Rosetta Stone V3: Italian Level 1-3 Set with Audio Companion [OLD VERSION]

2.5 | 63 ratings

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Last update: 01-11-2025

About this item

Rosetta Stone teaches you a new language naturally, by getting you to think, live and breathe the language
Innovative solutions get you speaking new words, right from the start
Rosetta Stone moves forward only when you're ready--you drive the pace, you set the schedule
With Rosetta Stone, you'll discover a foundation of key vocabulary that you'll use to build into a whole new language
Audio Companion lets you take the Rosetta Stone experience anywhere: in the car, at the gym, or on-the-go

Top reviews from the United States

C. A. Stanton Hochstetler

Rosetta Stone Levels 1,2,3 Italian is the most fun way to learn

Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2010

Lets face it, not all of us are scholars, readers, students. Some of us are visually oriented. We prefer color and vivid images to rote and other mundane methods of learning. This method is something easy to understand, multi-choice responses, which immerse you in the language, some of the learning is intuitive, and some of the interactive steps actually measure and encourage you with every screen. The framework is well communicated in each screen. And although the aspects of vocabulary, pronunciation, comprehension, reading and writing are all areas which teach the language. One feels the progress and the process goes smoothly from one lesson to the next. You decide whether you want to repeat a lesson, or move to the next. Rosetta Stone is the best way to learn a language. Governments train staff using this program as well. But for me, I just find it fun and easy to learn with this method. In my case, I am going to Italy in six months or so, I really plan to be able to read and write and best of all speak Italian when we are there. Years ago, Berlitz was the standard, today, its Rosetta Stone. Next year, France is our goal, I've alredy purchased Levels 1,2,3 in French to prepare for that adventure. You do not need to be a scholar, simply follow the lessons, and you'll be speaking and reading and writing in the language of your choice. I highly recommend this method above others.

Don't waste your time or especially money.

Reviewed in the United States on October 24, 2009

Having had the misfortune of being assigned to Italy by my employer, I purchased Rosetta Stone Italian 1, 2 & 3 for about $400 (on sale). I've had the product a little over two months now, and it has proven to be a complete waste of the little time I've been able to attempt to use it. For $400 (and of course the good folks at Rosetta Stone list it for more) I should not have to fight to get this program to work, to get it to recognize it's own microphone head set, and then see that headset break after one drop to the floor (approx 3 ft). I also learned while having installation problems (I thought it was the disks, but it turned out to be a common bug in Vista that causes the optical drive to stop functioning) that while Rosetta Stone maintains their own 24/7 sales phone line, their customer service/support line is limited to M-F 9am-8pm - not very appreciative of the people who've dumped a chunk of change for their product and not at all convenient if you live/work overseas. Unless you like throwing away your money in bulk, I would recommend getting a Rick Steve's phrase book/dictionary for about $15 I can say that hasn't failed me yet.

my review

acceptable but easily improvable

Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2009

The weakness of this product, staring into and responding to a computer screen: your learning experience lacks the language reinforcing mechanism of emotions inherent in human conversation, but traditionally as that can only be captured by expensive school attendance, RosettaStone is a broad-beginning-learning tool which will strongly familiarize you with a language.

Have been extensively using Rosetta Stone for the past month; deeply "immersed" to use the word of the product. It is a good tool for speaking a learned language. But having almost completed the first of three levels (complete package available for a language), I find the written instruction very lacking. The headset came broken which was obviously packaged broken as the box was undamaged--poor quality control. It took four phone calls and a fax to get a replacement headset. This is very poor for such an expensive product. Tech support is there via phone with not much difficulty, but customer support is poor. I would check out the competition, Pimsleur, were I to start again. Also, RosettaStone way over rates how well one can speak the language once the sections are completed. I say this objectively because one is graded how well one performs in learning. Good performance (say over 90% correct responses, your performance graded by the program) does not equal good language skills.

I would recommend this product to be complemented by the traditional method of textbook learning -on your own or better in a class room. But the best use of this tool is as a precursor and compliment to speaking the language with other people. In this context, RosettaStone really shines and will propel your linguistic skill faster than any other method alone.

5/09 Six months after starting program, I am almost half way through (of all three levels; advancement slows as reviewing takes up more time) and I have same opinion as before.

Bad: poorer product for learning to write in the foreign language; I am good at achieving high program scores (it ranks your performance), usually scoring above 95% but I feel i am not equally proficient at the language as the program or the people at RosettaStone suggest; i have found errors in vocabulary, i.g. a photograph of the inside of a bookstore and calling it a "biblioteca" when it is actually a "libreria"; cultural errors such as teaching time in a 12 hour format rather than expressing the time in a 24 format as is customary in Italy; pronunciation inconsistencies (ig "portrai" -you may- pronounced both with a hard "I" and a hard "A" at the end of the word); errors in grammar as well; there are program glitches which are annoying: in pause mode, often the audio fails to work on replay and the program's ability to asses the first verbal response on a screen is very poor (this is annoying as you pay more attention to over-pronunciation as opposed to learning). For a $500 product these errors are not acceptable.

Good: irrelevant of drawbacks, I feel a growing grasp of the language and a confidence at this level which I did not feel during 1 year of college classes in Spanish. The program does work. I recommend this program but would still review more the Pimsleur product were I to start again. I do not know which product covers more language ground; it is not only the method of teaching and the price difference to consider. I have and still advise to supplement the RosettaStone product with a text book. In addition I transcribe/read a newspaper in Italian (using a two-way dictionary and Google Translate) from which I make vocabulary flash cards, as well as listen to Italian radio (Radio Uno via RealPlayer) over the net and watch Italian movies (tv would be better though).

Particularly regards "reviewing": the RosettaStone program has review sections which are vastly insufficient. I would recommend using the "Core Lesson"s in each unit as a means of reviewing; although it takes more time and slows progress thru the program, it is learning the language for practical application that counts and not program completion. And as to the the program's weakness in learning method (staring into a screen and lack of emotions in conversation which reinforce learning a language), I recommend when reviewing, speak your response whilst not staring at the screen and feel yourself (use imagination, w/out going overboard) in the context of the pictorial context.

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