Review by James John Hollandsworth, M.D.

Let’s face it: a lot of computer-assisted instruction is just plain lame or worse.

They can suffer from either being rote memorization schemes or over-glorified games or simply textbooks in electronic form.

Rare is a system that truly utilizes what computers can do best to solidly teach concepts.

Rosetta Stone delivers.

It teaches language using multiple sensory inputs (picture & voice) and multiple feedback mechanisms (your voice and hand-eye choices). It is able to adjust and compensate for your learning speed and strengths on the fly. It is engaging without being just a game. And it is able to effectively teach without English— which is the closest you can get to a dedicated immersion course.

I had previously installed and used the Spanish & Italian Rosetta Stone, and found that it was easy to install the German Rosetta Stone as a 3rd language onto my base installation on my computer. It’s easy to switch between languages and users & keep track of your progress with each.

Bottom line: I am very impressed. My ten year old loves it, actually WANTS to do the lessons. I’m having fun with it too, even though languages are definitely not my strong suit. If you want to learn a language on your own, this is the best way I know to do it.