Category : Education
I'm changing my review. The app is greater that what I thought. Depending of the language, I found the app more or less useful. Turn out, I need to check all the setting. Depending of the language, use different setting, I just found some options I didn't know existed. I can even turn the voice recognization off. It drive me nuts sometimes since it doesn't work well and makes me loose time. I just have one recommendation to the user: use the app on your phone/tablet,not on computer.
Def the best to learn a language from scratch, esp. understand it and start speaking: immersive, intuitive, and well-designed progression. Voice recognition is the best I've tested. Units are themed (e.g. work, travel...). A pity there aren't different levels (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced) to choose from. Modules are great for speaking, listening, reading, vocab & grammar, but weak on writing, esp. when learning a new script (no handwriting). Download for offline use is a bit iffy and slow.
In a previous version on my computer, there was an accompanying pdf that had all the phrases organised by units. I used it for revisions and rosetta stone doesn't offer it anymore. The multi device support works well! At first I had to sign in every time in each device, no longer the case. The method however, works! I got a lifetime subscription because the previous version was of great help for my journey in learning french 5/5 for the method. 3/5 for the restrictive new app.
Really lovely language learning process. Seems to be a bit pricey though. Would love to have the ability to pay for a full-time subscription in 3 or 4 chunks. I don't like monthly subscription models. I wish there was an option to make the animations quicker or to disable them.
I really enjoy the concept of learning without translations, but at the same time, the app feels really empty. I haven't purchased a subscription because, if the full experience is the same as the demo, there's not enough to justify the price. Also, the Japanese stories are written in romaji, and that's a no for me.
I love the way they take on recognizing what's being said, but on the app, everytime I complete a small portion of a lesson, it breaks and dosent let me advance what so ever. If I pause and try to go over to the next portion, my progress isn't saved for the previous portion. For right now, the website is fine, but it would be really nice to be able to use the app while I'm out and trying to kill time or get some learning in. If this wasn't an issue. 5 stars easily.
The good: 1) Learn without the limitation of translating in your head from your native language, it's greatest strength. 2) Basic structure is pretty good. The bad: 1) Images are often hard to see on a phone and detail is necessary to choose the correct answer. There is no way to zoom the images on android. 2) Buggy. It does not seem to know what should be included in the 1st lesson of a section and sometimes gives you a session with EVERY QUESTION in it for the entire section. You could get a section with over 100 questions in it. 3) Speech recognition is sometimes a mazing and often awful. I have tried various microphones on my Android phone and on my computer including high quality gaming headsets with good mics and noise cancellation. There are better paid (and cheaper) options including the #1 paid language app and some excellent free ones.
Ive been searching for a program that teaches from a conversational point. I have yet to find one with voice recognition. 😕 this program is fun however i don't think it's completely retainable. Based on your method as well because it's not taught in a conversational way and is mainly just guessing with pictures though I'm good at it, the cost is way to high. Also why charge someone a lump sum instead of a monthly amount where if someone wants to cancel they can. I'll have to unsubsribe.
I'm not sure if it's my mic or something else, but the speech recognition on my mobile was terrible. I thought it was just me, but when I tried the app on my computer instead it recognized what I was saying. Another thing is I wish the app started at the very basic first - starting with alphabets, writing, learning basic words, and then forming sentences and grammar.
Really easy to match the words and meanings with the pictures. For example, Rosetta Stone makes it easy to understand when actions are assigned genders or not. The listening tests I find are the most effective in consolidating your learning, and the pictures help you relate the words shown previously to the actions or gender of person! I havent had fun learning a new language for a long time! I'm seriously consideeing subrcibing monthly after I've finished my free core sessions.
Really difficult to use. I can't read the script of the language I am learning and there is no introduction to letters or reading -you just get dumped in the deep end. It's really difficult to learn this way because the 'play' buttons within the options are really small and they are impossible to reliably click on without accidentally selecting the option so when try to click 'play' to hear the choice before I select it, the app accepts it as my choice so I keep failing. It's really frustrating!
The app simply cannot use the microphone properly. It does not detect what you say or even if something is pronounced. As much of the courses require the microphone it makes the app impossible to use. Furthermore it wants to be used in landscape mode. The experience is vastly superior online with a PC. Really wondering how this can be sold as something intended to be anything else but frustrating.
Overall the lessons work fine. But unless you are yelling at the mic and on a strong internet connection, the voice recognition is terribly finicky. I have gone as far as picking up a Bluetooth headset with noise cancellation, and the audio pickup and voice detection is still poor. At one point I got so frustrated I yelled at the app a few "choice words" and it said that I pronounced everything perfectly.
