Cheap Rosetta Stone French Explorer (Software) (Windows 95, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Macintosh, Windows Me) Price
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Each graduated lesson works like this: First, you learn a new word by seeing a picture of, say, a dog. You then read the French word for "the dog" and hear it spoken: le chien. After learning a whole set of words this way, you move into self-quizzing mode, where you see just a picture of a boy and you have to choose the right word, either from spoken or written cues. This emphasis on listening comprehension is fantastic and is one of the components that sets the software apart, but there are also reading and writing exercises.
So how do they cover grammar? Eventually, for instance, you'll see le chien under a picture of one dog and les chiens under a picture of two dogs. If you are a grammar guru, you might be able to figure out that plural nouns take les and end in s. However, the beauty is you don't have to be a grammar guru at all because the software doesn't expect you to state rules like that; it expects you only to associate a picture of more than one dog with les chiens instead of le chien. Eventually you get into longer phrases that cover verbs, adjectives, and prepositional phrases. It's amazingly effortless, especially so for children as young as 6.
Caveats: The CD-ROM includes both Mac OS and Windows versions. Your installation will include the first-level lessons of a couple dozen other languages for free, too, so you have to know that the French word for "French" is français in order to select it from the list. Also, remember that software is no replacement for French-speaking people, so take what you learn and use it in the world! --Erik Macki
| PLATFORM: | Windows 95, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Macintosh, Windows Me |
| CATEGORY: | Software |
| MANUFACTURER: | Fairfield Language Technologies |
| TYPE: | Mac Macintosh Machintosh Apple, Computer software (programs), Education (Educational), Reference, Foreign Languages (Language), French, Learn learning, Kids (Children) |
| MEDIA: | CD-ROM |
| # OF MEDIA: | 1 |
| UPC: | 794678100451 |
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Customer Reviews of Rosetta Stone French Explorer
Doesn't teach sentence structure or grammar This product is great if you want to learn a few phrases and words but it won't even come close to teaching you the language. It doesn't provide any way in which to learn sentence structure or grammar. I have heard the bigger and more complete personal editions by Rosetta Stone are better than this but still fail to teach grammar. If you want a well rounded product, that also will teach you grammar, take a look at Transparent Language's French NOW.
Good product, but has a severe flaw
I found this product does teach you basic words and thoughts better than other CD's I've tried for language learning. However, the flaw is that the CD must be loaded, and the further you get into the lessons, the slower it gets. Further, when you go back and forth between the lessons, it doesn't cache anything, so it's like accessing it for the first time. (i.e. slow as molasses)
Consider this product as an introductory product, because it doesn't teach you sentence structure, only random events that could occur in your life. But, those events do surface clearly when that occurs. That is, it seems a lot easier to remember because of the combination of phrases attached to pictures.
Je adore Rosetta Stone
I am learning French at home and am having great fun using this software. The photo's are very clear, surprisingly clear in fact. Who knew that seeing a photo of a boy in, on and under an airplane would help me learn the difference between dans, sur and son so quickly? Or that seeing photos will allow me to 'imprint and recall' the difference between fille and femme or garcon and homme?
It all feels very natural to me as I progress through the lessons. I am learning French in the same way I learned my first language (English) by seeing and then associating sounds with what I see.
The very best thing about this product (other than the smashing speed with which I'm learning French) is the fact that this 'explorer' version of their product lets me run the first few lessons in something like 20 (?) other languages! I've discovered that I really enjoy Italian, too, and it's fun to do the lessons in Japanese or Arabic and see what those languages are like. I have highly recommended this software to two families I know who are home schooling their children. The explorer will allow them to decide on a language that their child will truly enjoy before making a larger investment. Where else are we allowed (for such a small investment in money and effort) to 'try out' so many different languages?
I intend to invest in their more complete programs when I've exhausted the explorer. But what a lovely way to be introduced to the first 800 or so words of French.
One note: I am a very, very 'visual' person. For example, I rely heavily on the white board in my office when expressing ideas to the members of my software team. I have been told that I have a 'photographic' memory. Perhaps. What I am finding is that when I try to learn French merely by audio tape or audio CD, my memory fails. I cannot recall from one day to the next what I merely hear. But with the Rosetta Stone Explorer, I am SEEING and HEARING at the same time (photo of action, French speaker saying something about the action, French words superimposed over action photo). This is working for me 1000 times better than merely hearing a French phrase parroted on a tape. I need multiple avenues of 'input' in order to retain and recall the new language.
I know that there are millions of other people who have brains 'wired' the same way as mine. Many learning theory and research studies have been published on this subject; while some can learn solely through aural input and repetition, a large percentage of students need combined aural/visual input (or aural/visual/tactile). I'm sure that extensive research and theory is behind the design of the Rosetta Stone products. In my case, their approach works like a charm! I couldn't be more pleased with their product design.
My only concern is that using the product requires that the CD be inserted into a CD drive at all times while using the product. I would prefer to 'run' it off of my hard drive and find the screen changes unnecessarily slow due to this design decision. The speed with which a computer 'reads' from the hard drive is MUCH faster than reading from a CD drive. I suspect that this design decision was driven by a desire to 'secure' the product license (forcing you to have the CD physically present and preventing illegal 'sharing' of the product). It feels punitive and not terribly respectful to those of us that actually shelled out the money to buy the product. I've given them only 4 stars (instead of 5) because of this 'security' decision, which I hope they will abandon in the future. It's a very 'old school' method of license protection that other, much larger and more successful software companies abandoned years ago just for the reasons I've mentioned: It's punitive to 'good' customers and damages product performance. If I'm wrong about the reason for this design, and instead they are concerned about not copying 'too much' data to the customer's hard drive, then I'd leave this decision to the customer. I have more than enough room on my hard drive to copy the entire product over, and would much prefer to run it this way.