Rosetta Stone Version 3: Chinese Level 1,2 & 3 Set with Audio Companion | 
| From: Rosetta Stone
Category: Software
List Price: $549.00
Buy New: $494.10
You Save: $54.90 (10%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  21 reviews
Sales Rank: 983
Format: Cd-rom
Platforms: Windows Vista, Windows 2000, Windows Xp, Mac Os X
Media: CD-ROM
Edition: Level 1, 2 &3 (with Audio Companion)
Operating System: Mac OS X
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.9
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 6.4 x 3
Model: 20285
UPC: 794678202858
EAN: 0794678202858
ASIN: B001AFCWBO
Release Date: June 16, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Promotion: Save $5.00 when you spend $25.00 or more on Qualifying Items offered by Amazon.com. Enter code BMLSAVES at checkout. Terms and Conditions
Availability: Usually ships in 1 to 2 months
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| Features:
| • | Rosetta Stone helps you understand everyday language through proficiency-based listening and reading activities, proprietary speech recognition and analysis tools | | • | Contextual Formation makes sure you have the confidence and the cues you need to get the words out on the spot | | • | Milestone activities quickly give you confidence to engage in real-life conversations; Adaptive Recall reinforces language so it sticks with you | | • | Audio Companion allows you to take Rosetta Stone anywhere: in the car, the gym or on-the-go | | • | Build a foundation and navigate your surroundings: learn fundamental vocabulary and essential language structure, from greetings and introductions to simple questions and their answers |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Rosetta Stone Personal Edition contains everything you need to start learning a language. It's built around our award-winning Rosetta Stone curriculum, which has been adopted by organizations around the world including the U.S. Army, NASA, major corporations such as Deutsche Telecom, IKEA, Royal Dutch Shell, and over 10,000 schools worldwide--and is available in 31 languages spoken by over 90% of the world's population. | The comprehensive language-learning solution that fits your life. 
Learn Naturally
Learn your next language the same way you learned your first language. Dynamic Immersion empowers you to see, hear and comprehend without translating or memorizing. You already have this ability, Rosetta Stone simply unlocks it. Engage Interactively
Get feedback to move forward. You learn best by doing, and you'll apply what you've learned to get to the next step. Rosetta Stone adapts to your individual needs and skills, because you drive the program with your progress. Speak Confidently
Start speaking immediately. From the very first lesson, you'll speak. You'll begin with essential basics, which form the building blocks of the language. Soon you'll create new sentences on your own using words you've learned. Have Fun
Best of all, Rosetta Stone is addictive. With every entertaining activity, you'll feel success. You'll want to use Rosetta Stone to have that next moment, that next breakthrough. So you'll keep using it, and you'll learn more! | The Fastest, Easiest Way to Learn a New Language Proceed at Your Own Pace
Rosetta Stone is considerate of your time. Anytime, anywhere, you can learn a new language with Rosetta Stone. You learn comfortably without feeling pressured or overwhelmed. Rosetta Stone provides guidance to make your language learning effective, fast, and enjoyable with a process that is intuitive, interactive, and visually engaging. At the end of each lesson, you are given the opportunity to test your new skills. And, since Rosetta Stone automatically records your progress, you can easily pick up where you left off, when other priorities arise. Make Language Learning Intuitive with Dynamic Immersion
Rosetta Stone uses rich visual imagery to help you learn. You will be presented with sets of images to match correctly with a spoken or written phrase in the new language. You will advance to the next set of prompts once you've successfully matched words and images and pronounced the words correctly. With Dynamic Immersion, you learn by directly associating your new language with images--nothing is lost in translation. Fun, Easy, and Immediate Reinforcement
Interactive exercises create a learning environment that is engaging and game-like--it's fun! How It Works As children, we gradually learned our first language through a process of associating mental images with words or phrases, accompanied by complete immersion in our environment. This approach was simple because it was natural and allowed the brain to adapt to increasing complexity. Rosetta Stone recreated this natural way of learning by developing a method that uses a computer to mimic the environment in which we learned our first language. We call this Dynamic Immersion. A simple, intuitive interface and advanced technology confirms learning at every step of the process by prompting you to make connections between images you already understand and the new language. You receive immediate feedback, which helps you to reinforce learning. This systematic structure builds from simple nouns and verbs to more complex concepts and phrases very quickly, helping you achieve your language-learning goals faster than you ever thought possible. Level 1, 2 & 3--Connect With the World Connect with the world around you. Build a foundation of fundamental vocabulary and essential language structure. Quickly gain the confidence to enjoy social interactions such as greetings and introductions, travel, dining out, giving and getting directions, shopping and other recreational activities. Learn to share your ideas and opinions, express your feelings and talk about everyday life, your work, your interests, current events, and much more. Features & Benefits Faster and More Effective
