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Tarfumes.com - Rosetta Stone Version 3: Chinese Level 1,2 & 3 Set with Audio Companion
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List Price: $549.00
Our Price: $494.10
Your Save: $ 54.90 ( 10% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Rosetta Stone
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: CD-ROM
Brand: Rosetta Stone
EAN: 0794678202858
Feature: Rosetta Stone helps you understand everyday language through proficiency-based listening and reading activities, proprietary speech recognition and analysis tools
Format: CD-ROM
Label: Rosetta Stone
Manufacturer: Rosetta Stone
Model: 20285
Platform: Windows Vista
Publisher: Rosetta Stone
Release Date: 2008-06-16
Studio: Rosetta Stone
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Features
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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:
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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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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: A comprehensive program for learning the Chinese language
Comment: This is easily the most comprehensive language instruction package I've ever seen. With four separate units, each split into several different sections -- including listening, speaking, vocabulary and grammar -- Rosetta Stone provides hours and hours of easy-to-use instruction in learning to speak the Chinese language like an expert.
A language package like this requires the user to be a self-starter. There's nobody pushing you to use it or assessing your performance. The lack of feedback might prove challenging for some users. But if you're willing to push yourself, this system really works.
Rosetta Stone comes with a high price tag. But if you're serious about learning Chinese, and have the discipline to follow a program on your own, your purchase will be money well spent.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Ahww Sooo Good
Comment: This is not an in depth review. I've just started with the Rosetta Stone Chinese. I know it will be year or maybe even never, that I will be fluent in this lanuage. But Rosetta Stone's learning processes are well known for all their language study programs. I've personally used French, German, Japanese, Hebrew, and now Chinese. I'm comfortable with their methodology and know that if I'm willing to put the effort in, on a regular basis, I can get to a decent level of proficiency in a new language in a year's time. Now a decent level of proficiency is not the same as fluent but it's worthwhile if your interest is in learning.
If you want to learn to read, write, speak, and understand a foreign language, and you're willing to dedicate regular daily time to do so, I don't think you'll find a better self study program available than Rosetta Stone.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Once again, exceeded this military linguist's expectations.
Comment: A month ago I had the opportunity to review Rosetta Stone Version 3: French Level 1, 2 & 3 Set with Audio Companion, and while my immersive learning experience for Korean while a Marine had made me skeptical that a piece of software could actually teach someone a language, I came out thoroughly impressed by Rosetta's approach, and high on its potential. I noted, at the time, that I had a few years of French going in, and that I wondered what the experience would be like if I were going into a new language completely blind with this system -- so when the opportunity to try Chinese came up, I was both intrigued and excited.
Backing up briefly to the nuts and bolts, this is easy software to install. You install the base learning platform, and then each of the modules (Chinese 1, 2, and 3, in this case) individually within. The happy result of this modular system is that you still only have one install even if you have multiple languages on the system. Which is to say that because I had already installed the software with French, when it came to install Chinese, all I had to do was load the new modules into the existing software. Whether you'll be doing a new install, or adding modules to an old, it's quick, easy, and intuitive -- just like the software itself. Post-installation, you're taken into the learning process straight away. After calibrating the included microphone headset, I was invited to repeat and pronounce "ni hao," just as "bonjour" had been the first of many steps for the French.
As I said in the French review, the software is intuitive, and the approach is intelligent. You don't have that native speaker standing in front of you scowling because you're butchering the music of their language in the early going, but you do have the software giving feedback and similarly identifying where you might require a little more attention. The program constructs in the user a solid base of simple vocabulary, establishing a basic understanding of the mechanics of the language on which additional vocabulary and structure may be built. With regard to the interface, the absence of a tutorial (as far as I saw, though I didn't look hard because it was so easy just to start using) was a bit surprising, though it took a very small amount of time to get into the swing of things. The earliest exercises range from matching phrases to their appropriate pictures to out-loud (through a microphone) pronunciation tests to proper spelling and grammar training. The pronunciation recognition ability of the software is pretty sharp -- if you're off, it will tell you, but the program allows the user to improve before moving on to the next test.
Chinese is one of the most difficult languages for Westerners to learn and master, simply because of the complete departure from the basic construction and rules of those with Latin and Greek roots. Which is to say that you can often apply basic logic learned from English mastery to concepts in French, Spanish, Russian, and the like. Chinese is also character based (as opposed to alphabet-based construction of words), and tone is often critical to meaning. We may pronounce "boat" any way we choose, and our audience is likely to understand what we mean. In Chinese, a single word given different tonal inflections may carry several different possible meanings.
