Answers to the criticisms of Rosetta Stone

by Marcus

Let me start by saying that Rosetta Stone is a good product and will teach those who really want to learn a new language, Although it does NOT work miracles you have to put forth a considerable amount of effort and dedication in order to get the most out of the product. Most people think that it is expensive and it is at a price of $500 but in comparison to other methods of learning (16 hours worth of Spanish courses and books at UT cost me close to $4000*) and sure there are other Spanish programs out there for a fraction of the cost but you get what you pay for. Another common complaint is that you can “cheat” by using process of elimination or guessing for example “One aspect of the software that I noticed was that even if you had no idea what a correct choice was, you could often choose the correct one by guessing, taking a visual clue from the picture or the process of elimination.” And “In a similar way, I found it was easy to pick up visual clues from not just the picture, but from the text. This may be a good thing at times, but it is much easier to pick up visual clues from languages with Roman alphabets, like Spanish, Italian, German etc. But the same is not true for others, like Chinese, Arabic, Hebrew, Russian etc. This might make the software seem more effective for some languages, when in fact it is just easier to cheat.” These are NOT valid claims because as I said earlier you must have a STRONG DRIVE to

learn a language in order to be successful at it (I can teach you how to use a TI-86 calculator to solve pretty much any calculus problem but what happens when the test comes around and you are not permitted to use a calculator??) There is no reason to cheat at Rosetta Stone because you get no tangible reward, no college credit, and you don’t get a job offer after completing it. The amount you commitment and discipline you put into it determines what you get out of it. The last point that I feel like debating is another quote “One thing that I personally don't like about Rosetta Stone is that there is little to actually use early on. You are getting a good foundation in the language, but you can't go out and use it. There isn't any conversation until level 2, but then in the new Level 3 it gets really good.” All I can say to that quote is WOW!! Sounds like this person wants to learn quantum physics before ever taking a math course or maybe they expected to become a neurosurgeon before opening a bio book. Sorry to bring you down off your cloud in the sky but you must learn the very basics that will most likely become very boring, repetitive and useless in everyday situations but you have to learn to crawl before you can walk. IMO the software is a good buy for someone who wants to learn a second language but it takes TIME, DISIPLIN & COMMITMENT to master any concept. Don’t Cheat, Don’t Ignore the basics and Don’t give up and YOU WILL SUCCEED..