| Rosetta Stone Version 3: French Level 1, 2 & 3 Set with Audio Companion | 
 enlarge | From: Rosetta Stone
Category: Software
List Price: $549.00
Buy New: $494.10
You Save: $54.90 (10%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  35 reviews
Sales Rank: 114
Format: Cd-rom
Platforms: Windows Vista, Windows 2000, Windows Xp, Mac Os X
Media: CD-ROM
Edition: Level 1, 2 & 3
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 6.4 x 2.9
Model: 21185
UPC: 794678211850
EAN: 0794678211850
ASIN: B001AFD20E
Release Date: June 16, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Promotion: Save $10.00 when you spend $50.00 or more on Qualifying Items offered by Amazon.com. Enter code BMLSAVES at checkout. Terms and Conditions
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
 Excellent August 22, 2008
I love this language tool - the best self-study on the market! Easy to use, easy to stay motivated. Great for the home and the car (and the gym!) I have not used it for too long, but I am committed to stay with it. Tres bien :)
La meilleure valeur pour argent August 21, 2008
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
For those of you who are seriously determined to learn more than just the basics of French in a short amount of time, well this is your chance. This product is not cheap at first glance, but when you add up all the costs for books, language lessons and time you'll spend in a community college or with a private tutor, you'll quickly realize the value of owning The Rosetta Stone.
The product itself contains several useful tools to help you get started. There are the three levels of CD-ROM software that can be installed both Mac and PC, a microphone (that can be used with many other applications), the guide and then the multiple CDs that you can play at home, in your car or anyplace you carry your MP3 player (I particularly enjoyed these).
Functionally, this product is exceptional as it allowed me to learn how to spell and write, speak without following a script, strategies to learn and retain what I learned for a long time. With simple practice, I learned how to ask what is your age, simple greetings, finding directions, telling the time of day and using correctly past, present and future tense. If you are as diligent as I am, you'll learn in no time how to order food in restaurants, express ideas and comprehend terms from the daily life, such as the news from the media.
I highly recommend this product and personally guarantee that you can walk away with a lot more knowledge of the language than you presently possess.
Exceeded this former military linguist's expectations. This is a viable way to learn the basics or brush up on a language. August 21, 2008
17 out of 18 found this review helpful
Color me impressed. I came in with relatively high expectations for Rosetta Stone, but I write this review after working with it for a month, and now holding a higher opinion of the product than I did before. I spent over a year at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey as a young Marine learning Korean. All the services were present, and DLI was good for dozens of languages. The approach was structured, and largely immersive, which is to say that my classes were taught by native speakers. There's a huge advantage to that, inasmuch you have instant and intelligent feedback and instruction when you need it. If all you hear and (try to) speak is the language, then it's being drilled into your head consciously and subconsciously. Surrounding yourself with native speakers, either through such an environment, or within the country itself, is going to be (for most) the absolute best way to approach foreign language mastery -- but what to do when that's not an option? Or what to do to prepare before doing so? This.
The software is intuitive, the approach is intelligent. You don't have that native speaker standing in front of you scowling because you're butchering the music of their language in the early going, but you do have the software giving feedback and similarly identifying where you might require a little more attention. The program constructs in the user a solid base of simple vocabulary, establishing a basic understanding of the mechanics of the language on which additional vocabulary and structure may be built. With regard to the interface, the absence of a tutorial (as far as I saw, though I didn't look hard because it was so easy just to start using) was a bit surprising, though it took a very small amount of time to get into the swing of things. The earliest exercises range from matching phrases to their appropriate pictures to out-loud (through a microphone) pronunciation tests to proper spelling and grammar training. The pronunciation recognization ability of the software is pretty sharp -- if you're off, it will tell you, but the program allows the user to improve before moving on to the next test.
Best of all, this is fun. I did enjoy the lessons (I have yet to complete all three levels), and continue to enjoy the process. You always feel like you're making progress, you always have visual cues in regards to where you stand in the process, and it almost becomes a game to try and move through it.
To be fair, I had a few years of French back in intermediate and high school, so I didn't come into this language pack completely unfamiliar. It would be very fun and interesting, I think, to try Rosetta with a language with which I have no familiarity, but that's neither here nor there. The overall point is that this is a fantastic way to start building a basic command of a language, it's fun, it's easy to use, and it's enriching. You're not going to be confused for a native speaker after completing this package, but you will be able to communicate, and that's the biggest and most difficult step towards mastery. The rest is (mostly) use and repetition.
Now I really want the Korean pack to brush up on all that's been lost in the 15+ years since I left DLI. And a new and unfamiliar language as discussed above to branch out a bit. Rosetta has a new and enthusiastic customer and cheerleader.
Excellent product. Formidable Competitor in the industry! August 16, 2008
13 out of 14 found this review helpful
I have tried many French lesson sets. I've tried Audio World. I've tried Belize. And, I've tried Pimsleur. In comparing them all, I would have to say that this one is the best. It has the perfect combination of visual, auditory, and participatory interaction so as to make it the ideal language learning product on the market. But, it's style is not meant for everyone. Some people would do better with a personal instructor. If you are a self-motivated learner and feel you can stick with a program. If you're the type the likes to learn by doing rather than studying, this is the program for you. It uses the "total immersion" method, which from what I have heard and experienced, is the best language-learning method out there. The only thing closer to the real thing is having a live conversation or visiting the place where you want to speak in itself. Tapes and CDs with books have nothing on this software suite!
 Works well August 16, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
After traveling to France this summer for a few weeks I was interested in learning some of the French language. I'm trying out Rosetta Stone version 3 (1,2&3). I'm running the program on my Apple Mac Book Pro with OS X 10.5 with no problems. Installation was easy and setup of the microphone/headset was easy as well.
The program works well although there are a few areas that are not very intuitive on what the program is asking you to perform. For the most part though, the program works as advertised. The program contains repetitive speech through matching of words with pictures and allows you to repeat words back to the computer to verify your accent. This feature is very nice as it allows you to validate how your are pronouncing the french words.
Its hard to see how matching words to pictures will allow you to fully speak another language but time will tell. As with learning any language it takes time and dedication even when using software like Rosetta Stone.
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