Rosetta Stone Review: English Level 1, An Excellent Choice

Rosetta Stone Review: English Level 1, An Excellent Choice
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Rosetta Stone English Level 1 has communication as its objective. The sooner you can communicate in American English naturally, the sooner you will feel at home on American shores. Learning with Rosetta Stone’s English Level 1 is only surpassed by living in the United States itself.

Price to Value (4 out of 5)

Quality costs, especially when there is a six-month, money-back guarantee. At upwards of $299 online at www.rosettastone.com, the company has literally put its money where its mouth is. Now, that is confidence in the product.

Installation & Setup (5 out of 5)

The Installation CD comes in a sealed envelope that is transparent on one side. The CD inside is labeled “RosettaStone APPLICATION v.2.1.5.3A.” Inside this envelope are the installation instructions for PC and Mac. Putting this CD in the CD drive makes the download relatively simple. Just follow the onscreen instructions. In a very short time, you are ready to begin your language study. Keep in mind, the application CD envelope is also the “Installation CD”. It took me a minute to identify the CD for installation.

User Interface (4 out of 5)

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The user interface is incredibly easy to understand. The menu contains a column of eight units, with each unit containing 11 or 12 lessons. Click on the unit in the left-hand column and the lesson you want out of that unit in the right-hand column. For more information, check the Start Here card and the User Guide Levels 1 & 2 included with the software.

Once you choose a lesson, the Activities screen appears with the left-hand column for Skills labeled A for Listening & Reading, B for Listening, C for Reading, D for Speaking, and E for Writing. To the right of the Skills functions are the Previews and the Guided Exercises. To the right of the Guided Exercises are three icons: a blindfolded man for delayed images, award ribbons for tests, and a clock for timing your exercises. At the bottom on the right-hand side are three buttons with icons: the first one is to access the Options screen, the second one is a question mark that accesses the help screen, and the third button is to back out of screens and exit from the software program.

What’s Not:

If you go too fast, the program will snag while it tries to catch up with your commands.

Product Features (5 out of 5)

What’s Hot:

In the different skills of Listening & Reading, Listening, Reading, Speaking, and Writing, you are able to personalize the software to your preference in the User Options, where you can choose from nine languages for the user interface, the volume and feedback sounds for correct and incorrect answers, glossary, text size, auto-scrolling, and the volume of the background music.

Performance (5 out of 5)

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What’s Hot:

This language software performs incredibly well. Since the pedagogical content was organized so well, the software programmers were able to apply their skills in many ways so that the language content and the software fit like an easily flexible glove.

What’s Not:

Being impatient will lock up the software program temporarily until it has gone through all your commands. Wait for the program to finish its tasks before clicking on a new task. I say this cautiously since this could be an issue with my computer processor and not necessarily that of the language software.

Help & Support (5 out of 5)

What’s Hot:

Technical support is easy to find. On the back of the Start Here card included with the software, at the bottom right side you will find the company’s URL, www.RosettaStone.com/support, and their toll free number, 1-877-211-2367. You can also find this information on page 32 of the User’s Guide: Levels 1 & 2 that is also included.

Suggested Features

I would like to see streaming video of Americans speaking short conversations in varied scenarios in different areas of the United States.

Conclusion

Rosetta Stone English Level 1 focuses on direct communication in American English with a Dynamic Immersion approach. You learn American English based on the way you learn your first language, through images and speech association related to those images. By doing so, translation becomes unnecessary, and communication in American English becomes more natural and spontaneous.

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