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Feature Articles
Product Reviews
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Learn a foreign language... the right way. software review by Virginia Chilcote Using this software, at first I thought that it reminded me of when I learned addition, subtraction, multiplication and division— except with pictures. I say this in a nice way. Repitition, repitition, repitition. That is what I thought it was all about! But as I got more into the program and felt more comfortable with it, I realized that the secret of this software is not repitition but it’s immersion, immersion and more immersion. In fact Rosetta Stone calls it Dynamic Immersion. In my opinion the best way to learn another language such as Spanish is to move in with a Spanish family, maybe in Costa Rico or someplace like that, and just immerse yourself in the language. But I know that’s not going to happen anytime soon so I decided to try the Rosetta Stone route and got the Learning Spanish Level 1. I had heard from someone that if one wanted to learn a foreign language this company makes the best software. There are two versions of the RosettaStone Spanish language-learning software, Latin American version and Spain version. I chose the Latin American version. Since the most Spanish I know is from when I took a swim class at a spa in Mexico last year and the instructor called out the moves in spanish...uno, duo, tres, etc, etc etc. There are three levels to the software.... I started out with Level 1 which is for beginners.
Matching the text prompt and listening to the native voice with the photos is the secret, Immersion! A little history.
Check out the Rosetta Stone Users Guide first. Better yet, after all the research on the web I discovered that the Rosetta Stone software had in their users’ guide a great background description of the name Rosetta Stone. And about the Users Guide, I highly recommend reading it before starting. It goes into detail on what this software is all about and the best way to attack learning a new language with it. Installation. The newest version, Version 3, was just announced on
August 28th this year and I was able to get it. I can’t compare to the The first thing to do after registering the product and creating a user is to choose female or male for the voice recognition technology that Rosetta Stone uses. And you can actually choose your course if you don’t want to start from the beginning. I chose to go to the recommended course and start from the beginning and this includes reading, writing, speaking and listening. A headset and microphone comes with the software for the speaking parts of the program. The quick-start guide shows how the headset should be placed and by speaking into the microphone it’s set up for your voice. When I first started this set-up I had trouble with it recognizing any sound at all that came through the microphone. I checked the preferences and made the correct settings as shown in the program. Still no luck. So I e-mailed the technical support at the company. Rosie Ferguson, Product Support Specialist e-mailed back and after a little e-mail tag we decided when she should call me. Call me? What company does this? When Rosie called and explained to me how to tweak the settings in the program (my mistakes) it worked perfectly. I can’t say enough about their support team if they are all like her. Thanks, Rosie.
The Lessons in Level 1.
The lessons start out by showing screens with pictures and prompts in Spanish to match the pictures. You will pick the image that matches the text. The program lets you know if you are correct or waits while you choose another picture. When all pictures match the text prompt, the program will advance to the next screen. Sometimes there is no text and you will hear the Spanish word and you match what you hear with the correct picture. And then there are times when you will see a picture with a keyboard on the screen. You can either type on your keyboard what you think is the word or click on the letters on the keyboard. As you progress and the program requires you to put phrases together the new phrases will consist of words you have already learned. Pronunciation will teach the language syllable by syllable, also. There is more to this software than I have room for in this review such as the speech analysis so that you can check how well you are pronouncing your new words and the scoring showing your progress—and much more. I’m pleased at how they approach learning a new language. Images are used to learn the language and you use intuition to advance by what you have learned with new clues shown. An important aspect of this program is the interactivity as it confirms your knowledge as you go along. An enjoyable way to learn. It’s sorta like living with that Costa Rican family I mentioned earlier! Rosetta Stone requirements: Windows 2000, XP or
Vista, 512 MB RAM, 1 GHz or faster processor speed, 600 MB free
hard-drive space (per level), 16-bit sound card, 800 x 600 display
resolution (1024 x 768 recommended), Internet or phone connection
required for product activation, Speech recognition feature requires a
headset microphone (USB recommended) Pricing: See all the various ways to purchase the different levels at http://www.rosettastone.com/personal/languages/spanish-latin-america This particular package costs $209. You can also purchase a 3 month ($109), 6 month ($159) or 12 month online subscription ($259) for all three levels. Rosetta Stone gives a 100% guaranteed 6 month Satisfaction with a money-back guarantee when you buy directly from them. Also, Spanish is not the only language they teach. There are many more, such as Chinese, Russian, Italian, Korean and many others. Rosetta Stone Software,
http://www.rosettastone.com
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The
RosettaStone® Software 
older version but I can say that it’s an easy program to use and even
though you might not know all the words that are being shown to you at
first, it’s apparent that as you go along, you can put it all together. 
