Rosetta Stone Rip-Off

by Kyle
(Ohio)

I have been very interested in learning Japanese, so I bought a Rosetta Stone Level 1 and 2. After 10 minutes of using it instantly after getting the CD's through the mail, the quality was not pretty and it instantly went into words I had to guess. It went into sentences where I had no idea how to put grammar together. I am outraged. This is a scam... I learned better from Japanese for Dummies.

Comments for Rosetta Stone Rip-Off

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WOW
by: Morris

after 10 minutes you have assessed the whole program as useless. I see a lot of people complaining that RS doesn't teach grammar when it actually does, just not the lock step rote drills you got in high school or colledge. If that is what you are looking for then you bought the wrong program to begin with. I cannot understand why a person buys something that describes itself as one thing then they complain when it's not something else.
Worthless
by: Anonymous

I don't know why it took Kyle of Ohio 10 minutes to figure out how worthless this program is. 5 minutes is more than enough. Weak content with silly stock photos combined with lots of student guessing is supposed to teach you a new language. I don't think so.

If you are supposed to retract your adult mind to that of a child to learn a language via their methodology, then maybe you won't feel you've been ripped off.

Rosetta gets an A for marketing and an F for inadequate delivery.
Rosetta Stone REALLY IS worthless
by: W.

The problem with Rosetta Stone is the horrible design and inability of the program to recognize very basic speech patterns. Quite often RS will cut you off in the middle of a sentence, giving you an error before you have even had a chance to practice a sentence.

The program is also terrible at recognizing speech patterns, even with the RS microphone. It will constantly give you errors for pronunciation regardless of how well you pronounce a word. Pull up the programs voice wave recognition, watch your wave file match the native speaker's nearly perfectly, get it correct, then go back into the actual training program and repeatedly be given error after error. It's idiotic and pointless.
@Morris
by: Anonymous

yea im sure you learned a lot in colleDge
I get why you might hate it, but it is you.
by: Anonymous

The only reason it would cut you off is because the mic settings. I set it correctly with just the right amount of input and it was fine. as for grammar, it really wasn't that difficult for me to understand. so it's just you. the program isn't matched to be fit for everyone.
RosettaStone is scam and garbage
by: Anonymous

the rosetta way is to not show you words in your language. interesting that is the CHEAP way to create the program and the page turning flash cards are simple and not worth the $500 rip off price.
I have seen free software and low cost language learning software that is much much better than rosetta. Make sense with the rip off price because they must pay for the ads on tv and magazines and the crazy salaries of the executives.
Fraud
by: Anonymous

They sell you the over priced software and then they won't support it right out of the box
Wankers galore!!
by: Anonymous

Almost every military body in the world uses this software, over 7 million schools and many more millions of personal user purchases.

What is wrong is your minds are closed to the true learning abilities that children take for granted.

I highly recommend that all of you who wrote negative comments, give this PROVEN language phenomenon software a real chance........you silly closed minded Wankers......

:-) No Really.........do it.
jus a lil bit
by: Anonymous

To be honest I'm not too familiar with the program but it seems like they try to mimic real life scenes and natural language acquisition which is an improvement from standard phrase books or classroom drilling.

I don't think though that it's worth $500. For that amount of money you could go travel to a place that speaks the language you want to learn. The people there will be your teachers without them even knowing it.

Sometimes I compare languages to riding bikes. You can't really learn either just by reading and studying it. I think many Americans would benefit from traveling more. Kinda crazy how people generally pay $4,000 + each year just to get around their town in car but yet have never once been to Europe or some place they'd like to go because it's 'too expensive.'
Of Course It's Popular
by: Anonymous

The complaints about Rosetta Stone are obviously valid. I did their free trail, and it is useless! But I should have gotten a clue from the (clever?) name, and the fact of its wide popularity. People are lazy and naive, and will believe anything that claims to be a shortcut - so of course it's popular! But learning a language is very difficult, and there is no shortcut or clever device one can use to defy the workings of the brain. It simply can't do what it can't do! You can't learn to play the damn guitar or learn a language overnight, which is what these hucksters would have you believe. The visual technique is absurd on its very face, and making us guess the meanings of words, and not explaining what the hell we're supposed to do in a non-intuitive presentation is frustrating and useless.

Also, Why is there a Rosetta Stone ad on your web page?

http://www.language-learning-advisor.com/rosetta-stone-ripoff.html
About the Rosetta Stone Ads
by: Ron

I don't control what ads appear on the site, that's up to the ad servers. I could exclude Rosetta Stone ads, or any other, but I allow it because people can make up their own minds. There are a lot of pro-Rosetta Stone reviews here as well, so some people do like it.
Works for me
by: Anonymous

It seems like everyone who wrote a negative review only spent 5-10 minutes with the product. What do you expect? Rosetta stone, along with every other way of learning and understanding a language, takes months and months of deliberate practice.
I've learned French after a year with Rosetta Stone, and I'm fairly fluent and can hold my ground with most Francophone speakers. I'm also learning Japanese, and can identify most characters and pronunciations and a lot of grammar, and I've only been at it for a month.
500+ dollars is obviously an absurd amount of money for the program, and the program has its faults. You learn language slowly, you must practice regularly, and you have to do guesswork and/or separate research, because they give you vague terms and grammar with vague pictures, but it's not impossible.
The price of this program is the real rip-off, not its ability to help you learn a language. There are easy ways to avoid those awful costs.
wow. wankers
by: Rae ilama

I bought my first Rosetta Stone a few months ago and have been attempting to use the software with little success. I have an advanced college degree though admittedly no so great at technical issues which I believe are at the heart of my inability to use Rosetta Stone. I do also believe that name calling and admonishment in no way entice a potential user to make whole hearted attempts at learning. I looked at this site and will not look again as I was looking for some help and not a site for folks to work out aggression. I can do that on the freeway! Bon Journee
RIP OFF
by: Anonymous

There Spanish version is a rip off too. Mine has never worked right and I have had to call them several times to try to get it to work right. After coming into my computer several times to get it to work , it still never worked right. Ex: Try to start and freezes, may have to start several times before it finally works. Now when I call for help they want to charge to help......There customer service SUCKS. I would never spend a penny on their products again. There are many online products that are free and are better.
Ripped Off by Rosetta Stone
by: Anonymous

I purchased (and paid a lot for) Rosette Stone Levels 1 - 5 because it had language lessons, stories, games and Studio Sessions. After making my way through the first two levels I was notified that Rosetta Stone was changing their software to an online version. My desktop software was, naturally, upgraded, but it removed my games, books and Studio sessions. I am told I have to pay for them now by taking out an online subscription. I ALREADY PAID A LOT FOR THEM! I refuse to pay twice. I have been ripped off. I am mad as hell.
You can't sell it.
by: Serge

If you ever want to sell it to get a few bucks back on your large investment, forget it. The software users' terms state that once the box is open, by your opening the box and/or using the software, you agree that you have leased the software, that it remains the property of Rosetta Stone & you agree not to resell it. Put it on eBay or craigslist & their protection agency will quickly find it with their scanning program & complain & you'll be booted off, as I was. s

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