The app could be a lot better content and interface wise. When you click the play button for a certain answer option it will often just chose the card as answer even though you just wanted to hear the audio. Once you're finished with one page it will go to the next one without asking if you want to continue - no time to look over the pictures with text again. It's cumbersome to get back there through the menu. Should be simple. Arabic is also just impossible without a lot of work outside the app
The menus take a little getting use to and some exercises are unclear the first time you encounter them, but after two days, three max you are good to go. You can select your sessions based on your time available. Speech rec is a bit overly forgiving, but if you can't tell you are saying it wrong, a computer telling you won't help you, so... moot point, I suppose. Only three days in, but liking it thus far.
So frustrating to see an app that is so bad at the voice recognition. Constantly need to close the app and reopen it in order to get voice recognition to work. When doing lessons the slides will progress automatically, which is fine as long as you block the screen timing out, have to constantly have a finger on the screen
Update since 2020: I've used this app for many lessons, now, and i really like it. I bought a year's worth of tutoring sessions on my laptop, shortly before it recently died on me, and i don't see those sessions being accessible with this phone app. That's really my only disappointment, now. I was able to bypass my security issues with the Google Play card purchase. :)
Mixed Learning Style... I like the hear and repeat but Rosetta Stone fails to remind you what exactly you are saying. It only shows pictures and has a mini translate button in the corner. Also on the reading material, it would be helpful if there was a translate button and if the stories actually correspond with the lesson. The first story I looked at has only 2 words from course 1 and everything else needs to be translated for a beginner.
Garbage... Plays thru the words quickly without letting you slow it down or relisten to examples when attempting to repeat the phrases. Just throws whole phrases and sentences at you on first lesson, played at native speaking speed, then three attempts to speak the same phrase back before just auto proceeding to next lesson. No assistance or option to replay the spoken phrase to reheat where you are mispronouncing the words. Deleted this garbage app in less than 10 minutes.
Too difficult from get go. Lessons test you before even teaching the words and you can sort of figure it out but its such an odd way of teaching. From the first lesson they introduce full sentences in japanese and it has maybe 10 letters that i wont ever remember. Edit: It's just personal opinion. Some might find this way of learning to be helpful but it wasn't the case for me.
Outdated and not very mobile friendly. Most of the pictures are too small, (even on a Samsung Galaxy S20+). The examples are way old and need to be updated...half the time I can't even figure out what they're referring to in my native English language. Pimsleur and Duolingo are much better.
For an app that requires such an expensive subscription it's terrible. You have to guess the picture as it doesn't show it large enough for you to see it on some pages. The only way round this is to cheat and put the reveal button so you can see where all the answers go, then try and work out which picture each one is in the very 5mm by 5mm photo. There is also an issue with text being obscured. Think I'll ask for a refund.
This is a thoughtfully designed learning experience. It makes new words easier to retain by attaching them to pictures that accurately represent the concept being taught. It gives me opportunity to practice speech as well as written language. It also presents practice listening and understanding language. By coming at the language from all these angles, the things I learn seem to stick with me.
I love rosetta stone, it is the most effective language tool I have ever seen. It teaches you how to read, write, speak and spell the languages taking into account the different cultures of speech (so dialect and learning difficulties). I felt so satisfied that I'd learnt something new, and they didn't just feed it to me, I had to produce the answer myself without previous knowledge in an advancing difficulty programme. Thank you rosetta stone. So much better than watching TV.
Great app so far. You can choose what language and which "modes" you want to learn (reading, writing, listening, speaking). P.s. If youre having an issue with the mic not picking up what you're saying, change the speech level to high in settings!
I really hate leaving a thought out review then getting a canned reply that doesn't address any concerns and is just robotted in so took another star off for that but Thanks! Can be confusing. Some exercises require you to look at a tiny thumbnail picture to fill in what is happening, however the picture is so small it is impossible to see what it is. Once you guess right the picture expands to see content but before then you need to guess.
Good for basics, but not for complex/advanced topics. I have the unlimited lifetime plan. I have studied Spanish (LA) and to a lesser degree German. Going from 0 to 10% is where this app shines. However, beginning at past/future, they want you to make assumptions about situations with NO context. Visit YouTube university, use Anki, and interact with natives to fill the gaps. Also worth mentioning that there is a severe lack of cultural education, which I believe is foundational to communication.
I really enjoy it, it's really intuitive so you can learn pretty fast and memorize what you learned well. But there are some things that I would like to be improved. On android, the pronunciation part is really annoying, since you have to be super close to your phone because it doesn't works well. Also I would love to have some notifications to remind me to take my lesson of the day (I always forget to). Lastly, I would love to have writing exercices. I still recommend it tho, it's really good!