Rosetta Stone Version 3: Chinese Level 1,2 & 3 Set with Audio Companion

My whole family enjoys going through the lessons as we are learning the Chinese language. The Rosetta Stone philosophy of teaching is similar to how we learned our first language: mom and dad pointing to things and telling the little ones what it is. There is no English given so you have to really use your brain to figure out what they are saying. But that not only is the best way to learn in my opinion but it stimulates your brain in a way that most people do not experience on a daily basis.

I received the package quite quickly. FYI I ordered a Version 3 all 3 levels with Audio Companion. I had a royal pain trying to get it working until I called tech support and found out my microphone was dead on arrival. They were a bit slow on the phone, but they were very helpful and sent me a new headset without any problems. Of course when I found out that didn't fix it and that nothing changed I was slightly annoyed. For future reference, if it says not detecting a sound output device, install the K-lite driver package and run the feature that has it repair current settings. It fixed it instantly.

For those of us who speak English only, languages such as Chinese are probably about as difficult as it gets. Never mind the alphabet, the basic pronunciation, grammer, etc. is a whole new world.

Rosetta Stone has done an exceptional job in helping one get started in converstaional Chinese. The ability of the system to detect if you are correctly pronouncing words is a huge benefit that you simply will not get without an instructor.

The software itself is a little slow but is well structured for adult learning. You are introduced to real world scenarios at a reasonable pace. Again, it is a huge leap forward from what I remember (or do not remember) from high school language classes! For a more famliar language (i.e. Spanish) the pace would probably seem a bit slow but for something as complex as Chinese it works great.

Some of the Rosetta Stone advertising will lead you to believe that after running through the course that you will be ready to serve as a foreign service ambasador to China. While this is very unlikely. the program will provide you with some excellent fundamentals for a trip abroad or to jump start or augment classroom instruction.

In sum, there is probably no better program available for even twice the money. This is certainly an excellent investment for an initial immersion into Chinese with minimal pain or boredom. I should add that my kids, whose young brains learn faster than my own, really enjoy using the program. It seems that they view it to be almost as much fun as many video games.

I also teach Chinese to both adults and children.

Today, I installed the "application" program, which gives your a choice of focusing on listening, writing, reading and speaking or just some of them. I selected them all. After I was done with that, I was required to insert the "Level one"/ "audio" disc, which takes me through the beginning of the lesson. I learned men, boy, women, girl, this, eat, run, juice, water, tea and sentences that would incorporate all of the above.

I could listen to a native speaker pronounce the word while looking at a picture/image without any help of translation. For example, they show you the image of tea while saying "Cha." If I need to, I can also replay the pronunciation over and over.

For practice, after I've learned the new word, I am required to listen to what he/she says and then pick out the picture that matches the word/sentence. At this point, you realize that everything is all set up for the learner to learn by listening and matching the sound to the image/picture without giving you a chance to utilize the part of your brain that converts the new language to your mother tongue or vice versa. Every now and then, you are required to repeat the phrase or word into your microphone.

After my first try, I put my American friend into the experiment, as I watched on his side and remained uninvolved. Amazingly, by the time he got through the first part of the lesson, he could understand it when the native speaker (computer) said men, women, boy, girl, water, tea, run, tea in Chinese and matched them with the right image correctly 99% of the time. I was very very impressed and pleased.

Had he really put into some time to stop and repeat over and over, he would've definitely been able to say those words without any cues. So, stop and repeat and stop and repeat. Success in speaking relies heavily on your own speaking in the learning process.

Also, next to the picture/image is the pronunciation composed in alphabets. For example, men in Chinese "nan ren" and women is "nu ren." Listening and speaking altogether is no problem! Within 20 minutes of time, my American friend (who had been a complete "Chinese illiterate") eventually was able to know and remember those new words that he had just learned for 10 minutes.

In the meantime, if you'd like to change the setting to make the speaker speak more slowly, or change the male voice to female, you could do so by clicking on "setting" on the upper right hand corner of the window.

Nothing is perfect. So, here are some drawbacks, in my opinion.

First, you need to read the very long manual and know what to do with all the discs in the package. There is also a speed manual that is written in less than a few pages to help you jump start quickly. And then it'd take about 20 minutes to install everything.

Secondly, you need to be good and sensitive with the computer. For example, the computer man or woman says "nan ren" and then stops, I don't see any directions or instructions on the page, but to continue, I click around and repeat the word. There-- I realize they are waiting for me to repeat the word into the mic. Another example, now I know I need to repeat after them, I keep speaking words into the microphone. At one point, the computer says "nan ren" and there are three or four images at the bottom, I keep saying the word into the mic but get no response. So, I start clicking around. There-- I realize this is the matching exercise.

I wish they were more clear with instructions as to some, this may cause discouragement and impatience.

So, my advice is: Speak into the mic or click on pictures if you have no idea what to do.

I haven't gone far with the set of program, but my feeling is this is a system designed to help you learn the basic words and basic sentence patterns without having to go to someone. Also, the real and trained native speaker that provides good and authentic pronunciation is a big plus, as the reality is not every native speaker you encounter speaks his/her language properly.

I highly recommend it for beginners to get a strong jump start. For those who are intermediate or higher, know that ultimately to learn a language, one would still have to interact with one another.

The primary purpose for this was to teach my 6-year-old son Mandarin Chinese. We feel guilty that we have not had time to teach him.
After getting the software, I spent 2.5 hours and my husband spent 40 minutes to evaluate the first CD independently. And both of us were impressed with the quality.
Here are a few things I like:
1) The voices are perfect Mandarin Chinese - (some other videos, such as from Learning Tree, are not).
2) You wear head-phones and repeat back the words or phrases you've learned into the microphone - wrong tones will be detected.
3) Progress at your own pace and your scores are tracked.
4) Game-like experience - less boring than other methods.
5) You can select the option to show both Chinese characters and Pinyin at the same time.

For the first week, my son's scores ranged widely from 65 to 100 when he was doing the lessons. I think he wanted to move quickly. So I asked him to achieve at least 85 before he can move on to the next lesson. Now he makes himself achieve 100 before moving on. A few weeks later (he does only two lessons a week per my request), he was placed into Advanced Beginner Level at the local Chinese School - one grade up.
The most amazing part is, he uses this software twice a week without being prompted!