level 2 at not extra cost to me! Really! And they did call me some months later, ready to do that! Level 1 had been full of new words and grammar for me, so I paid for level 2. Using level 1 I was really surprised that I was able to read simple arabic in about two months.

When Windows XP came out, I noticed that my daughter's Spanish Rosetta was spelling some of the words strangely, so I called customer service again. I was told that XP needed the new version, and they sent it to me free! Both levels 1 and 2!

It sounds like the company has been taken over by aliens. I called two days ago to suggest that they offer Rosetta Stone at a reduced rate for families with children with autism, as the program can/could be very helpful. I did notice that the warm friendly feeling was absent the call.

The product is great. It is so much fun that it can be addictive; and it really works. Unlike the original version, the price is very high, with no more great end-of-the-year sales (which is why I gave it a 4-star instead of 5-star rating). The customer service sounds horrible now, which is sad, because it was wonderful to have a great product and great customer service.

Sun~Rose

This item has no resale value. You won't be able to sell it at ebay. Ugh, I regret spending so much on an item that I barely used. I needed help with my spanish classes, I would have been better off just studying the book.