Rosetta Stone English Review

Rosetta Stone English (British) uses a dynamic immersion approach for language acquisition. It prepares you to listen, instantaneously comprehend what was said and make immediate, accurate and appropriate reactions. With this approach, the programs’ primary objective is communication because the sooner you can communicate in the language you are studying, the sooner you will feel at home with it. The learning experience you get from using the program can only be surpassed by actually living in an English speaking country and now they have even improved this in version 3 of the program.

I had been using version 2 and in this new version they have spent much effort in improving the graphics and interface. Instead of looking at four picture panels during exercises, now the number of picture panels varies from 3 to 8. The picture panels also slide out of the way of text bubbles so they won’t obstruct reading. This works well and makes it easier to work with, because you don’t have to move the picture panels out of the way manually to read the text. The biggest addition is an interactive slideshow that gives more variation in activities.

Also, with the new version, a feature not found in version 2 is the Audio Companion, which is the audio material from the software that I can use away from my computer. It presents the material contained in the software in a slightly different manner and serves as a quick reviewer.

The publishers have also made changes to improve the vagueness in what was being asked as well as increased the variety in the picture sets and make these more culture-specific. The content of Rosetta Stone English in the latest version has been moderately changed and now includes more conversational elements such as introductions and greetings.

Rosetta Stone's English course has some shortcomings. It is lacking the fundamental feature of teaching grammar. Grammar improves the ability to create original sentences and speak and write fluently. There are also no translations to your native language and this is very important to many people including myself. It would have been better and more convenient if there was even just a little button you could click to give you a translation of the word in your native language if you want it.

Also, as with older versions of Rosetta Stone English course, there is still some vagueness in some of the activities because there are no directions. I sometimes found it unclear as to what is being asked of me to do, which I found frustrating at times. In version 3 this has been addressed to some extent but still needs to be improved. The publishers of the program could have placed a setting button that people could use to turn instructions on or off. The programs asking price is also very expensive compared to other similar software.

Comprehensive language course

Good interactive emphasis on the learning process

Slow vocabulary learning

Sometimes unclear quizzes

Sometimes not teaching useful phrases

Expensive ($499.00 USD for all 5 levels)

Rosetta Stone English concentrates on direct communication in English with a dynamic immersion approach. You learn the En