Has anyone been effective at learning a foreign language through Rosetta Stone?

I tried Rosetta Stone for Spanish. It was effective to learn basic words and sentences. It does not have any grammar or conjugation instructions though so it will be very hard to go beyond the basics with it. I assume it would be the ame thing with Japanese

My college uses another software called TeLL me More, by Auralog. I found it more complete and less repetitive. It covers not only the basics, but also intermediate or advanced level. My goal was to become fluent so it was perfect for me. It has a lot of different activities: picture/word association, videos, dialogues,..., includes also grammar and conjugation. It has also more content than Rosetta Stone as far as level and number of hours of learning and is cheaper. Their speech recogntion is great so you can have a dialogue with the computer. You can check out their website at http://www.auralog.com/ for a free demo or they can send you one

The best way to learn a language would be through immersion, visiting these countries. Learning a language will require some time. In addition to software, you can have books which are useful as well. Audio CDs like Pimsleur for instance might help you out but you cannot get any feedback on your pronunciation so I did not like it so much.

I just downloaded their software to improve my Japanese. I wouldn't spend a dime on it. I didn't spend a dime on it.

You can download it using bit torrent free from a couple sites.

If you've bought or seen cheaper software out there it's probably just as good. Some simple match the picture to what you're hearing or reading exercises. That and repeat after me drills.

The amount they charge is nothing more than a rip off. The softwares not great and the instruction is actually pretty bad. There's no sentence structure or grammar. Only phrases.

If you have the money to spend look at a college course in your area. Personal instruction's the best way to go.

Good luck with Japanese. Japan's a wonderful country. Great food, interesting culture and history, and a nice place to live.

Nihon, how I miss thee;p