Rosetta Stone will teach you as fast as you can learn! Leveraging your natural language-learning ability, Version 3 immerses you immediately in the new language, providing just the right context to prompt you to speak, pronounce, read and write in the very first lesson! Intuitive, sequential learning builds progressively and makes every lesson count. Our Dynamic Immersion method is so fast and so effective, it's used by the Fortune 500, the U.S. State Department, and over 10,000 schools. Convenient
You pick the time, the place and the pace! We are ready when you are because there are no class schedules or missed lessons to make up. From your desk or your dining room, your valuable time can be turned into productive language learning that fits your lifestyle. Enjoyable
When something is fun, it captures your attention...and holds it! The interactivity in Version 3 instantly engages you. Rich, vivid imagery, real-life context and voices of native speakers make Rosetta Stone different from any other product out there--never tedious or boring. Rosetta Stone provides a captivating, game-like experience. Milestones
Learn and apply! Our MILESTONE feature lets you try out your new language knowledge in real-life situations. Track Your Progress
New ADAPTIVE RECALL feature tracks your progress, reinforcing your strengths and revisiting your development areas. New Speech Recognition Technology
State-of-the-art new speech recognition technology helps you learn to speak your new language even faster. And our new Speech Analysis Tool compares your voice to that of native speakers, helping you perfect your pronunciation. Life-like Context
Our New CONTEXTUAL FORMATION feature uses real-life simulations and vivid imagery to give you exactly the context you need to produce new language--all on your own! Level 1, 2 & 3 Set Includes: The Basics
Nouns, verbs, adjectives, numbers, questions, colors, clothing. Friends and Family
Ages, family relations, household items, introductions, landmarks, states, descriptions. Work and School
Times of day, greetings, calendar terms, body parts, speaking, personal hygiene. Shopping
Buying, selling and shopping; entertainment and sports; merchandise, speed and weight, comparing and contrasting. Travel
Destinations, transportation, directions, locations, telling time, distance, cost, weather. Past and Future
Tenses, letter writing, school subjects, signs, workplace terms, polite requests. Friends and Social Life
Months of the year, arrivals and departures, social interaction, celebrations, meal courses, quality terms, apologies. Dining and Vacation
Future tense; terms for art, architecture and music; emotions, places of worship, travel and lodging. Home and Health
Terms for home, garden and backyard activities; household items and appliances; terms for strength and physical activity. Life and World
Emotions, continents, life milestones, oceans, botanical terms, terms for animals. Places and Events
Opinion and judgments, currency exchange and transactions; measurements, household repair tools, culinary terms. Talking About the World
Nationalities, governmental leaders, political terms, media terms, business terms, religious terms. Doing things!  Audio Companion allows you to take Rosetta Stone anywhere: in the car, the gym or on-the-go. | Audio Companion--Taking Rosetta Stone to the Next Level Introducing Audio Companion from Rosetta Stone, the newest enhancement to the world's #1 language-learning software! It's a great addition to the Rosetta Stone experience, allowing you to take Rosetta Stone anywhere: in the car, the gym or on-the-go! What is Audio Companion?
Audio Companion CD-ROMs enhance language learning anytime, anyplace. You can learn new skills on the computer, and then reinforce them with Audio Companion. Play the CDs on a stereo, or download them to a MP3 Player and go! Enhance the Rosetta Stone Learning Experience
Audio Companion activities correspond to Rosetta Stone CD-ROM software lessons. You can listen to Audio Companion and practice what you've been learning, turning travel time into productive language learning time. Extend Study Time
Now, you don't have to stop learning when you leave your computer. Audio Companion lets you access lessons whenever and wherever you want. It empowers you, and works within your busy lifestyle! Build Vocabulary and Pronounce Words and Phrases
Audio Companion features distinct words and shorter phrases to make them easier to hear and repeat. Build good enunciation habits by hearing native speakers pronounce them first. Speak and Converse
The speaking portion of Audio Companion lets you listen to questions and answers, repeating them to use later. To help them build your conversation skills, first you'll listen to a conversation and then repeat phrases individually.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 16 more reviews...
 You get what you pay for September 7, 2008
I have been studying Chinese loosely for several years. I have cobbled together informal classroom settings, audio lessons via Pimsleur, several software packages, and most recently Rosetta Stone. I have gone to China a few times for brief stays and practiced there. So how does Rosetta Stone measure up as a way to acquire Mandarin?
