Rosetta Stone Review: Is This Learning App Good?

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Krystyna
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Exploring Rosetta Stone

WHAT IS ROSETTA STONE: Popular language learning platform with interactive courses for various languages, using advanced tech for effective proficiency.

WHICH LANGUAGES CAN YOU LEARN: 25 languages including Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Turkish.

WHO IS IT FOR: Ideal for beginners or those revising basic language skills.

QUICK VERDICT: Rosetta Stone is a user-friendly language learning tool that offers live classes. It is ideal for beginners and intermediates looking to refine their skills or learn specific vocabulary. However, its effectiveness is affected by the lack of grammar explanations and pronunciation feedback. Supplementing your learning journey with resources such as videos and grammar books can be beneficial.

PROs

  • Diverse learning options
  • Native speaker pronunciation
  • Achievements (stamps) for various activities
  • Clear learning path, and flexibility in lesson selection.

CONs

  • Expensive
  • Lack of explanations about the learning topic
  • Many technical issues
  • No option to evaluate the appropriate level.

It feels like Rosetta Stone is as old as time. And that’s true, if I meant the broken stone slab with messages written in three languages.

But Rosetta Stone, the language-learning solution, has been around for decades. It’s a language learning giant, and instead of the CDs and books you bought to learn a language in the 1990s, the company has kept up with the times. These days, you can use Rosetta Stone to learn multiple languages via your smartphone or an internet browser on your PC.

Rosetta Stone Starting Screen

Since I’ve been revising my Italian and Turkish, I had to give Rosetta Stone a try and see how well it performs as a language learning app. So here’s my honest and comprehensive review of Rosetta Stone.

WHAT YOU WILL FIND IN THIS REVIEW

My Language-Learning Journey on Rosetta Stone

I’ve been reviewing Italian and Turkish all through 2023, and I had to try the various language-learning apps to see which ones are the best (and fit my needs). I speak both languages on a B1/B2 level and have a good grasp of the grammar and syntax. My vocabulary is also quite extensive.

Of course, I had to try Rosetta Stone too, and the immersive learning approach was highly appealing. Instead of signing up for Turkish or Italian, I wanted to see how well I could learn Spanish (Latin America) if I completed one or two bite-sized lessons a day. So I signed up for the Spanish course (because you have to choose a language per subscription with Rosetta Stone).

I started at the beginner level, spent about 15 to 20 minutes learning Spanish every day, and made some progress. And you can, too, whether you have more time to learn or if you are a busy gal like me.

It was interesting to see how my learning Spanish compared to Rosetta Stone vs Duolingo, but more on this in my comparison article! For one, the learning approach was quite different, and I know which app I prefer (Psst … it’s Duolingo).

Every lesson immerses the learner in the language with real-world scenarios, audio, written words, and images - similar to how you learn your native language.
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Krystyna
Language Blogger & Polyglott

What Is Rosetta Stone?

Rosetta Stone is part of IXL Learning, a company dedicated to harnessing the power of education and changing people’s lives. Rosetta Stone was founded in 1992, and the language-learning platform currently uses cloud-based solutions to teach languages.

Before founding Rosetta Stone, Allen Stolzfus wanted to learn Russian but struggled to learn via traditional methods. He wanted to create an effective way to learn a new language through immersion.

Rosetta Stone Choose Your Goal

Rosetta Stone’s vision is to simulate learning a new language in the same way you learn your native language. You learn with sounds and pictures in context (and not through translation), and that’s how the app wants you to learn your chosen language(s).

What Languages Are Available on Rosetta Stone?

Rosetta Stone offers 25 languages you can study. Honestly, I’m surprised the language-learning platform doesn’t have more languages in its arsenal, especially considering that Rosetta Stone has been around for 30+ years.

