A click on the main menu leads us into a darkened screen with a row of buttons along its lower edge. In just a few seconds, the main menu appears (Figure 1).

Figure 1

Before we examine the three most important buttons to the left of this row, let us first look at some of the others in order to set the environment in which we want to work. This will make it easier for us to understand the various aspects of the program itself. We shall then return to the buttons marked 1-5, 6-10 and 11-12 for a detailed analysis of the program.

We have already alluded to the little fellow on the right. Immediately to his left we find an icon with a loudspeaker, a sliding control, and three square buttons (see Figure 2). This button gives us access to our set-up screen

Figure 2

The set-up screen (control panel):

This is the icon which allows access to the setup screen, or control panel, with which the student will be able to personalize the environment in which s/he is working. A click on this icon introduces us to the menu in Figure 3.

Figure 3

The menu in Figure 3 has been divided into two parts: a lower one for sound control and an upper one for "run" control.

a) Sound controls:

• To the right is a sliding volume control panel. Its function should be fairly obvious.

• In the middle of the panel there are two pads, each with eight squares. The upper pad controls the sound which is heard when a student provides a correct answer, while the lower one controls the sound associated with an incorrect answer. Six of the squares on each pad are numbered 1 through 6; each of them provides a different sound or audible response to the answers the student chooses. The remaining two buttons display a question mark (for a random selection of the other six sounds), and a speaker which has been crossed out (no sound).

• In the middle of the menu, on the left, we find two smaller buttons: one with a yellow check mark on it, the other with a happy face. The user may choose either the check mark or the happy face to select the visual response to the correct answers s/he will give to the questions posed. (see Figure 4)

Figure 4

Either the check or the happy face will be prominently superimposed over a picture to which a student has given a correct response. The "x" or deleted happy face appears when the answer offered is incorrect. Of course the sounds synonymous with acceptance or rejection of an answer will accompany the visual correction. Here, as elsewhere, the creators of the program make every possible effort to link sight with sound to reinforce the learning experience.

b) Run controls:

Figure 5

• To the left of the "run" mode, we find a diploma. This represents the test option with its various features.

• The face with the blindfold represents the delay option which forces the student to retain either the sound, the picture, or the written text in memory while s/he is looking for the correct picture.

• The timer option on the right of the screen allows the student to set the response time from 1 to 30 seconds. Default is 5.

The Program

Let us now move to the three icons marked 1-5, 6-10, 11-12. These are the buttons which introduce us to the most important part of The Rosetta Stone : the program itself.

Figure 6

A click on one of the runners will now lead us to the screen we see in Figure 7, again in approximately three or four seconds. These three icons introduce an excellent series of exercises -- variations on themes -- on 12 different levels. Let us examine first the lesson variations numbered 1-5 in Figure 7 below.

Five large icons, each displaying four pictures, now appear on the screen. Through them, the student gains access to a very comprehensive series of exercises designed to teach both vocabulary and the basics of German grammar.

Figure 7

Icon 1, which has four pictures plus some writing next to the loud speaker in the upper left-hand corner of the icon, introduces us to the basic learning level. A click on this icon will bring us into Chapter 1 (in this case, of Unit 1) where both the written and the spoken word accompany the pictures on the screen. The other icons represented here offer variations on the learning process. Icon 2 uses just the spoken word to identify the pictures in the series, while icon 3 reverses the process and uses the written word -- no sound. Icon 4 leads the student into an exercise in which the German words are superimposed across each of the pictures. The student is required to identify the picture which corresponds to the written words above. And finally, in level 5, one of the four pictures is highlighted and the student is required to click on the picture which will correctly identify the spoken word which accompanies it.

The authors of The Rosetta Stone   have made every attempt to correlate the eye and the ear in the learning process. They have done so very successfully and, by using a rich variety of exercises, manage to hold the student's interest for a considerable length of time.

We shall examine Unit 1, Chapter 1 (Figure 8) more closely.

Figure 8

The learning process is simple and effective. A word appears at the top of the screen -- in this case, "eine Katze" -- and a voice repeats that word clearly. A click on the loudspeaker re-activates the voice and the student can listen to the spoken word as often as is necessary. The student must now link the written and the spoken word with one of the pictures on the screen by clicking on the appropriate picture. A correct answer will evoke an instantaneous visual response (in the form of a check or a happy face written large across the picture), as well as a simultaneous audible response (applause, for example) from the program. Similarly, an incorrect answer will elicit an "x" or a deleted happy face and a corresponding groan, for example. We have already explained how a student can tailor these to his or her own wishes. As the student progresses through this part of the program, the order of the pictures on the screen changes randomly so that the correct answers will not always be found in the same place. This is, of course, fairly basic material, but as the student progresses through the 8 units of exercises, the material becomes quite challenging.

