Rosetta Stone- Level One Review

I’ve just completed level one of Rosetta Stone French!  Hooray!  Lot’s of people have been asking my opinion on the program so I figured I would put it out there.

After much deliberation on which version of the program to get, I settled on the online subscription.  I think this was a good option for me since it’s a year subscription and kinda gives me a deadline to stick to.  I could definitely see myself buying the CDs and “getting around to it later”.  The good part about the online subscription too, is that you can go month to month after the subscription is over if you feel like you need more time, so there’s not too much pressure.  The online subscription also comes with a French tutor you can schedule time with online.  This was a big selling point for me, as I had read that this was the most helpful part of the program, though as of yet I’ve been too embarrassed to schedule one.  Oops.

I took 5 years of French in high school (only spent the normal 4 years in high school, but took French 2 and 3 in the same year, just to clarify), a very very long time ago and tested out of college French.  So, there was a time I knew most of this, but like I said… very very long time ago.

So far in the program I’ve found somethings that I remember and some that I don’t so that could influence my experience with the French course versus someone going into it with no base knowledge.

The program is fun and entertaining, it doesn’t just feel like homework.  I actually like doing the activities and the online program comes with French games and learning tools.

I do agree with most of the other reviews I’ve read online that suggest that this is best used to supplement learning in a classroom or one on one environment.  They do their best to replicate full immersion in the language, but there are times I wish that I could find out why things are the way they are.  One thing that really confuses me still is genders of nouns, but I’m pretty sure there’s no rhyme or reason to that (really, why are eggs masculine?), but then there are things like telling people where you work.  Je travaille, then either au or a la (insert job here).  I’m still not sure when to use which or why and it would be great to have someone to explain that.

All in all though I think it’s a good program.  I’ve just gotten through level one and it still takes me a while to think of the words to use.  I’m by no means conversational yet, and don’t get me started on how badly I fail the writing portion every single time!  (accents are hard!)  But all in all I’ve enjoyed the program.  They do various sales all the time and offer a 5 payment plan.  So I’m currently paying $40-some-odd a month for 5 months, not too bad for French lessons.

Best of all, I had some French Canadians in my dance class last week that totally knew what I was saying.  They corrected some of it and taught me some new ways to say things, but I was able to have a coherent, all be it broken and very remedial, conversation with them!

So, that’s my experience with level one.  I plan on keeping this updated as I make my way through the program and hopefully end up a regular Francophile.