So, getting back to my closing question from the French review, can someone come in completely unfamiliar with a language, and master it with Rosetta Stone? I don't like to speak in absolutes, but that certainly seems a stretch after a month of working with Chinese. Despite my background with Korean, which employs a small range of Chinese characters in its own fashion, and despite genuinely enjoying the process, Rosetta alone won't bring you to mastery, and perhaps not even to a point where you could cleanly communicate with native speakers without real help. But that's not the point, which is why it's not a knock on the software, or their (in my estimation) brilliant approach to language learning. Rosetta builds a foundation, a very strong foundation, upon which you may pursue mastery through use. By building a cornerstone of vocabulary, concept, and a basic framework of common means of communication, you are given almost everything you need to to practice, practice, practice -- and in the process, learn. I would argue that the most difficult part of learning a language (though this varies from person to person) is the foundation, and Rosetta is a terrific solution, either as a standalone approach, or as a supplement to other classes or exposure. In my case, with Chinese, it's only been a month, but I'm already building that base. Another month, tossing in a few hours of learning time here and there? Who knows, maybe by then it will be time to go looking for patient native speakers who might be able to further mold and instruct me. Foreign languages are out of no ones reach, it's just a question of how far you might try to take it. Rosetta levels 1 through 3 aren't going to do for you what 47 weeks with native speakers at the Defense Language Institute will, but it will definitely put you on the same path, and I can assure you it's much more fun this way. As before, I find myself an enthusiastic fan of this software and approach.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Probably the best out there, but could still be improved
Comment: I've tried a few different language learning packages. Instant Immersion makes the mistake (for me, anyway) of going through all the basics first - numbers, months, days, blah blah. Useful but boring. Pimsleur says the same phrase umpteen times. And so on. So this approach seems the best so far in terms of interest, and some of my comments will seem like nitpicking, but it could be better.
Rosetta starts with matching words to pictures, and includes hearing, speaking, reading, and writing. You can choose which of these activities to include, but you can't fine tune it to have just reading and no writing. You have the option of displaying simplified Chinese, traditional Chinese, pinyin, or both. If you choose both, however, the pinyin is shown above the script in a font that's a little too small for easy reading on a 13.1" or 14.1" laptop screen. The title text at the top is also unclear, even on fullscreen, because it's antialiased, but that's not a huge problem, since it doesn't affect the lesson. Other than that, the interface is bright and pleasant and refreshingly different from the normal Windows dialogs.
The lessons available are limited to about half the full content until you activate the product, i.e. tie it to one PC. I've heard horror stories about transferring the activation, so be warned.
The picture/word matching thing seems to work for the most part, but there are sometimes problems. Is that a boy or a girl? What are they doing? Hard to say at first glance, since they use a couple of different pictures for the same word. Also feels strange to match "he is not doing this"-type phrases to the pictures of someone ... er ... not doing it.
Because it's an immersion-type course, sometimes you have to figure out what's going on with little or no explanation - for example the different numeratives ("one tail of fish"). You aren't told why a bicycle is called what it is. But that's part of the immersive learning process.
The program defaults to moving along automatically. Problem is, there are pages where it should stop for you to review, but it doesn't - it moves along after a second or two. If you set it to manual, you have to advance by clicking on the button for the next lesson - from a tiny row of boxes at the bottom. That could've been designed better.
In general, response is slow - a couple of seconds to get to the next page, for instance. It's a little annoying because you're not sure if the program recognized your input, so ... get used to it, or get used to clicking twice just in case.
I've heard many actors simply butcher Mandarin in movies or on TV (Serenity *cough*). For those of you having trouble with the accent, may I suggest that you think of it in terms of singing the phrase, see if that helps.
Is it worth it? If you want to learn the language at your own pace, and the price is within your budget, I would say yes. I give it three stars because of the price and the room for improvement - and the activation requirement. Considering what you pay for it, you shouldn't be treated like a criminal or inconvenienced in that way.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Easy to use and learn
Comment: I've always wanted to learn Chinese but where do you start? Rosetta Stone is a good starting spot. The software is easy to use, instructive, and well thought out. I love the speech recognition, although I don't think I'm nailing the accent just right. I have no doubt I sound like an American speaking Chinese but hopefully it gets me by.
The software is easy to install and the included audio files are a nice touch to install on your MP3 player for refreshers in the car. The included headset is well built and I had no problems getting it to work on my Windows Vista machine. I'm only about half way through the lessons but I'm very excited with my progress so far. I'm sure this software is no substitute for living abroad or taking classes, but if you need some help or you are good self learner than this is a good starting point to learn Chinese. I work with several Chinese people and I'm looking forward to testing out my knowledge (once I get a little more confident :))
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