To the right of the screen is a small menu which clearly indicates which exercise the student is doing, in this case Unit 1, Lesson 1. The open book icon allows the student the opportunity to enter one of three browse modes (picture, voice and text; picture and voice; text and voice) to check the answers or to review the material. A running total of correct and incorrect answers is located at the bottom of the menu. I found it a little difficult to figure out why certain questions added three or four points to the counter while others, seemingly as hard, added only one.

On my Mac 7500, the screen refreshed itself extremely quickly and correction was virtually immediate. Since there is little down-time between questions and answers, the student's attention span remains high.

An additional feature of the browser modes is the Voice Record/Playback option which allows the student to compare his or her pronunciation with that of a native speaker. Recording may last for up to 10 seconds and the student may toggle between the native voice and his or her own pronunciation as often as desired. This function of the program is similar to the "repeat" function of language lab tape recorders and is a welcome aspect of a program. However, I think there is a danger that the student might still neglect the spoken aspect of language learning. S/he may be so caught up in identifying the correct picture on the screen that the actual formation of the sounds of the words being learned will be overlooked.

Chapters 6 -10 and 11-12 offer further variations of the material being presented. Chapter 6, introduces the student to a highlighted picture. Above it is a word which the voice repeats. The student is required to select the correct answer. Chapter 7 shows a picture and four blank boxes. As the words are spoken, the student must select the empty box into which the picture would fit. Level 8 shows the picture and the written word. The student must select the correct box for the picture. Level 9 offers the student a picture, the written word and the spoken word. Finally level 10 asks the student to identify the picture on the screen, using only the spoken word and four blank boxes. The student must click on the appropriate blank box with the correct answer.

As the student progresses through the program, the exercises become more and more difficult and the responses more demanding. At a basic level, the material on prepositions, for example, requires the student to distinguish between "unter" and "auf". This is fairly obvious from the pictures presented on the screen. But by the time s/he has arrived at level 06-01, for example, the subtle differences between "neben" and "gegenüber" demand the student's full attention. There is no way a student can consistently anticipate or guess the correct answers. Most of them require concentration and a measure of insight which I find unique to this program.

A case in point is the section on past and present verb tenses: the subtleties of the pictures must be carefully observed and the correct answer selected. A picture of a measuring cup, first full and then almost empty, is used to teach the difference between, "Der Messbecher ist   voll." and "Der Messbecher war   voll." By the time the student is ready for an advanced level, Unit 8 offers an interesting series of sketches which teach prepositions and directions. "Wie komme ich zum Bahnhof?" The student must observe these sketches carefully and work out the correct answer. The exercises are interesting and effective; the variety of the material and the way it is presented is very good.

Thus we can see how the student progresses from Chapter 1 in which s/he is required to identify the spoken and the written word, through Chapter 12, in which the student must listen to a voice and identify the picture on the screen by clicking on the empty box to which it belongs.

The Rosetta Stone   also has a tutorial mode in which the student is guided through the exercises. Sometimes there is voice and text, other exercises offer just the voice and still another possibility is a random mode. If a question is missed, it will be banked and re-tested in the course of the tutorial. This is an effective review tool which stops short of explaining grammar in a formal way. Instead it makes use of pictures to convey a particular point.

There is little this program does not have. Even dictation is possible, although I experienced a little difficulty in the accelerated version 2.2 in having the program recognize a correct answer I typed at level 08-10. One aspect of this phase of the program which annoyed me a little was the fact that version 2.2 invariably indicated a wrong answer when I ended my dictation with a "Return" or "Enter". This was not the case in the 2.0 version of the program, so whether this was by design or simply the result of a programming error, I do not know. For me, and I think for most experienced computer users, it is normal procedure to hit the "Enter" key after typing a paragraph. It took me a while to realize that I would have to change my habits a little. However, in contrast to Version 2.0, the accelerated version is lightning quick in making the corrections to dictation.

Another problem I encountered in the dictation mode dealt with punctuation. Although I can accept the fact that sentences must be terminated by question marks and periods, I have some difficulty with the inclusion of commas within the body of the dictation. This is especially true when they are not indicated in the dictation itself and when there is really no need for one. For example, Unit 08-10 (1) insists on a comma after "Bank" in the following excerpt. "...Gehen Sie zur Bank, und wenden Sie sich nach links". This comma is not obvious here, nor is it as necessary as it would be if it were separating two clauses. However, failure to include the comma will result in an incorrect answer. In my view, this detracts from the real object of the exercise.

