Thank You!! Such a great review. Rosetta Stone does inflate expectations. Thank you for giving us the real deal so we can evaluate the value of the program.
You could watch Spanish movies and stuff after just 2 semesters in College? I am calling BS on that. I took 2 semesters in college and can poorly communicate in Spanish. No way I could watch a movie or read a long book in Spanish
Thank you for the review. Straight up and very clear expectations for learning a new language. That aligns expectations with actual results. When I know what I should expect, I won't grow frustrated for not getting the results advertised by the manufacturer. Thank you for not sugar-coating the process of learning a foreign language.
Years ago I was at the mall in Vegas and there was a Rosetta Stone kiosk outside the Apple Store. I sat down and started the demo for Spanish, which was a street scene of some kind. I vaguely remember engaging in real conversations with complete thoughts and repeating pronunciation with the computer correcting me until I got it right. What I most remember is, after twenty minutes I FELT like I was understanding entire sentences. I couldn't speak them but I grasp with understanding what the speaker was saying! I almost felt like I was THINKING in Spanish! I got EXCITED! I wanted to sign up right then! But money was tight back then do I couldn't. Years later and I have been SEARCHING for THAT demonstration and can't find it anywhere in Rosetta. It WORKED! I tried the demo and it was SO boring! And every language program is exactly the same! In so disappointed. After just twenty minutes I FELT like I could UNDERSTAND a native speaker. Where is THAT program?
Excellent review, even after 8 years! I speak English and Spanish as well as a little bit in a few other languages. I have used multiple programs as well as free resources on RU-vid. Rosetta stone is offering a lifetime membership for Rosetta stone under $200 now, and it has me curious... especially as I'm learning Italian and French. Seems like it would be worth it for under 200!
Pricing Update: First, thank you for the excellent review. I found that very helpful. I just checked to see if Rosetta Stone had a Black Friday sale, and they did (I think it was actually Cyber Monday). I had NO intention of buying it, I was just curious, but I was SURPRISED when I saw the price!!! It was $149 for LIFETIME ACCESS to ALL their courses, in EVERY language!!! So, I had to buy it! I have been aware of Rosetta Stone for MANY years and considered buying it, back before it was even online. $500 per course is about the price I remember over the years. Which, I agree with you is a good value, IF you do it. I took 4 years of French, 3 years of Spanish, and 1 year of German in high school. I enjoy learning languages, but I have really continued as an adult, until recently. (Side note, high school was 20 years ago for me. So it’s been a while.) I recently started playing with Duolingo, which is fun, but I don’t see it as a good tool to learn, it is a good tool for practice, and with their free version it is a great introduction for people new to language learning. I am VERY excited to start learning languages with Rosetta Stone now. I am starting with Farsi, because I have family who speak Farsi and I speak none. So, that will be nice to learn. Then I will go refresh my French and Spanish. I have played with Mandarin and Japanese on Duolingo, so I’m curious to see how Rosetta Stone teaches them. I have some Brazilian friends, so Portuguese interests me too. So does Italian. With lifetime access to ALL their languages, I feel like a kid in a candy store!!!
Learning a language with ZERO vocabulary and turning the entire process into a guessing game is a cruel joke on their customers. It's okay to add this to the technique, but starting off a person with nothing is absolutely insane.
That's why i use busuu and chat gpt to understand the grammar and rosetta for practice what i already learned on busuu cuz busuu doesn't have enough exercises.
Thank you so much for doing this because I saw a small example and I did not think that was a good learning experience because I would be guessing what they said compared to that picture I think the example should show ENGLISH as well....please explain as I speak ENGLISH Native and took 2 years of Spanish so I speak a lot but I am not fluent also took 1 year of German and 1 year of French but only remembered a little. This time I am learning Korean so I don't recognize any words as I would in Spanish or French...please help!!
learning words is one thing but conversational learning requires another level, right ? Spend the summer in France and immerse yourself, this may have better results? Imagine if there was an AI you could talk to.