Several years ago, I explored Rosetta Stone in an earlier form: it didn't quite provide what I needed. However, in its latest incarnation, it has been a most important complement to other the other techniques. First, I can compare the strengths of the other approaches. Classes are slow, methodical, complete, and the feedback on pronunciation essential. You get the best writing practice in courses. However, the pace requires several years of steady, hard work. Second, Pimsleur is a great audio device that adds ear training and speaking practice. Because you listen in your car and other "in between" places, there is a lot of time on task. It's much faster than classes, because we obtain useable phrases and speaking training quickly. It is difficult to develop complex ideas, but you can acquire good "street training." I could barter in markets and get around Beijing comfortably. Software packages (not Rosetta yet) are helpful reinforcement of vocabulary and reading, including some clever uses of word order and basic grammar. From all of this, I could cobble together rudimentary communication, but no total comfort zone.
For years, I really wanted to try Rosetta Stone, but it has always been a bit more expensive than I wanted to spend. But after I think what I invested in the other formats, it doesn't seem so expensive these days. My review is from the perspective of having some conversational ability, but a minimal level.
Version 3 is a much more complete program than I remember. It now offers a relatively complete, immersive forum for learning Chinese. The approach is "discovery" rather than dry syntax lessons. Visual contrasts are used to insert both major and subtle differences in usage, develop intuition about word choices and order, but not translate passages (but identify them with pictorial sequences). Since there are elements in Chinese that do not occur in English (measure words or other phrasing constructs), it is interesting to see them appear differentially visually and how syntax is introduced in the lessons. This would be the way children first learn language, and that context reinforces the learning. Lessons are woven together to reinforce differences in word use. New vocabulary is introduced at a rapid pace; both the Pinyin (Roman letters) and Chinese characters are both used. However, the drill and review approach is evident and effective: the lessons move you through usages and sentence construction. You get scored on each lesson, so you can raise your performance level before proceeding to more advanced lessons.
A USB headset-microphone is included in the box so both ear-training and speaking are integrated throughout. The learner speaking performance is evaluated by the software, and it does differentiate subtleties of tone. I sometimes think I'm saying something correctly, and it says no. But it does differentiate pronunciation. I think I will need to go further to accurately assess their evaluation of my speaking, but I am thus far impressed.
I am currently in unit 1 (level 1) and have completed three of four parts. The pace is not lightweight. It is a very well engineered product and the cognitive leaps are there. This is not a simplistic program, and if the escalation of complexity continues at the current rate, I might be pretty good by the time I get to Level 3.
Tough review sessions are integrated as you move through the lessons. The program does manage to continue integrating many past elements that effectively reinforce learning. Milestone markers address those elements as well. The set also contains Audio Companion to give you on-the-go practice.
Overall this is an excellent product, and it fits my needs to maintain some credible level of Chinese language proficiency. I think it is a product that novice learners can use effectively, and you WILL learn Chinese. I think with all approaches, there is no substitute for immersion with real people speaking Chinese. But this product offers sufficient interest and charm to engage the learner. This is often the most elusive part of learning and the interface sustains interest. The individual learning "quanta" is 5 to 10 minutes in most cases, so like Michael Phelps, you can practice between races.
I highly recommend this product. It would have helped me earlier in my learning, but it is also doing so now. Like so many things, this is a product where the quality measures up to the cost. Don't expect $50 software to do what Rosetta Stone can do. However, the real learning? That is now up to me.
 Big Improvement September 6, 2008
I have version 2 of this product as well as the Italian, spanish and German, and the version 3 is much much more complete in every way. My older version wold not work with mac and this one does and does well. The material is on a larger scale. Ver 2 seemed kind of limited. They put alot more thought into the new version. Ver 3 has many extras. Definitely worth the extra bucks, although ver 2 will get the job done fine. Kind of like the difference between kindergarten and 2nd grade. Just more mature.
Chinese is Hard, Rosetta Stone Makes it a Bit Easier September 5, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Chinese is not an easy language to learn. Let's face it, they're all hard. I was fortunate as my sister and I were kinda raised all over the world. We both speak fluent French and Spanish, both do a smattering of Italian and Portuguese, because my old dad really wanted his girls to be world wise.
I've spent the last couple months with Rosetta Stone for Japanese and it's working well for me, so now I'm doing the Chinese as well. It's harder than Japanese and like Japanese, the grammar is very different, but Japanese isn't tonal, so maybe that's why I find it easier. Also, I learned Hiragana and Katagana right away, you can't do that with Chinese. Reading in that language is going to be forever beyond me, I'm afraid.
So other than that how do I like the Rosetta Stone for Chinese? Well, having actually been immersed in a few foreign languages when I was a child, I have to say that I like it a lot, though I imagine it's a bit harder for students of English than Spanish or French would be, because, as I've said, the grammar is so different and I think you probably have to spend more time on your listening and repeating skills than you would have to with a language that uses the Roman alphabet.