And finally, the user's manual tells me that my first error in dictation will be highlighted. This is obviously the way it should be, but I was never able to activate this feature of the program. All I ever got in response to an incorrect answer was an "x" in the same place on the screen every time.

I feel that the quality of some of the pictures could be improved just a little. I say this because, from time to time, I had a little difficulty distinguishing precisely what each picture was trying to portray. On the whole, however, this was not a serious problem.

Version 2.2, which has recently been released, will soon have to be updated again in the wake of the recent spelling reforms in Germany ("Straße" > "Strasse"). For the time being, the program teaches the "ß" as the only correct form, but I am certain that this problem will be corrected in the near future.

Finally I must take issue with the claim in the User's Manual that "Level 1 of The Rosetta Stone   is "...designed to be a self-contained language learning course. It can serve as a first year college course or two years of high school instruction." I am convinced that any CALL program requires the timely intervention of a good teacher.

For example, in Unit 01-02 the student is introduced to three verbs: "laufen", "rennen" and "gehen". The subtle differences among them are clearly portrayed in each of the pictures which appear on the screen, but I wonder just how perceptive the student who comes to this program without previous preparation or familiarity with another foreign language will really be. In my view, it is probably too much to ask a student who is not first prepared by a teacher, or by home study, to decipher the differences among these three verbs. Unaware that "rennen" is normally used to mean "to run at great speed", the student may associate "rennen" with the picture of a horse, and think, by extension, that it applies to animals and not to people. Then, one of the sequences presents a dog which is also running; the verb employed here is "laufen". At this point the student's carefully reasoned distinction immediately breaks down. To be sure, it is difficult to put into pictures the shades of meaning associated with these words. Often the word "laufen", simply means "to walk", but this is where the role of the teacher is essential. It seems to me that some kind of preparatory work would serve the student well. A similar criticism holds true for the imperceptible shift from singular to plural verb endings. Only the student with some background in language study will readily catch on to the shift from "springt" to "springen" or from "läuft" to "laufen".

I have similar concerns about many other points in grammar which are introduced without fanfare. The "-n" on dative plural nouns is a case in point. The student is expected to reproduce it when it suddenly appears, but s/he is never told why this happens. While I do not think that we, as teachers, should put undue emphasis on minor points of grammar at a very early level -- these can be introduced slowly at the right time -- I also know from my own teaching experience that mature students will start asking questions: "Why is there an '-en' ending on this verb and just a '-t' on this one?" Or, "Where did this '-n' (plural) come from?" It is asking too much of an observant adult to accept these nuances at face value and subsequently to memorize them.

The criticisms I have made here are probably minor ones, but they are critical for the way I teach. For some, they may not seriously detract from the effectiveness of the program.

In my view, The Rosetta Stone   deserves full marks for excellence in presentation and effectiveness. It is, in fact, one of the best programs of its kind which I have come across. The authors deserve credit for their attention to the real issue of teaching -- to the methodology. This remains foremost from beginning to end. The pictures and sketches which make up this program are merely the means to an end and not the end in themselves as is so often the case in this kind of program. The Rosetta Stone   provides an interesting and effective path to learning.

Would I recommend The Rosetta Stone   to language learners? At $395.00 (US) this is not an investment which everyone would readily make, even though the program may be good value for the money. As I have indicated, I do not think it can be used effectively as a stand-alone means of learning German; consequently, the student who purchases this program with the understanding that s/he will be able to master German alone will be disappointed. In my view we have not yet reached the point where a computer program will replace the role of a good teacher. Nor do I think The Rosetta Stone   will foster "rapid" foreign language learning as the manual claims. This is advertising hype which is misleading at best. There is no quick and easy way to language acquisition and nothing which will replace a year abroad, using the target language on a daily basis. That said, however, I think that The Rosetta Stone   might be helpful in second language acquisition when used in conjunction with other material in a beginning or intermediate course in German; it might even be fun!

Fairfield Language Technologies is endeavoring to expand its offerings in The Rosetta Stone series. I suggest that potential buyers of this product spend a few minutes at the company's Web site for a complete listing of products now available and those which are planned.

As a supplementary note to this analysis, I should add that I was able to download Version 2.2 from the Web site of Fairfield Language Technologies. Version 2.2, which corrects a few bugs in earlier versions, offers both a 68K version and an accelerated Power PC version. As I have indicated above, the accelerated version offers some real advantages in speed.