Rosetta Stone Language Learning Tool Review

What is Rosetta Stone?

Founded in 1992, Rosetta Stone is a leading language education platform that has helped millions of people learn to read, write and speak more than 25 languages. The company combines an immersive teaching approach with cloud-based solutions to create a comprehensive and effective language learning experience.

Rosetta Stone Languages

Rosetta Stone offers a wide range of language courses, including: 

• Spanish
• French
• Italian
• German
• English
• Arabic
• Chinese
• Dutch
• Farsi
• Greek
• Hebrew
• Hindi
• Irish
• Japanese
• Korean
• Polish
• Portuguese
• Russian
• Swedish
• Tagalog 
• Turkish

The company is continuously adding new languages to its platform based on user demand.

The Rosetta Stone Methodology

Rosetta Stone is rooted in the belief that the best way to learn a new language is through constant exposure, real-life interactions and inductive reasoning. The program takes an immersive approach to language education, rarely using learners’ native language and instead, surrounding them with their target language. This constant exposure helps them learn to think and speak in that language rather than translating from their native language. Through this approach, learners progress naturally from understanding and speaking words and phrases to understanding and speaking full sentences and conversations. 

Rosetta Stone Language Learning Components

Here’s a look at some of the primary components of the Rosetta Stone language learning program: 

Courses: The foundation of the Rosetta Stone Program, the language courses consist of a series of bite-sized lessons and exercises in your target language. Depending on your level, these courses may involve speaking, listening, writing or reading. They employ both visual and auditory strategies, and may focus on vocabulary, conversation, pronunciation or grammar.

Phrasebook: This resource is designed to help you master specific phrases so you can navigate daily interactions. You’ll choose your content category—health, safety, travel, etiquette, etc., then you’ll be able to flip through common phrases via a deck of digital flashcards. Each phrase includes on-demand pronunciation from native speakers, and the company’s TruAccent speech recognition tool helps you perfect your pronunciation.

Stories: Each unit includes a variety of downloadable short stories that align with that unit’s key skills and proficiency levels. You can choose to read the stories yourself to build comprehension skills, listen to a native speaker reading to hone your listening skills, or record yourself reading them to get additional pronunciation and speaking practice. These stories don’t just expose readers to the language, they also provide lessons in cultural context.

Live Lessons: These 25-minute interactive, on-demand lectures cover topics at your unit level and enable you to chat with other learners, perfect your pronunciation, grow your cultural knowledge and more. 

Audio Companion: Designed to align directly with the units in Rosetta Stone’s core lessons, these audio lessons are excellent reinforcement. In these lessons, native speakers say key phrases and you practice repeating them. These audio lessons are downloadable and playable offline, making them a great option for on-the-go learners.

Seek and Speak: This exclusive feature includes fun, vocabulary-focused challenges rooted in real life, like interactive scavenger hunts. You’ll learn and practice key conversational statements and questions specific to the challenges, and have the opportunity to use those phrases in a personalized conversation with audio recorded by native speakers. 

Rosetta Stone Cost

Rosetta Stone offers three subscription plans of differing durations and price points. Your subscription will automatically renew at the end of your selected duration, but you can easily turn off auto-renewal through your account at any time. 

Here’s a look at the options along with their cost:

Rosetta Stone Lifetime Subscription

• Unlimited languages (includes all 25)
• One-time payment of $399 (on sale for $199 at the time of this review)

3-Month Subscription

• One language
• $15.99 per month (billed up front for a total of $47.97)

12-Month Subscription

• One language
• $13.99 per month (on sale for $10.50 at the time of this review) or $126 annually

If you’re unsure if Rosetta Stone is for you, the company offers a three-day trial that enables learners to get taste of the lessons and the platform before committing.

Rosetta Stone Customer Service

Rosetta Stone’s customer service team is friendly, professional and helpful. You can contact them at 1-800-788-0822, or email [email protected]. 

There is also a robust FAQ section on the Rosetta Stone website.

Rosetta vs. the Competition

While Rosetta Stone is a popular and well-established language learning program, it’s one of many options on the market today. Here’s a look at how it stacks up against other popular language learning platforms:

Babbel vs. Rosetta Stone

Like Rosetta Stone, Babbel is a very popular language learning program that has a lot to offer learners. But there are a few key differences between these two leading language platforms. One of the biggest differentiators lies in their teaching approach. Rosetta Stone takes an immersive approach to language education—learners eat, sleep and breathe their target language from day one. There are no translations and very minimal native language use. Babbel relies more heavily upon translations, and uses English throughout its lessons. The better choice for you is simply a matter of personal preference and learning style.

There are a few other differences worth noting: 

• Rosetta Stone offers more languages—25, compared to Babbel’s 13.
• Both brands offer a three- and a 12-month plan in addition to a Lifetime plan, but Babbel also offers a one-month and a six-month plan.
• While Babbel and Rosetta Stone’s shorter subscription plans tend to be comparably priced, Rosetta Stone’s Lifetime subscription plan is significantly less expensive than Babbels. 
• Rosetta uses proprietary voice recognition technology to help learners perfect their pronunciation; Babbel does not offer an equivalent resource.

Duolingo vs. Rosetta Stone

Like Rosetta Stone, Duolingo helps people all over the world expand their communication horizons by learning a secondary language. But there are a number of differences between these two leading language learning programs. For starters, Rosetta Stone is an immersive language education program, and Duolingo’s program takes a more gamified approach. While Duolingo’s approach may be fun, most leaners and educators agree—it isn’t quite comprehensive enough to promote fluency. If you’re interested in learning a few key words or phrases in another language, Duolingo may be sufficient. Otherwise, you’re better off going with Rosetta Stone.

Here are a few other key differences: 

• Duolingo does not include a lot of the supplemental features that Rosetta Stone offers, like access to live classes and coaching from native speakers.
• Duolingo offers more languages than Rosetta Stone (40 versus 25). But Rosetta Stone provides a far more comprehensive program for the 25 languages it offers. 
• Duolingo offers a free version and Rosetta Stone does not. But Duolingo’s free option is very high level and won’t lead to language mastery. It also tends to be bogged down with annoying ads.

Bottom Line: Why We Love It

Whether you’re a professional, a student or a globetrotter, if you want to master a new language, Rosetta Stone can help you do it. The company offers an expansive list of languages—25 at the time of this review, and an immersive approach to language learning that has proven effective for every kind of learner. Rosetta Stone also offers an incredibly intuitive interface, proprietary speech-recognition technology, live lessons with native speakers, and a variety of advanced features that together create a comprehensive and fun learning environment. Rosetta Stone is also great value—it’s comparably priced to other similar services but you get a lot more for the price.

FAQ

Is Rosetta Stone worth it?

Yes, Rosetta Stone is absolutely worth it. It is one of the most comprehensive programs on the market today. It’s excellent for beginners, and offers lots of great content and features for more advanced learners, too. 

How much is Rosetta Stone?

The cost of Rosetta Stone depends upon the plan you select. The company’s most comprehensive plan is its Lifetime Subscription, which includes all 25 languages. This costs $399 but the brand frequently runs promotions that bring this cost down significantly. The company also offers a three-month subscription, which costs just $15.99 per month, and a 12-month subscription, which typically costs $13.99 per month.