Rosetta Stone languages

Here’s a list of languages you can learn when you subscribe to Rosetta Stone:

  1. Arabic
  2. Chinese (Mandarin) 
  3. Dutch 
  4. English (American) 
  5. English (British) 
  6. Farsi (Persian) 
  7. French
  8. German 
  9. Greek 
  10. Hebrew
  11. Hindi
  12. Irish
  13. Italian
  14. Japanese
  15. Korean
  16. Latin 
  17. Polish 
  18. Portuguese (Brazil)
  19. Russian  
  20. Spanish (Latin America) 
  21. Spanish (Spain) 
  22. Swedish 
  23. Tagalog (Filipino) 
  24. Turkish 
  25. Vietnamese

How Does Rosetta Stone's Teach You a New Language?

Rosetta Stone uses a research-backed approach to teaching you a new language. Every lesson immerses the learner in the language with real-world scenarios, audio, written words, and images – similar to how you learn your native language. This helps you learn quicker and retain more of what you’ve learned.

It’s called the Dynamic Immersion method, and you essentially tap into your innate ability to learn a new language. You use visual and conceptual clues to interpret what words, phrases, and sentences mean, eliminating the need to memorize and translate.

Rosetta Stone_s Approach

Rosetta Stone wants you to build a more meaningful understanding of the new language you are learning.

There are various ways to learn on Rosetta Stone:

  • Interactive listening, pronunciation, writing, and comprehension exercises in 20 units (plus the intro lesson)
  • Conversational Tips, How to Say, Lost with Locals, Greeting People, Grammar Explained, and Ordering Coffee videos
  • Live lessons 
  • The alphabet to help you practice your reading and writing skills 
  • Audio companion with lessons on language basics, greetings and introductions, and more 
  • Phrasebooks with common phrases for being polite or when you dine out 
  • Interactive stories to improve your reading and listening skills

Rosetta Stone's Language Courses and Exercises

Rosetta Stone focuses on all aspects of learning a language. In the lessons, you’ll:

  • Learn how to speak and pronounce the words correctly, and with TruAccent, the company’s proprietary speech recognition software, you’ll get immediate feedback – a circle that goes green when the pronunciation is correct and orange with words highlighted that you need to work on
  • Improve your listening comprehension 
  • Read and write via the scaffold approach

When I signed up, I chose “Travel” for the reason I’m learning Spanish. I also chose a “beginner – I’m just starting to learn” level.

Here’s an outline (learning plan) of how I’ll progress from this goal and level:

Rosetta Stone Travel Learning Plan

My First Spanish Lesson on Rosetta Stone

In my first Spanish lesson for Travel – Week 1 – Basic Sentences, I got to practice my pronunciation of basic words and sentences like “hola, una niña, un niño, la mujer come, el hombre bebe.”

I also got to test my reading and listening comprehension. There were no writing exercises yet.

Rosetta Stone Travel Week 1 Basic Sentences Exercise 1

The first exercise in the lesson was a pronunciation one. Rosetta Stone said “hola,” I had to repeat it, and then they said it again. I was a little confused – should I say it twice, just once? It was a bit jarring for the first lot of pronunciation exercises.

Rosetta Stone Travel Week 1 Basic Sentences Exercise 2

The second set of exercises were also pronunciation exercises. According to Rosetta Stone, I didn’t do well on the “un niño” pronunciation. It kept getting flagged as orange, so I had the option to report it (but it happened so fast I couldn’t get a screenshot of it).

Rosetta Stone Travel Week 1 Basic Sentences Exercise 3

The next set of exercises asked me to match the “la niña come/bebe” sentences and then I had to repeat that for “el niño, el hombre, and la mujer.” There were also exercises where I had to listen and then match the picture to that.

Rosetta Stone Travel Week 1 Basic Sentences Exercise 5

I know Rosetta Stone wants the student to be immersed in the language, but I felt like some explanations with the exercises would have been beneficial. I knew that “hola” means hello, but from the pictures, I could just as well have understood it to be a greeting – which is correct, but what type of greeting is it?

The same for the exercise with the people running, playing, or doing something during leisure time. What does “corre” mean? Does it mean “to run,” “to play,” “to exercise,” or “to enjoy leisure time”?

And there was no distinction between “un/una” and “la/el.” I only understood that “un” and “el” goes with male nouns and “una” and “la” with female ones and not that it meant “a/an and the.”

