Rosetta Stone Italian Level 1-3 Set

If you are looking for a software suite to teach you Italian look no further - you've found it. This is, in my opinion, one of the best language learning software suites that money can buy. The lessons are well put together, there is a lot of content, and it goes at an appropriate pace. You still have to put in the time and effort, but this is a good (and cheap) alternative to a class that would present a similar amount of material.

The negative is their ridiculous licensing scheme. For a $500+ software suite limiting the number of installations is ridiculous. If you have a desktop and a laptop and want to have your software on both machines, thats it. You are done. In addition its against their license terms to sell the software to someone else once/if you have finished with it. If you buy this product, know that you are limited in what you can do with it since its not technically your property (ridiculous).

This is not our first Rosetta Stone Language program. I possess the Mandarin version and last year purchased the Spanish. One of the great features about Rosetta Stone is that you only have to install the program itself once and you can later just add different languages instead of having more than one program running. Even though the Italian Totale is the newest version out in the market, it is still compatible with the older versions of Rosetta Stone. The one big difference I could tell was the interface (selection) menu. The screen is much smaller. There are more icons and choices since the Totale offers more online features.

We are planning a Mediterranean vacation in a couple years and one of the stops is Italy. I am a little worried that learning the Italian language can cause confusion since it has similarities to Spanish. I am fluent in Spanish so it will be easy for me to differentiate the two, but my daughter is taking Spanish in school, so it will be interesting to see how she does.

Rosetta Stone is by far the easiest way to learn a new language. It uses real images instead of "cartoon-ish" pictures. Using real images/photographs I believe helps you retain a mental image of the words. You easily get involved in a lesson because it keeps your attention. The activities and games do not bore you. Speech is easily recognized and it will let you know when you are pronouncing it the correct way by using red and green button icons. I can honestly say that you do retain what you learn. Lets face it, trying to learn three different languages can be a challenge, but my daughter has been able to retain the information she has learned so far. On the other hand, I am currently only doing the Italian and I have not had any conflicts even though Spanish is my first language.

I am not going to tell you that having the audio companions is the best thing in the world, because truthfully we do not use them. With three different language packages you can imagine how many audio companion CDs we have!

Overall, Rosetta Stone is the best and easiest way to learn a new language. With given time and dedication, you can learn to speak and understand the most basics language necessities that allow you to communicate and go about your normal daily life while afar.

WORD OF ADVICE - Make sure you install the program on a computer you plan on using for a long period of time. Each Rosetta Stone program only allows you to activate the activation code TWICE. I learned this the hard way. My computer crashed and I had to reinstall Windows and the program for a second time. Then a few days later my hard drive died after a power surge. After getting a new hard drive installed, I attempted to reinstall the program but I kept getting an error message that the activation code was invalid. I called Rosetta Stone and had to beg and plea for them to reactivate the code. They normally do this for a charge (cost of a user license), but I was able to email them a copy of my receipt/shipping invoice and they were nice enough to do for free. They did however reiterate that this was a one-time exception. I am under the understanding that you can have up to two computers running the program, but I worry that we might have some kind of power surge or a system crash and don't want to risk using the activation code for the limited allowance allowed. As quoted by Rosetta Stone: "Rosetta Stone software is licensed, not sold. A buyer purchases a license to install and use the program". In other words, you purchased the software to use but you do not own it.

I installed this software even after reading all the negative things about their licensing. But then, it's their software and if they want to keep the licensing strict, that's their business. You should just know that if you buy it, you can never sell it. You own it forever.

That being said, they want a lot of money for their Yellow Box. Is it worth it. Yes, if you learn the language. Is it the best way to learn a language. Maybe, for some, but I found it only marginally better than Instant Immersion Italian Levels 1,2 & 3 which costs one seventeenth the price. Yes, that's right thirty dollars and change versus five hundred and twenty-one dollars. I'd try the thirty dollar program first and as a bonus, if you don't like it, you can resell it.

Still, you might go for the Yellow Box because of the online community you get access to after you register. That's a big selling point, but five hundred and twenty-one dollars for three levels is a lot of money for that. But still, for some people, if it helps them learn, then it's worth it. For me, it just seems like too much, especially when there are a couple of really good online places to learn Italian for a whole lot less.

Zero stars for their licensing + two stars for their overpriced software + four stars for their online community. Add that all up and divide by three and you get two and that's the rating I'm giving Rosetta Stone Italian level 1 through 3, two stars.