Rosetta Stone TOTALe (French) review

Putting it into practice

Having completed the first of the five units, which provides a foundation in the language but little more, we had an opportunity to test our new skills on a trip to France. We were pleased to find that the basic French we’d learned was enough for us to communicate in shops and restaurants and even converse with a new acquaintance at a concert. The emphasis the course places on correct pronunciation proved its value when we talked to native speakers, and we found we were easily understood.

The course moves from individual words and simple sentences to virtual conversations that give context to what you’ve learned

The lessons in Level 2 build upon your vocabulary and knowledge of grammatical tenses with themed units about subjects such as travel and discussions about the past and future. Further into the course, you’ll learn the grammar and vocabulary you’ll need to discuss more challenging topics such as world events and the state of your health.

In addition to the course lessons, and studio sessions with teachers, TOTALe provides games and activities to support your learning. The Explore section contains stories to read, listen and then read aloud to improve your speech. These are graded to match the difficulty level of different units in the course and introduce supplementary words and sentence structures.

Beyond the classroom

In the Play and Talk areas of the site, you’ll find a number of single- and two-player games, from simple sound-identification puzzles to more advanced challenges where you and another player must describe scenes to one another and identify the differences. If you want more freedom to practice your spoken or written French, you can use the two-person Chatonium chat room to stretch your language skills. However, finding partners to play two-player games can be a challenge. Learners from all over the world use TOTALe at most hours of the day, but we had a hard time finding partners on weeknights.

Rosetta Stone’s system of immersive teaching by example won’t suit the needs of every language learner, but for absolute beginners and those who haven’t encountered a language in a very long time, its natural approach is brilliant. As with any learning process, you’ll need to invest regular effort and plenty of time in your learning. Each level has 40 to 50 hours of content; it took us just under three months to complete the first level. If you’re interested in languages other than French, it’s worth noting that not all have a five level course. Three levels are more common for the majority of languages, without the complex grammatical teaching that goes into the final two.

A 12 month subscription to the course costs £240, or you can pay £150 for six months of access. You can pay as a lump sum or in five instalments. 12 months works out to be under £5 a week, so Rosetta Stone is great value compared to many forms of tuition, especially if you take part in the live classes. However, the value you get out of it depends on how much you effort you put into the course. A one month free trial is available and we recommend using it before you buy to see if the teaching method suits you.

Once your initial subscription period is over, you can pay monthly. In a slightly complicated arrangement, the monthly price equals the total purchase price for your initial subscription term divided by the number of months in that term, so a 12 month contract will convert into a £20 per month month-by-month subscription.

We found Rosetta Stone TOTALe to be easy to use and fun to learn. Most importantly, we could apply what we’d learned when talking to native speakers. However, if you spend much of your time without access to an internet connection then the offline Rosetta Course will be a better choice, but you won’t have access to lessons with live teachers.