Frequently Asked Questions

Rosetta Stone is the world's most popular and most advanced program for learning a new language. It's also the most intuitive, using a mixture of words, pictures, speaking and listening. There's no books, no memorising, no grammar tables, so it's actually fun.

Throughout your study, we provide you with continuous opportunities to practice your new language, preparing you for real-life conversations. Each lesson provides the opportunity to advance your listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills, and each unit concludes with an opportunity for you to simulate a real-life conversation.

Learning opportunities aren't limited to your computer, as there are a wide range of mobile apps to choose from.*

*Online services and Mobile apps are included with Rosetta Stone online subscription, all other customers can access our online services by paying a fee.

All Rosetta Stone online subscription customers have access to the following features:

• Our latest award-winning software, complete with proprietary speech-recognition technology
• Live, online practice sessions tutored by native speakers
• An exclusive online community filled with language games and other activities
• Mobile apps to practice on the go
• Audio Companion® for your CD or MP3 player
• Dedicated Customer Success agents, who encourage and inspire you to meet your language-learning goals

If you're on an iPhone or Android device, then TOTALe Companion is what you are looking for. The app contains eighty separate lessons featuring vocabulary, speaking and pronunciation. That way, you can amp up your learning wherever you go.

On the iPad? Even better. There's two apps made specially for the iPad: Rosetta Course^® HD and TOTALe Studio™ HD. These apps combine to let you do almost everything you can in the full Rosetta Stone online subscription course.

For more information about these apps and were to get them, check out our Mobile Apps page.

Rosetta Stone has a team of experts who developed the cutting-edge speech-recognition technology that we use in our software. Our speech-recognition technology compares your speech to that of native speakers and provides immediate feedback to help you polish your pronunciation. Speech-recognition software hears your voice and replies back to you in the immaculate accent of a native speaker.

That way, you'll have an authentic model to pattern your accent against. It makes it much easier for native speakers to understand you when you take your new language on the road. You'll have access to speech-analysis tools, such as record-and-play-back options, to help you evaluate and improve your speech patterns.

Adaptive Recall™ brings back a review activity for each lesson at intervals that are determined by your performance in that review. Exceed the program's expectations for you and the review gets pushed out further. Fall short and you'll see it sooner. The program gives you a likely date and automatically notifies you when it's time to take the review again. These Adaptive Recall sessions help you transfer what you have learnt in previous lessons to your long-term memory.

Our solution provides the necessary tools for you to explore a new language. You'll learn quickly and effectively as you build a foundation of fundamental vocabulary and essential language structure. Starting out, you'll learn enough to speak in social situations, such as greetings and introductions, dining out, giving and getting directions, shopping, etc. As you progress further, you'll be able to go deeper, sharing ideas and opinions, discussing current events, dealing with health issues and negotiating complex situations in and out of the workplace.

Rosetta Studio allows you to practice your new language in a real time setting. These live sessions are led by a Studio Coach who is a native speaker. Your coach knows exactly what progress you've made and the lesson will take place entirely in your new language.

Rosetta Stone online subscription customers can take up to four sessions a month, each lasting 25 minutes.

It will take about 40–50 hours to complete the content in each level. In addition, for the duration of your online services, you'll enjoy unlimited access to our live online sessions and online language-learning community to practice and refine your skills. Remember, each learner is different. Some will use the programme on a daily basis, while others will log in less frequently. The more you use the Rosetta Stone® solution, the more quickly you'll learn a language.

We offer over 20 different languages including French, Spanish, German, Chinese, Japanese, and the ever-popular Pashto. See full list.

We want you to be one of the millions of Rosetta Stone lovers. If you're not, we offer a 30 day, no-risk money back guarantee on all Rosetta Stone language learning products purchased direct from Rosetta Stone. Learn more.

Yes, it's very effective. We've helped over 25 million people around the planet learn a language, including corporate clients such as NASA, the US State Department, and more than 10,000 schools. Click here to find out what satisfied users have had to say.

It's the same language, with different dialects, like the difference between American and British English. Both are good choices for most situations. But if you plan on spending time in Spain and the European Spanish-speaking areas, Spanish (Spain) should be your choice. For the Americas, including the United States, Spanish (Latin America) is more practical. Want more details?

The differences in the products range from subtle to more noticeable. Our Spanish (Latin America) product is based on the way Spanish is spoken across many countries in North, South, and Central America and the Caribbean, while our Spanish (Spain) product is based on how Spanish is spoken in Spain and its nearby territories, such as the Canary Islands. While most forms of Spanish retain an essential core understood by most speakers of the language, the two forms we teach contain notable differences in pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary. Our Spanish (Latin America) product teaches an accent from northern South America and southern Central America, while our Spanish (Spain) product teaches Castilian Spanish with an accent from north-central Spain, including Madrid.

Grammar differences also exist--for example, Spanish (Spain) has some additional verb inflections, and verb tenses may be used differently in Spain than in Latin America. Similar to the way British English and American English vocabulary have evolved separately over the last several hundred years, Spanish vocabulary has diverged from one side of the Atlantic to the other. This is especially true in areas such as technology. A simple example would be the word for car, which is coche in Spain and mostly carro in Latin America. Even within Latin America, there are regional differences in vocabulary, so for our Spanish (Latin America) product, we chose standard words that are understood throughout Latin America.

Both our Rosetta Stone CD-ROM / Download and online subscription products support computers with Windows or Mac operating systems.

All you need is a PC or Mac with broadband internet access and a USB headset with microphone. The minimum system requirements are:

Operating System (one of the following):
• Windows: XP SP3, Vista SP2, Windows 7, or Windows 8
• Mac (Intel based only): Snow Leopard, Lion, Mountain Lion (OS X 10.6 or higher)
• Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 4, Safari 5, Chrome 11 or greater
• Adobe Flash Player version 10.3 or greater

Computer Hardware (all of the following):
• On Windows: 2.33GHz or faster x86-compatible processor OR Intel® Atom™ 1.6GHz or faster processor for netbooks
• On Mac: Intel Core™ Duo 1.33GHz or faster processor
• 1 GB of RAM or higher
• 1024 x 768 display resolution
• High-Speed Internet connection (at least 768Kbps)
• USB headset with microphone (not included)

While we do our best to ensure our products work as often as well as possible, errors do happen. If your issue provided you with an exact error code, visit Success Central and run a search for the exact code.

First and foremost, make sure your computer meets the minimum system requirements. If it does, then you're in good shape. If you happen to have Rosetta Stone online subscription then you're in luck, as the program is entirely browser-based and requires no installation. For Rosetta Stone CD-ROM / Download, however, installation is required. A handy wizard will walk you through the process when you insert the CD, for Download you simply follow the online instructions. If you need a bit of further guidance, see this video if you're installing on a Mac. If you're on Windows, check out this video.

There are plenty of reasons to deactivate your Rosetta Stone product, from a simple return to migrating to a new computer. Deactivating is a simple process that can be done through the program interface itself.

• Click on the Preferences icon in the Toolbar
• Click on Add or Remove Languages
• Click Deactivate Products

Still need help? Try this comprehensive walkthrough.

Things are a slightly bit different if you're on Version 3. See the walkthrough.

The simpliest solution is to download Rosetta Stone language learning directly to your computer.

Within the product interface, you can renew your access to the online features by choosing Manage My Account from the toolbar.

The software can be installed on up two computers for use for up to five family members.