While I learned something during the first lesson, I was left with more questions – and no answers (or explanations).

After the exercises, you can click on the play button to listen to the pronunciation again or tap on the translation, but that goes by so fast that I didn’t actually get to use those functions. I’d actually prefer clicking to move to the next exercise.

Rosetta Stone Lesson Menu

At the bottom of the exercises, there is a menu:

  • A pause button if you want to take a break or make notes.
  • An “eye”  button if you want to see the answers. 
  • Dots that show you which exercises you got right. You can also click on the dot to retry the exercise. 
  • The three dots in the large circle shows you the lesson score with how many answers you skipped and got correct and incorrect. 
  • The “Skip” button to move ahead.

I wish Rosetta Stone did a walkthrough of the first few lessons so I didn’t only discover these later in my learning journey.

Rosetta Stone Congratulations Screen

Nonetheless, I passed the lesson.

Rosetta Stone estimates that the lesson takes 10 minutes, but it was about 3-4 minutes. If I was making notes, then yeah, it might’ve taken the estimated 10 minutes (or longer).

Rosetta Stone Progress Report

You even get a progress report if you want to keep track of certain stats or have to show a teacher or boss.

Is Rosetta Stone Really Effective?

After spending a week or so on Rosetta Stone, I learned basic sentences and about everyday items, meeting people, colors and sizes, clothing and quantities, and being polite.

I also reviewed the lessons because it seemed like my pronunciation wasn’t up to par 30% of the time – according to the language-learning platform.

I didn’t improve on my pronunciation because the app didn’t help me better pronounce the sounds, words, and phrases I kept struggling with. This was utterly frustrating, and I didn’t feel Rosetta Stone was as effective as it could be (or as much as it promised to be).

While I love the idea of an immersive experience to learn, that entails a lot more than matching pictures to sentences and words. So while Rosetta Stone claims to offer an immersive experience, I found this wasn’t the case. Well, until I did some digging and found the interactive stories, explainer videos, and more.

      Excited to learn more? Explore my articles listed below:

Rosetta Stone's Costs and Subscription Options

Rosetta Stone doesn’t offer a freemium plan where you have access to some language learning at no cost (or a real trial). You have to choose one of the three subscription options if you are learning a language through this company.

Rosetta Stone Pricing

Here are Rosetta Stone’s subscription options:

  • 3 months at US$15.99 per month (billed as a once-off payment of US$47.97) 
  • 12 months at US$10.50 per month (billed as a once-off payment of US$126.00) 
  • Lifetime subscription of US$199.00 (that’s a discounted one-time payment; the normal cost is US$399.00)

While you may not have ±US$200 (or more) laying around to pay over to Rosetta Stone, it is the best value plan. Why?

It includes all 25 languages, because if you opt for the 3-month or 12-month subscription, you pay per language. So if you want to learn French and Italian and sign up for a yearly subscription, it’ll cost you US$252.00 (126 x 2). And if you want to learn three languages, that’s US$378.00 yearly, which is quite pricey.

Rosetta Stone subscription plans

In every subscription plan, you get access to:

  • Bite-sized lessons, available on and offline 
  • A fully immersive learning environment 
  • Speech recognition software to practice your pronunciation and accent 
  • The mobile app 
  • A refund if you aren’t happy with Rosetta Stone within 30 days of signing up

Are Live Classes Included in Your Rosetta Stone Subscription?

Then there’s something else. Live classes.

There isn’t much information about this and I stumbled across this by falling down the rabbit hole on the Rosetta Stone website – you know, when you click on every button to see where it leads.

The live classes aren’t included in your subscription. You have to pay extra.

Rosetta Stone Live Classes Pricing

Two live classes cost US$29.99 (+ tax). This is a limited offer, and there’s no info about what more classes will cost you. I can only see how expensive this will end up being.

How to Cancel Your Rosetta Stone Subscription?

You can easily cancel your Rosetta Stone Subscription.

If you signed up within the last 30 days, email the customer support team and request a refund.

Rosetta Stone Refund Request

Otherwise, open the Rosetta Stone website. Click on “Your Account” and choose the “Cancel Subscription” option in the Summary tab.

