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After using free DuoLingoFrench for three years as a casual learner of French I was seeking something to take me further. My daughter kindly bought Rosetta Stone French for me with the best of intentions. Let me just say this, I hate it! It may go further - eventually, but it is very slow moving. There is no way to indicate what level of fluency I had already achieved. I have become quite proficient in pronunciation and on most Rosetta Stone lessons, it doesn't accept my pronunciation. I repeat it 1 or 2 times, exactly the same each time because I know it's right. On the second or third attempt it accepts it but this is very counter-productive and it just slows everything down while landing a low score - very frustrating. I have tried different microphones to no avail.
Another frustration is it doesn't give any feedback and virtually NO instructions as to how the "lesson" is done - all trial and error. Therefore, even the most basic lessons show me as making mistakes because I couldn't mindread. That was something I hoped to get that would be worth the money but it is no better than free software and I really dislike the guessing game. At least DuoLingo has forum discussions on each lesson item so you can see what others say about it.
Everything in Rosetta Stone is done in pictures so you have to figure out what the picture is supposed to be saying. It's not like a translation tool in words.
The one positive is hearing the speaker pronounce the words, but alas, this is no better than DuoLingo.
I assume if I hang in there long enough and skip all the lessons that want me to speak, I may eventually reach a place it would be helpful but without placement, this is a tedious process and it looks like I'm getting a very low score. If I wanted a beginner level language I would have chosen a different language but you don't get to switch. Also, there is no positive feedback for progress that I can see like I got with Duo.
Basically, it looks like Rosetta Stone is all about advertising themselves as the best without actually being the best. Had I known my daughter was contemplating this gift, I would have checked reviews and told her to pass on her nice gesture. I have seen better programs for less cost such as Learn in Your Car French, Pimsleur (though also a bit pricey) but I decided I needed to see the words too so those programs, while good, didn't cover the whole language learning gamut. Rosetta Stone was not the answer. Once the year subscription is completed I will have to break it to my daughter that her gift was a dud, before she decides to renew it. I hate wasting her hard-earned money.
In summary, I would not recommend Rosetta Stone Learn French to a friend.
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