Rosetta Stone French Reviewer's Comments

Our “TopTenREVIEWS Bronze Award” went to Rosetta Stone French, a recognized leader in the language learning industry. The recognition is well-earned because Rosetta Stone manages to simplify language learning to the point that you don’t even realize that you are learning. The interface is extremely simple and intuitive so that you can figure out how to operate it without any instruction.

Rosetta Stone relies on the picture-word association method to teach French. This is effective because it is also the way you learned English. Rosetta Stone helps you associate words and phrases with pictures that you recognize, slowly building a vocabulary. But the magical part is that you can also learn grammar along the way, without ever reading a single grammar rule. Speaking French, just like English, becomes innate.

Rosetta Stone also uses audio tracks and a speech recognition system to help you improve pronunciation, listening comprehension and conversation skills. Rosetta Stone manages to pack all the fundamentals into a simpler package than any other program. The program isn’t perfect, though. Some of the things that kept Rosetta Stone from getting the top ranking was a lack of mobile compatibility, lack of culture lessons and the added expense of separate intermediate and advanced programs.

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Features:  

Rosetta Stone uses a simple progress tracking system that can tell you how well you did in each section from a simple display on the main menu. A personalized learning path is also easy to create because you can skip to or redo any exercise you want. By using the progress tracker to identify your weaknesses, you can easily focus on the areas where you are deficient.

We were disappointed that Rosetta Stone does not have a version for mobile devices and MP3 players. This feature makes many other programs useful for learning, even when you are away from the computer.

Fundamentals:  

Rosetta Stone handles reading, vocabulary, grammar and listening comprehension in simple exercises where you are required to associate a read and spoken word or phrase with a picture. Then, when you have a basic grasp of the vocabulary, the program uses the speech recognition system to help you work on pronunciation and conversations with immediate feedback on your accent.

Ease of Use:  

Rosetta Stone is the easiest program to use of any in this review. Rosetta Stone has simplified the interface to the point that you don’t need instructions on how to use it. Usually there are only a couple of options in each exercise, and menu options are clearly labeled.

Teaching Tools:  

Rosetta Stone appears to have far fewer checkmarks in this category than many other programs in the review. But Rosetta Stone doesn’t bother to flood the user with features, instead preferring to put just a few teaching tools to better use.

Each exercise uses verbal and visual cues to help you associate a word or phrase with an image. This system works very well and improves memory retention. Word recognition activities then help you reinforce what you have learned. Rosetta Stone also has one of the best speech recognition systems that we have seen. The program helps you practice pronunciation and forming phrases and then gives immediate feedback on your work. This is very useful for practicing the language and improving your speaking ability.

Word Tools:  

There aren’t too many word tools in Rosetta Stone, other than the picture-word association method of teaching. But Rosetta Stone’s method is so effective that word tools are really unnecessary because the pictures help with translation.

Tech Support/Help:  

The Rosetta Stone website has many different support options, from FAQs and tutorials, to phone and email support if you have technical problems. The program also comes with a user manual that can answer a lot of simple questions.

Summary:  

Rosetta Stone doesn’t have a lot of features because it doesn’t need them. Rosetta Stone makes learning French so simple and intuitive that anybody can do it.