Rosetta Stone - Will You Become Fluent

If you want to know why Rosetta Stone's share price is going down, it's because people aren't lining up in droves to buy their products. I met an employee of the the Rosetta Stone company through a broken down battery, taco bell and picking up a friend. So I got to talking to this Rosetta Stone employee and about the program. I told him my opinion about the program and their advertising campaign and he said, the truth is, "it will never make anyone fluent." I laughed. Because as your read this article you will know that if anyone had to meet this person, I was the best candidate.

I have listened to Rosetta Stone commercials on the radio, I have watched their infomercials religiously, and I have played with their language programs at the kiosks found at airports and malls. The only thing I have not done is order their free cd.

I have watched Rosetta Stone religiously, because I have been interested in their advertising campaign. I have been obsessed with it. They came up with a product, stated to people that they don’t need to memorize and that they will learn naturally. They came up with a voice recognition component, and they said you will speak fluently. Throughout the process of analyzing their advertising techniques I have found that Rosetta Stone has done a great job with advertising, but also at the same time are lying to people to sell their product.

I think the infomercials are entertaining and I can see how people would get caught up in convincing themselves to buy their products, but if you watch the infomercials they reveal information that you are not aware of.

They have an infomercial showing students with headsets on their heads in a classroom setting using the Rosetta Stone program. These students, if they really are language learning students, give a high recommendation about how great the program is. What else did you expect? Ok, but they don't tell you that the program is so great is because there is a teacher in the classroom who is teaching the students with a lesson plan that is not solely based on the Rosetta Stone software. The program is used in the classroom as a supplement or reinforcement. Would an individual person at home have the same lesson plans with the same reinforcement? No, the individual is on their own, unless they pay a teacher to teach them and keep the learning consistent.

Then their are testimonials made by people like Michael Phelps who swear this is the quickest way to learn a language. If this was the quickest way to learn a language, then why did Michael Phelps not say one word of “Chinese”? or why has nobody else showed off how much they learned by speaking the language that they have learned through Rosetta Stone. If the program is so quick and easy, then these people should be speaking a foreign language. Dang it, just say something. But they don’t and that should be a red flag.

When Rosetta Stone says that you do not have to memorize and you will learn by being immersed in the language and that learning is natural, they are full of it. The truth of the matter is, by using any program, you are memorizing and practicing. When Rosetta Stone says it's the fastest way, those words make me laugh. It's such an ambiguous statement. The truth is that the program takes a long time to learn from and you will need a lot of studying, practice and perseverance.

I wish I could take a survey asking how many people have bought the program and have never even opened the box or who have used it as many as three times and never went back to it. I would say there is a high percentage of people just handing Rosetta Stone their money for nothing.

If you are a good sales person, you can sell anything and that is what Rosetta Stone is doing. Rosetta Stone is selling dreams, fantasies, wishes and desires. They are selling the idea that you will speak a second language fluently, easily and quickly and let me tell you that their statments are far from the truth.

Two years ago, Amethyzt Moon asked the question on Yahoo Answers, “Can you become fluent in a language with Rosetta Stone?” She states, “Apparently the Army and Air Force uses Rosetta Stone to learn languages, however, I have Rosetta Stone Versions 3 and it seems like it’s not enough to learn the languages fluently, do they have a different version of something? Have you become fluent or know anyone that has become fluent from the Rosetta Stone program?”

This Answer comes from M. Shadows who answered the question on Yahoo Answers. “The military uses Rosetta Stone as homework software, while most of the actual learning takes place through immersion (being placed around language speakers) and the teacher-to-student learning process. Rosetta Stone is most likely just a supplement that they use to review the language. Remember , exaggeration is the key to a successful sales pitch. The best way to become fluent in a language is to become immersed in it.”

But Rosetta Stone says that their program is an immersion program, which it is true if you look at the definition that states, immersion is, “concentration, complete attention, intense mental effort.” There is also another “immersion” definition that defines the word as “Sinking until covered completely with water.” Well, if we were talking about being immersed with language, we would want to be surrounded by people who are having conversation with us in that language. Rosetta Stone’s software program is not a complete immersion program. It is a tool to use to MEMORIZE vocabulary and phrases that you can use to speak with real people in that language. Rosetta Stone will sell you the program, but you will not become fluent from it. There is a lot more you will have to do. Will you have to memorize, “Yes”. When they say you don’t have to memorize, they are lying. Is it quick and easy to learn? It’s easy if you have the ability to memorize. Is it quick, the answer is “no”. There is nothing quick about becoming fluent in a second language and there is nothing quick about learning a language. It takes time.

If you want to try to learn a second language, I would not just throw my money away when there are free programs on the web that will teach you a language for free. There are also websites that allow you to speak with native speakers through skype for free. So before you start buying Rosetta Stone, I would suggest you do a search on Google: with the words, Languages 4 Free, Languages for Free etc. and then look up on Google, “free skype language exchange”… You will be amazed how quickly you can learn without spending money.