I don't recommend more that forty-five minutes or a hour a day with the program, because I think you need time for the lessons to sink in before moving on. Actually a half hour in the morning and again in the afternoon, if you can swing it, would be good, I think anyway.
And the most important thing about the Rosetta Stone is that it doesn't make Chinese a chore. Just take it slow and easy and let it gradually sink in. Rome wasn't built in a day, after all.
The Great Wall and Rosetta Stone: World Wonders September 5, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
I have wanted to learn Chinese ever since I visited Beijing two years ago but thought the complexities of the language would make learning it forever out of my reach. Besides, it's not like there are a lot of Chinese Language instructors at local universities.
I took Japanese at my local university last year and did not learn nearly as much as I did using the Japanese Rosetta Stone.
So, when I saw they had the Chinese version, I decided to give it a try.
Here's what I love about this program:
1. What I really love about this Rosetta Stone is that you can wear headphones, listen to a word or phrase, and then repeat back what you heard. If you say it wrong, the program corrects you and has you say it again. We did not do that in my university class...it was all rote memorization and listening to our professor yammer on and on.
2. Rosetta Stone costs about the same as a university course, but allows you access to the "instructor" after you have completed the lessons. You can refresh your memory whenever you want.
3. Rosetta Stone is so easy to use, you literally plug and play.
4. The program tracks completed lessons.
5. Rosetta Stone has impressive photographs that help cement the word/phrase in your head.
6. The lessons are brief. My university class lasted 2 hours. By the end of the period, my head was swimming with unfamiliar words. I like that the lessons on Rosetta Stone are only 30 minutes long.
7. Rosetta Stone is so convenient. You can learn Chinese from the comfort of your home, before work, after dinner, in between your favorite tv shows. (You can even order sweet and sour chicken from your favorite Chinese restaurant and eat it while practicing with no worries about the smell annoying your classmates. How cool is that?)
Very well produced program, but still very hard to learn to speak accurately September 4, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
The Rosetta Stone (RS) learning interface is well designed and very clean. It is the most user friendly language learning program I've experienced. What's more, the user interface applies to all of their language modules so learners of multiple RS language modules will be comfortable and at home with the "dynamic immersion" approach.
At best, the RS Mandarin will train you to be conversational in Mandarin. It will not allow you to recognize and write Chinese characters easily- that is an entirely different discipline better served by other instructional approaches. It is possible to speak and not be able to read the characters at this stage.
Mandarin is hard language to speak for most westerners. The 4 primary pronunciation tones (see Wiki's Pinyin article for an excellent overview) sound subtle to western tongues and are very hard to pronounce for the typical English speaker. This is because the way the mouth (lips, tongue, breathing) moves in pronouncing Mandarin is completely different to speaking English. My wife, an American from the South who speaks English with a somewhat relaxed and dragged out accent, has incredible difficulty in discerning the tonal differences, let alone pronouncing them accurately. Discerning and learning these tonal differences is crucial to successful conversational Mandarin. If you remember the 70's-80's Kung-Fu movies, they sometimes have a Westerner as a sparring combatant and they will sometimes speak some Mandarin in between the flying punches. To the Mandarin speaker, it always sounds really funny because they have typically messed up the tonal inflections. For example, "ma" can mean mother, horse, to scold, to wipe, a question, measles, etc., when used with the correct tone and context. So, to avoid speaking "Kung-Fu Mandarin" (comical and embarrassing in a business meeting, but at least it gets them smiling), it is essential to listen to the Mandarin speakers on the RS software very very carefully and practice repeatedly. That said, the speakers on the RS software have clear excellent accents but the microphone pronunciation feedback tool is not tight enough and will tolerate tonal mis-pronunciations.
If you are learning Mandarin alone, it would be very helpful to still seek a native Mandarin speaker. It helps to observe the mouth when pronouncing the words (I wish RS would have avi's of the speaker's mouth up close as a pronouncing aid). It also helps to be corrected immediately to avoid entrenching bad habits. And if you are finding an instructor, get an educated person that speaks with a proper accent. You want the Beijing news reader quality. China is a large country and speakers from different parts of China have very different accents. For example, speakers from HK or Canton will often speak (if they even can!) Mandarin that is heavily tinged with a Cantonese accent. No point learning that. Should you be discouraged? No!!! If you are in China or get Chinese cable programs, you will notice some westerners on the language and outreach programs. Folks, these guys speak a brand of Mandarin with such accuracy and poise that would put most native speakers to shame!
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