Does Rosetta Stone Really Work?

Rosetta Stone also helps preserve endangered living languages.

By: By Lee and J.J. MacFadden Special to the Herald Courier | TriCities.com
Published: February 18, 2009

If you’re like us and you’re 40 or over, learning new things can be tough.
Languages in particular can prove problematic. In our case, we try to keep up with the Spanish we learned in college, but it’s pretty dry fare learning from a textbook and dictionary.
However, we enjoy learning new languages, and when we came across Rosetta Stone, we thought it would be fun to try Mandarin.
When you purchase Rosetta Stone, you get to choose from 31 different languages, including American English and British English. Choices range from Arabic to Irish to German.
Each language comes in three levels, each of which may be bought separately. Each of the levels lets you select your course: reading, writing, speaking and listening; speaking and listening; or reading and writing.
Level One is divided into four units: language basics, greetings and introductions, work and school, and shopping. Each of the units then contains four lessons which cover such subjects as pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, reading, writing, listening and speaking, and also permits you to review your lessons.
All of these are 5, 10 or 15 minutes long, allowing even busy students to learn in short increments whenever they have time.
To get the most out of your lessons requires a Realtek AC97 small audio-microphone, which will help you learn to pronounce properly. However, we took some sample Mandarin Chinese lessons without one and still had a very satisfactory experience.
You also get to customize your experience somewhat. The first “Reading Activities” focus on sounds and letters, but if you don’t wish to focus on this, you may skip those activities. You may go back to an earlier lesson at any time and as often as you wish.
The Japanese course even lets you choose whether to display the text in Japanese characters or in Romanji (the Roman version).
You begin speaking right away through intuitive learning, the way you learned your first language – through listening, seeing and repeating. For instance, the image of an apple will be displayed, the foreign word is written beneath the image and a native speaker will tell you what you’re looking at. Then, you repeat the word.
Words are later combined to make sentences which become more complex as the lessons progress. There are no vocabulary lists and no grammar lessons; there are also no translations. If you are learning Russian, say, or Swahili, you will never hear or see an English word on the screen.
Apart from being the self-proclaimed lesson of choice for NASA, the U.S. Army and other institutions, Rosetta Stone is just plain fun.
Though quite expensive – prices range from $259 for Level One to $199.95 for a six-month online course, to a staggering $549 for all three levels and the Audio Companion CDs (for use on the go) – Rosetta Stone is easier than traditional language learning.
Rosetta Stone also helps preserve endangered living languages. To learn more or to order Rosetta Stone, go to www.rosettastone.com. You may also order by calling (800) ROSETTA.