1 of 2 customers found the following review helpful:
 Useless!, 2008-02-05
The Rosetta stone teaches you "baby sentences" like how to point at a blue car or see the ball near the child.
It does not teaches you the language. There is no attempt at teaching you verbs and tense. It has nice pictures and you GUESS what the things are. Big, expensive disappointment. I suggest you try something else. I am.
99 of 105 customers found the following review helpful:
 Where's The Grammar? , 2004-11-21
This software is lots of fun. It uses a unique method of learning where you associate pictures with words. I guess that's how we learned to speak English or our native tongue. Mom or dad would point to a tree and say that's a "tree" or point to a car and say "that's a car." And by associating the word with the image, we learned English - or at least we learned English vocabulary. But there's more to the English language than vocabulary. In fact, there's more to any language than just vocabulary. There's this thing called "grammar." All languages are composed of both vocabulary and grammar.
Of course, it's possible to communicate without knowing an abundance of grammar and just vocabulary. You can walk into McDonalds and say "fries, hamburger" and I am sure the person behind the counter will understand you. But you would be able to communicate more effectively by knowing how to say all of the following: "I would like a hamburger and fries," "may I have a hamburger and fries," "could I have a hamburger and fries, please," "think I'll have a hamburger and fries" " or even "I want a hamburger and fries."
Rosetta Stone is the type of course that will teach you how to say "hamburger, fries." That's not enough for me. I don't want to sound like a cavewoman when I place an order. I wish to sound like the well-educated person that I am. I sensed that Rosetta Stone was giving me the vocabulary but not the grammatical tools to effectively use the vocabulary. It would be unfair to say that Rosetta Stone Spanish doesn't cover any grammar. It does cover some grammar. But the "grammar" is introduced in such a manner that I would consider it "additional vocabulary" as opposed to "rules" of how words and their component parts combine to form sentences. In order to communicate effectively (or at least sound as if you have more than 8th grade education), you need a decent grasp of the word formation and the structural relationships of the Spanish language. That's something that Rosetta Stone Spanish lacks.
And now to compare Rosetta Stone with the competition. From reading the reviews on Amazon, it seems that most people are either fans of Pimsleur Spanish or Learning Spanish Like Crazy. Thanks to a very kind neighbor, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to try both free of charge. Pimsleur is undoubtedly my favorite. The Spanish is very formal and somewhat close to Castilian Spanish. Castillian Spanish is what I require because I travel to Spain every opportunity I get. Learning Spanish Like Crazy is an excellent course and is second only to Pimsleur Spanish. Learning Spanish Like Crazy is suited more for the person that wants to learn Spanish to communicate with Latinos for business (employment) or personal/intimate (dating) reasons. It would have probably been my favorite if I had wanted to learn Spanish to communicate with Latin Americans as opposed to Spaniards.
In any event, I prefer both Pimsleur Spanish and Learning Spanish Like Crazy over Rosetta Stone. Unlike Rosetta Stone, both courses not only teach the student Spanish vocabulary but they teach the student (without the student ever realizing it - which is the beauty of it) the rules and mechanisms required to combine words and form sentences in Spanish.
27 of 31 customers found the following review helpful:
 Rosetta Stone Spanish Explorer, 2004-06-30
The Rosetta Stone Explorers are intuitive and fantastic! They give 22 lessons of the 92 lessons in Level 1. Explorers are just that: EXPLORERS. This program allows you a trial run of the full program, only the printed script from the full program is missing. The Explorer materials take you to the level of about 3 months of High School language classes. The Level 1 is approximately equal to 2 years of High School or 1 year of University, and level 2 adds 2 more years or High School or 1 more year of University language. This is a real bargain compared to tuition!I've done the Indonesian Explorer, I have given Spanish to a 62-year-old friend, Japanese to a 9-year-old whose grandfather speaks Japanese, and Portuguese to a 10-year-old whose father speaks Portuguese. My Level 1 Indonesian should be here in a couple of days, my older friend is picking up on Spanish much more rapidly than he did with Pimsleur, and the kid's parents report that they are "hogging the computer" to play their "game". If they stick with it over the Summer break, the parents have the option of ordering the full program at a discount exceeding the Explorer purchase price when they buy Level 1 or Levels 1 & 2. The only down-side is: Fairfield Language Technologies has discountinued the Explorer (and the PowerPac and the Traveler) series. There will be no more after what is avialable now is sold - unless popular demand changes their minds.
Useful Introduction to the Full Course, 2004-05-29
I've used The Rosetta Stone for a few years, now, quite successfully. From my experiences as a Language Acquisition Tutor, and 11+ year Language Learner, I've found that students who have struggled immensely in the past, whether in classes or on their own, find much success with The Rosetta Stone.As far as grammar goes, it's true, The Rosetta Stone doesn't teach much. But that's the point! Grammar is one of the hardest aspects of a language for most people, and when you think about it, you were fluent in your native language before you even set foot in a school, or knew what a "transitive verb" was. The Rosetta Stone teaches language, to paraphrase their ad copy, like you learned your first language. By the time you finish a Level I course, you'll be able to understand a good portion of what native speakers are talking about, whether it be in casual conversation, a radio program, or a movie. I'd recommend not buying the Explorer course, but going to http://www.NetLLR.com/rosetta-stone.html to read more about the courses, then going to the Rosetta Stone website and trying the free Online Demo to see if it's right for you. If it is, don't throw away your money on the Explorer course, but instead get a Level I, or I & II course. You'll learn far more, and spend less money over time. In conclusion, Rosetta Stone is perfect for almost anyone wanting to learn a language well, and participate in the daily happenings of the culture surrounding that language. ---
Rob Hillman is an 11 year Language Veteran, and has spent the last two and a half years teaching Language Acquisition Techniques privately. He is also the Founder and Site Administrator for www.Learn-A-Lang.com , a website that is currently taking pre-registrations for a new Language Book, and will soon be the home of reviews of Language Courses, tips, tricks, and help for learning a language.
25 of 35 customers found the following review helpful:
Overrated, 2003-06-19
This seems like a good program but it is just lacking some very crucial things which I think are necessary for language learning. The lack of verb tenses is extremely frustrating. Tying in with this is the complete lack of teaching grammar. See my problem with this is what's the point of learning the language if you don't learn the rules of it. Good product but fails in some important aspects to teach Spanish. For a good language learning software that also has grammar turtorials check out Spanish NOW by Transparent Language.
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