Rosetta Stone Japanese, a First Impression

I received my copy of Rosetta Stone Japanese levels 1-3 version 3.2 as a gift. I am planning a trip to Japan with some friends in 18 months and we are going to be staying for 4-6 weeks so it is important that I learn to speak and read successfully and functionally.

I have just begun my lessons which are of various lengths. Initially, after a small set back in which the speech lessons did not load, I began my lessons.

The interface is quite easy to use, the software tailors a lesson plan for you that focuses on everything from speaking to reading and writing and plans out a full curriculum for you to learn mastery of your language of choice.

The speech recognition is a unique and intriguing feature that truly does allow you to perfect your articulation. One must remember to set up the microphone by speaking at a normal and everyday pace and tone; changes in your speech pattern are not wise and will make it much harder for you to work in sync with the software. One good thing is that with each login, you are prompted to synchronize your mic rather than relying on the initial set up allowing you to account for minor changes in your voice.

The software guides you through simple words relating to gender, salutations, and everyday actions such as reading, writing, eating and cooking paired with gender and age which although not initially useful does stand up to the company's claim of learning a new language as you did your native tongue.

So far, I find the software fun and easy to use. I have discovered that I am spending more time on it than other hobbies which previously occupied much of my free time such as gaming and occult research. Now, I spend at least an hour a day learning. One good feature is the ability to not only be graded on you progress but to pause and rewind to review in case you need to be refreshed or need more time to make the associations that help you learn through intuition and reasoning rather than wrote, repetitive and tedious methods reminiscent of high school spanish class.