Rosetta Stone's Pros

  • It has a clean interface that’s easy to use. It’s quick to sign up and easy to start learning your new language.
  • I love that I can access my new language’s alphabet, hear how the letter sounds and in various words. This improves my understanding, pronunciation, listening, and writing skills. 
  • I can learn in various ways from interactive lessons to stories, videos, and live lessons. 
  • You get achievements, or stamps, for random stuff like completing your profile, signing in 3 days in a row, and more. It’s nice to be recognized for your effort, and this motivates you to keep learning (if you’re into Rosetta Stone stamp collecting). 
  • There are 20+ languages to learn on the Rosetta Stone. 
  • All the pronunciation is from native speakers. 
  • A clear learning path, but you can skip ahead or focus on specific lessons (or units) if there’s something you need to learn ASAP. 
  • Can use Rosetta Stone on an internet browser or the mobile app.

      Excited to learn more? Explore my reviews listed below:

Rosetta Stone's Cons

  • Expensive! Rosetta Stone is one of the most expensive language-learning solutions with no free trial (and while you can request your money back within 30 days, it’s a hassle and you don’t get the full price back if you account for varying foreign exchange rates). 
  • You need to buy a subscription per language you want to learn – unless you can afford the Lifetime subscription. 
  • Ideal for beginner learners or those who want to revise and improve their basic language skills. 
  • The lessons start simple enough, but there’s a lag between the images showing and the instructions so I don’t know if I need to wait or if there’s a technical glitch. (#NotImpressed) 
  • No explanations with what you are learning, which left me with questions and no answers. When I chose to learn the past and future tense (in Unit 6), there was no introduction to the tenses and how to complete the exercises was confusing. 
  • While the speech recognition software seems more advanced because the site asks you to set up your microphone, it’s quite finicky. Some pronunciations pass through with green colors while others get flagged. While the site shows you which words/phrases you mispronounced, it doesn’t tell you how to improve. 
  • I had issues granting microphone access to the Rosetta Stone website. It was annoying.  
  • While Rosetta Stone is upfront with some information, I had to go dig to find information about the live lessons (and the cost of these) and other immersion features.
  • No placement test to see if the level you pick is right for you.
  • No grammar explanations, which makes learning more challenging. 
  • Some lessons take quite a long time to load on my internet browser.

How Can You Contact Rosetta Stone's Customer Service?

There are various ways to reach out to Rosetta Stone’s customer service team if you have a query, need technical help, or want to make use of your 30-day money-back guarantee.

You can also contact the team to access general information in Spanish and English.

Rosetta Stone Contact Options

Contact Rosetta Stone’s customer service via their contact page. Send an email, fill out the support form, or call them.

Rosetta Stone FAQ

Alternatively, visit the helpful FAQ page or the Support Portal.

Review Verdict: Is Rosetta Stone Worth It?

WHY I RATE ROSETTA STONE 6.5/10

Rosetta Stone is synonymous with language learning but there’s no free trial to test out the platform’s features. It’s relatively easy to use, once you get the hang of it and know where to find extra features like the live classes, stories, and videos to help you learn more.

The language-learning solution is best for beginners or if you are an intermediate student who wants to revise and up your basic skills or focus on learning vocab from a specific lesson. However, with the lack of grammar explanations and no real feedback on your pronunciation, Rosetta Stone isn’t as effective as it could be.

You definitely can’t rely on it to become fluent, and it’s quite pricey with no free trial or freemium subscription. It doesn’t help that the live classes are an extra expense – something Rosetta Stone isn’t upfront about.

In conclusion, use Rosetta Stone with other language-learning resources like YouTube videos, grammar books, and a real-life teacher to help you with pronunciation.

Not sure Rosetta Stone is the right language-learning partner for you?

Check out my detailed reviews on Babbel, Mondly, and Rocket Languages to make the right choice!

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Krystyna
Language Learning Blogger
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Disclaimer: I select and review independently. If you buy through affiliate links, I may earn commissions that help support my testing at no extra cost to you. Please read my full disclosure for more information.

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