FYI, check your public library before paying for Rosetta Stone. Sometimes they have free language resources. Also, if your time allow, community college is much cheaper for taking in person classes
I am amazed how it feels equivalent to two semesters in college. College apparently still takes less time. 1 yr vs 1yr and 9m. Oh, you pointed out, too. Lol
Thank you for this review. I’m not extremely motivated. I also struggle at times to take in new information. It’s why I wanted to try Rosetta Stone over classroom instruction.
Rosetta Stone is amazing for your first deep dive into a language. You learn to walk pretty nicely with it. When you finished it, you can usually understand already quite a bit and use the language. From there, just by using it, you will get the rest.
RS needed lessons that were like its milestones. Those get you to generate language. It's quite passive. I didn't have any problems generating French, but I'd applied the language. I also understood the grammar from their examples. It would have been nice if they had verb conjugation exercises though. I prefer to learn grammar from reading, so that's not a big minus from me. You can get really bogged down in grammar.
The thing is that in our brains the place where we produce language and the place where we recognize language are different. You need to find a person you can talk with, producing language is a whole different story. I have a son that I'm trying to teach Spanish to, he understands perfectly, but he doesn't produce much language. Teaching or learning a new language is a beast!! Best wishes
Summary: “you can recognize language, but there’s not enough generating your own.” Yup! I’m frustrated and disappointed with Rosetta Stone. It’s ridiculous that they expect you to acquire a language by just seeing / hearing a sentence and clicking a picture. The answer is literally right in front of me so there’s no way I’m truly going to learn. Memory has two components: (1) recognition and (2) recall. Rosetta Stone only focuses on (1).
Thanks for the review. Yeah I am not paying 400 to 500 bucks so that I can speak and understand the language like a typical 4 year old. I was excited at the idea of learning a new language because it would be cool to know another language but it sounds like it should be around $200 and that is pushing it by this review. I know this is a 7 year old video so I wonder if the price went down.
Thanks for this review! I bought the monthly subscription plan I think and haven't used it much for trying to learn Korean and was curious why it was so un-intuitive in the teaching. If I hadn't already spent a bunch of time trying to learn Russian to speak it with my friend there's definitely some things I would have never caught on to. The "Talk To Me in Korean" podcast had been a great supplement. So for anyone else trying to use Rosetta stone, I suggest finding other supplemental teaching sources, especially if it's languages with difficult alphabets. There's tons of stuff on youtube and other sites that help. Even mobile apps than are simply focused on just teaching the alphabet.
I don’t think their sales are going well. It’s getting cheaper for more. I’m waiting for it to be £10! 😜 Joking aside, really interesting perspective. Thanks
I just started Latin America Spanish today on Rosetta Stone because I plan on going to Ecuador in a couple of years. I plan on completing it but, I am retired so I have a gratuitous amount of time on my hands. Thanks for the honest review.
You are obviously good at learning another language. I am terrible at it. When I joined the Navy we were given aptitude tests and my worsts score were language and code. I need a review from someone like myself how is bad at learning language.
I purchased Rosetta stone about 20+ years ago and did about 10 lessons (cds)….(I only stopped the lessons because while moving some of my things were left behind and I lost them among a few other things). I still remember pretty much everything I learned on those few lessons til this day. I’m purchasing the lifetime unlimited languages soon.
I agree 100 percent with his opinion I made it through 4 of 5 disc for German. And decided tp pick it up again. But now the discs I paid $400 for is unless. Rosetta got me for another $200 for unlimited languages for a lifetime. And I thought I was good for a lifetime before. I sure hope they keep there word
Its great for building a vocabulary, but its not really great at teaching grammar. About halfway through I found an online tutor to teach me Spanish grammar and I improved a lot. Then I just finished the core lessons of Rosetta Stone for the vocabulary. It was $500 when I bought it. Now its $200 for lifetime access to all languages
