Rosetta Stone V3. Portuguese, Level 1 & 2 :: Education by Design Store

Customer Reviews

Great Product

2008-07-25
Rosetta Stone is truly an excellent product. It has a unique way of learning a new language, unlike other programs, it makes learning fun....

Excellent resource

2008-05-27
I spent some time in Brazil last year with a missionary friend and plan to return regularly in the future, but determined to know some Portuguese next time I go. I have studied three other languages in the usual formal, structured methods in class settings. My wife has never studied a language before. We both find the Rosetta Stone program enjoyable and productive (her word for it is "fun"). When I speak with my friend, who incidentally grew up in Brazil and speaks like a Brazilian, he has been amazed at how well I am progressing and how accurately I speak. My only suggestion would be for one using this program to purchase a good Portuguese/English dictionary as there will be a few times when you may be stymied by the absence of English explanation--but those times will be few. We have also found the book Portuguese for Dummies to be very helpful as an added resource. I will soon complete level two and feel confident that I would be quite able to function on my own in Brazil next time and not be dependent on my friends to do all my talking for me!......David Mitchell

Rosetta Stone review

2008-04-15
I rate RS a 3 mostly because of it's expense. I utilized RS after going about half way through Pimsluer and spending five months in Brazil. It was very good for cleaning up poor pronunciation habits that comes from the immersion approach. It's foundation lessons in phonetics is a must that not all courses give you. The audio (great headset) and voice recognition features are first class, and in fact maybe too good, as one gets spoiled by the crispness of the sound. Still it gives you a better ear for the nuisances of the language which was a great help for my stage. Also the replay function is easy to use, much better than Pimsleur's constant stop, and figure out where you are tedium.

RS comes at you pretty quickly on grammar issues and even idioms. It does this without instruction and help. You are supposed to just figure it out intuitively. This is a poor theory, and I would recommend that learners pick up a copy of Da Prista's Essential Portuguese Grammar or you could get stalled and discouraged. RS visual method is good for building vocabulary, and some are even humorous and memorable which breaks the tedium. The word repetition was about right and timed right for me. I had background already in the language so the verb conjugations were easy for me. I wonder about a beginner though. Again you will need more material than RS provides, like Nitti's 500 Portuguese Verbs. You would think for the price tag that RS could just include this text material, cause you will need it. All and all RS is a good tool for the serious self study language student.

awkard...

2008-03-27
I bought Rosetta Stone portuguese 1&2.Apart from the learning experience which i rate satisfactory i must point out the awkard loading of the disc.
You need a cd called application before you can load the first cd.When the time came to load the 2nd cd of my course the software went berserk.
To make a long story short you need to insert the cd application AGAIN
REMOVE,ERASE FOR GOOD the first learning cd.Thereafter you insert the cd application again so you thankfully can load the 2nd learning cd.
No answer from support for 2 days so i took matters in my own hands and i fixed ...what? Now i have the 2nd learning part of my course but i had to erase all my previous sessions! What if i need to go back and review some?
Very stupid company move,there must be a better way to protect your income than this,unnecessarily frustrating your customers.

Buggy

2008-01-15
Love the format, but this is the buggiest piece of software I've ever encountered on my Mac. It constantly crashes, tells me there is "minor error" in which case you have to repeat whatever little section your are on.

Very very poor programming.

a software note

2007-12-27
With Portuguese Level 1&2 you build a foundation and navigate your surroundings. Learn fundamental vocabulary and essential language structure, from greetings and introductions to simple questions and their answers. Gain the confidence to talk about your environment; giving and getting directions, telling time, dining out, shopping, enjoying basic social interactions and much more.

A Good Start for Beginners!

2007-12-24
Rosetta Stone Brazilian Portuguese is a perfect place to start for beginners. Do not pay heed to the Maurice's review. As you can see by his review, he needs to learn his native language of English BEFORE attempting to learn a foreign language. Rosetta teaches the language through immersion and association NOT through translation. If you want to translate, buy a dictionary. Use Rosetta to build your vocabulary and then find a brazilian to practice speaking..

TWO THUMBS DOWN (Not For The Beginner Trying To Learn A Foreign Language)

2007-11-28
I purchased this program with great hopes to learn to speak Brazil Portuguese, with a price tag of $295.00(OUCH) This program begins showing you photos with words written in Portuguese. For example, You see a photo of a little girl with words written in Portuguese, then you hear the audio saying the words UMA MENINA, then the program asks you to say the words into the mirophone but this program never explains in English what the words mean. You continue repeating the words but have no meaning what the words mean. Does UNA MENIA mean little child or one child or a girl? ? ? ? Another example, you see a photo of child eating rice the words on the screen and audio saying AMENINA ESTA COMENDO, the program asks you to repeat the words into the microphone and never gives you the meaning of each word in English. You repeat and repeat unfamilar words you do not understand into the mirophone and have no knowledge of the meaning of the words you repeat into the mirophone. This program is like being lost in Brazil, no one speaks English and they are talking to you in Portuguese. Very dissappointed with this program. I wrote Rosetta Stone an e-mail explaining the program does not give you the English value of each word, their reply "BY LOOKING AT THE PHOTO YOU SHOULD FIGURE OUT WHAT EACH PORTUGUESE WORD MEANS." EXCUSE ME ! ! ! It is the software's job to introduce Portuguese words and explane in English the meaning of each word. This program learns you to repeat words and phrases and you have no idea what the words you memorize mean. If you do not understand the English value of the Portuguese word how could you ever have a conversation speaking Portuguese in Brazil and understand what the Brazil person is saying. This program is like SEE THE PICTURE, SEE THE FOREIGN WORDS AND AUDIO YOU HAVE NO UNDERSTANDING AND TELL ME WHAT THE PICTURE IS SAYING. One photograph can say a thousand words. To end my review, I have a friend from Campo Grande MS Brazil who came to my home to review this software. My friend is an attorney in Brazil and spend 2 hours reviewing this software and said, "YOU WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND THE PORTUGUESE LANGUAGE FROM THIS PROGRAM BECAUSE THIS PROGRAM DOES NOT GIVE YOU THE KNOWLEDGE TRANSLATION OF THE DEFINATION OF EACH PORTUGUESE WORD, IT SHOWS YOU PHOTOS WITH WRITTEN AND AUDIO SOUND FOR YOU TO FIGURE OUT IN YOUR MIND WHAT THE WORDS MEAN. YOU LEARN TO SAY WORDS AND PHRASES HAVING NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE SAYING." As a beginner trying to learn Portuguese this over priced program is a waste of time and money. This review is based upon the opinion from a person living in Brazil.