2nd Place: Rosetta Stone French Software
Course Type: Online Course or CD Rom Software Package
Purchase Price: $339.00 for Version 3.0 French 1 & 2 Set
Visit The Rosetta Stone French Homepage
WHO SHOULD GET IT?If you want the most powerful French language software product money can buy then I highly recommend Rosetta Stone French. With the anticipated release of Rosetta Stone French Version 3.0 Rosetta Stone French offers a ground breaking learning system that is perfect for professionals and individuals alike.
Rosetta Stone’s French Level 1 & 2 Set is designed for all levels of French and offers comprehensive beginners, intermediate and advanced lessons.
THE BOTTOM LINEAny product that claims NASA as a dedicated customer has to be good. And if anything Rosetta Stone French will get you speaking French. The thing that impressed me most about Rosetta Stone French was that they really capture the wonder and magic of learning French.
For example, I am actually eager and confident speaking French in front of other people.
I have a native French speaking friend and he asked me where I learned to speak French. He said I clearly have an American accent but I don’t make the common grammatical mistakes most intermediate French speaking Americans do when they talk. His guess was that I had spent a summer in France or Canada. He almost fell off his chair when I told him that I had used Rosetta Stone French to help me learn the language.
The remarkable teaching power of Rosetta Stone French comes from their ability to recreate the conditions we all experienced when we first started to speak our primary language. In other words, Rosetta Stone French gets you to learn to speak the French language in the same way a child learns their first language.
I was looking to learn beginners French to advanced French so I ordered Rosetta Stone’s French Levels 1 & 2 package.
Rosetta Stone French uses a combination of interactive audio lessons, games, word association techniques and a unique organic teaching system that gets you to think in French… as opposed to thinking in English and translating to French.
This method really makes for sticky French vocabulary and grammar lessons and makes French easy to learn even if you are not good with languages.
Overall, Rosetta Stone French offers the most comprehensive and thorough of the French software products I reviewed.
I would recommend getting the Rosetta Stone French Levels 1 & 2 package since they cover French for beginners to advanced and are offered at a $109 discount if you buy them together; it is the cheaper solution if you think long term.
Rosetta Stone French is available as an online French course or French software CD Rom package.
Visit The Rosetta Stone French Homepage
**NOTE The 6 month money back guarantee is available for the software CD Rom version of Rosetta Stone only and NOT for the online French course version.
1.Meagan said …
Thanks for the review Kristina. Rosetta Stone is the only brand I recognize and I am leaning towards getting it, but it seems on the expensive side. Does anyone else think it’s a little on the expensive side?
2.Kristina said …
Hi Meagan,
Rosetta Stone French is priced higher than the other products because you get what you pay for and Rosetta simply makes the best language learning software.
I was really impressed with their product and even elected to keep it. I returned all the other products (except Rocket French since it was fun and not very expensive.)
The good news is that Rosetta has a 6 month no questions asked return policy. So if you aren’t meshing with Rosetta then simply return it and look for another product.
Hope that helps!
3.Audrey Cutler said …
I got rosetta last christmas and my experience has been pretty positive. I completed french level 1 and am looking to continue with french level 2. I’m a little upset that I have to pay even more for French level 2 but I never even thought I would make it through french level 1! And if I did make it through, I never thought my french would be any good. They should offer an exam to level 1 graduates and if you get a certain score you should get a discount on french level 2
4.Kristina said …
Or you could have bought the Rosetta Stone French Levels 1&2 Set together and saved $110, Audrey =p
5.Audrey Cutler said …
Sigh… I know. Hind sight is 20/20. But it is worth it. A regular class would have been 3x more expensive.
6.rich said …
I got rosetta level 1. I realized I don’t like french. I gave it to my wife.
- Rich
7.gina said …
“A regular class would have been 3x more expensive.”
Audrey, the same thing went through my mind when I looked into French courses. I could work at my own pace with a French learning software course and, more importantly, it was a fraction of the price of an in person class.
8.HyperEngineer said …
I read all the short reviews and then the long reviews for Rocket French and Rosetta Stone. The impression I got is do Rocket French first to get up and speaking French fast, then use Rosetta Stone to go a little more advanced. But I don’t know how much more advanced. I’m still pondering which course of action to take, 1.) Rocket French, 2.) Rosetta Stone, 3.) Rocket French then Rosetta Stone. I’ve been trying to learn French for eh.., uh.., hmm… Let’s just say for a good amount of time that started when I was in High School.
9.Kristina said …
Hi HyperEngineer,
Both Rocket and Rosetta are very good programs and you really should only need 1 to master the language. As with learning anything there is a tipping point to learning French. Once you reach the tipping point (with Rocket and Rosetta this takes a couple months) then things really start to come a lot easier and you start making your enormous learning leaps.
Rosetta is a little more in depth (and this is reflected in the price) but Rocket does just as good a job if not better at getting you past the learning hump.
Just stick with which ever program you decide to go with and you will be speaking (and thinking!) in French in no time.
Cheers!
10.Ehantelle said …
Great One
I must say, its worth it! My link, http://www.creolezone.com/index.php?do=/event/view/learning-how-to-dress-is-just-one-of-many-things/,thanks haha