Rosetta Stone German Reviewer's Comments

Rosetta Stone by Fairfield Language Technologies is a fun, interesting approach to learning the German language. The core of this program is word and image association, which is a powerful teaching method.

Ease of Use:  

Features and options in Rosetta Stone are simple to find, understand and control. Though the program offers tremendous versatility, we could always find our way around easily. In addition to the frequent tutorials that illustrate features, the program lets you preview each learning exercise so that you can become familiar with the goals of each lesson.

Feature Set:  

Rosetta Stone uses high quality pictures to represent words or phrases in German. With this program, you can build your vocabulary and refine your German pronunciation quickly.

The speech recognition software that comes with this program does a fairly accurate read if you are speaking correctly. One thing that makes this product a little disappointing is that unless you have a headset, you can't take advantage of the speech recognition technology. For the price, a headset should be included.

Rosetta Stone presents you with four images, then presents you several tasks-for example, choosing which picture best matches a German word. The program also includes a listening comprehension section; you listen to a word or phrase then choose the image that best describes it.

Ease of Installation:  

We had no problems during installation. The Rosetta Stone package includes two discs; use the installation disc to set up the program, then use the lesson disc to access any lesson in the set. A single disc would have been more convenient.

Also, installing Rosetta Stone German Deluxe interfered with the operation of Outlook, causing a few problems with email operation.

Help/Support:  

The manual document included with the software is basic, but the software help section for this software is excellent-every screen has a help button that covers any number of concerns. The help is content-sensitive, too. Help you receive is relevant to where you are in the program.

Rosetta Stone offers a guided tutorial on every page. You may walk through a narration of all of the functions available to you in that area. The help button also takes you to where you can view several help documents as well as access email support. Their technical support telephone number is 1-800-788-0822. Live Tech Support is available Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM EST.

Fundamentals:  

One of the great fundamentals that this program covers quite well is writing. Within their writing you program you can either type in the word letter by letter, or for long phrases you can select words from a list. Rosetta Stone gives you the option of either being strict or lenient when it comes to judging your writing attempts.

The main area that Rosetta Stone focuses on is increasing your vocabulary, which is an essential part when it comes to learning German. One area that they need to focus a little more attention is on is grammar. The addition of a grammar tutorial and built-in grammar exercises would make this program a powerful contender in the German software language field.

Effectiveness:  

Rosetta Stone has developed a great way to affectively build your German vocabulary. Their word and image association technique make it very easy to learn and retain the German language. This program would be best used with a second program that is strong in both grammar structure and conversation practice.

Summary:  

Rosetta Stone is a respected player in the language field. One factor that makes this software advantageous is the help and support they provide. If you are looking for a fun, effective way to build German vocabulary and brush up on your language skills, Rosetta Stone German Deluxe is a fine choice. If you are interested in mastering the German language, we would recommend the top-ranked learn German product, Tell Me More.