Rosetta Stone V2: Hindi Level 1 [OLD VERSION]

Depending on your learning style, this might be the best non-classroom language learning method out there. This software offers you two advantages over learning from a book/cassette that make it easily worth the cost. First, you get to hear the words as they are introduced, and see a picture of what they describe. This simultaneously engages auditory and visual learning processes. Second, the extensive practice options essentially set your learning methodology for you (no need to make your own flashcards, etc), which makes this a fairly stress-free, almost passive process.The most effective section of this seems to be the multiple choice word recall. A full sentence (or in the very beginning, word or phrase) is spoken, and you click on which of four images you think the sentence represents. While you may be able to choose the correct image without understanding every word in the sentence or the subject and verb endings, you eventually pick this up through repetition and context. I actually went through these exercises by cold guessing at first, and learning by trial and error. In this way, language learning emulates a real-world setting.The speaking practice allows you to compare a sound wave of your own speaking with that of a native speaker. This in itself isn't very useful, and I guess it's just a primitive evolution of sound recognition technology that may some day in the future be able to automatically judge your ability to speak.The writing practice is somewhat helpful, as it allows you to click and choose preset words in order to construct a sentence. However, this is not as helpful as writing the words yourself with pen and paper.My biggest criticism is that this software doesn't really explore the possibilities that computer automation affords, and really feels just like a transcription of traditional self-teaching methodologies. For example, the only "random" element is the shuffling of words in sets of four. If Amazon can remember which types of books you like to read and make reasonable recommendations for what you might be interested in, the technology for enabling a language review, sensitive to the strengths/weaknesses of the current user, should actually be an easier challenge for a software developer.My other main criticism is that the performance tracking system is very primitive. Nowhere is there a report-card style overview of your progress/performance in the system. You can log in and export your test scores, but this feature merely allows you to export a sequential listing of your scores by exercise.Overall, though, if there's better software out there, I don't know about it.If you're really serious about Hindi, I'd recommend buying this in conjunction with two other resources. "Unforgettable Languages" is a surprisingly effective vocabulary builder available for $11- it's limited to 200 words, and there's no audio guide to pronunciation, but it's a fast method (do a Google search to find it). Also, Teach Yourself Beginner's Hindi Script ($13) is very useful even if you don't plan on writing Hindi script, as being able to read the script will enhance your ability to pronounce the words taught in Rosetta Stone.

Tried in earnest for a month. But hard to learn via the RS method when the listed words are not based on the Latin alphabet but rather written in Hindi script. How are you supposed to learn this way?

I've been using this software for a few months now. I think it's well designed and through repetition and association works much better than learning from a book. I am terrible at learning languages but I surprise myself by actually remembering words and phrases when I'm not actually using the software.If you want to get anything out of the reading part you need to learn Devanagari script, which I did pretty easily using the Teach Yourself Hindi Script book. I think it would useless for this aspect if you didn't (as another review says). But if you do know the script, it really helps a lot with reading skills. Writing is another story and I try to write down the words elsewhere.One thing I'm not sure about is if they ever get into conversation. So far I'm on the 3rd unit out of 10 so they may later on, but so far I haven't learned how to say anything about myself like "My name is..." It also doesn't force you to come up with phrases on your own. It focuses on basic vocabulary and different tenses and relationships between objects. This is usually not much fun to learn and they do a pretty good job with it.The lessons are a good length to go through a little bit each night without being too overwhelming. You really need to speak the lines out loud though or otherwise you're not going to get the pronounciation. It helps to have a Hindi speaker handy of course although this is probably not possible for most. Also keep a dictionary around for words that aren't clear. You won't have to look at it too often though as long as you concentrate on the pictures.

This method is not the best for me for language learning. I think it's too indirect,inefficient and not completely clear. I would not buy another program.

I first learned the basics of the Hindi language fourty years ago. I thought this version would help deepen my understanding of the language. I found the pictures were western and the script was Devangari instead of western script. That made it difficult since I have really never learned the Devangari script and wanted to brush up on the language and do it quickly. I also found the level of the program was too simple. It did the present tense but nothing else. I needed to brush up on all tenses and this program was not for me.

Hindi is so easy, and I love the Rosetta Stone approach! Yes the old version doesn't teach the alphabet, but I learned how to read it anyway just by going through this program.

This software uses an absurd approach. They play a long sentence for you and then don't give you the phonetic pronunciation in English in writing. Instead they give you the pronunciation in devanigri (Hindi) script. This is completely useless for someone who can't read Hindi. And they don't teach you the script either.Completely useless approach and frustrating for a newcomer. The Japanese version of Rosetta stone had English phonetics with the Japanese audio, and that was ten years ago. I don't know why they didn't stick with that approach for Hindi. The only think I can think of is that they messed up when producing this software and were too cheap to correct the problem.I also own Japanese, Mandarin, and Spanish versions of Rosetta Stone, but I'm about to switch to Total Immersion for my fiance because I've had enough of this crap frustrating her.

I've been praising the Rosetta Stone product for awhile. It teaches you in a simple and progressive way. It's almost fun to do and challenges you sometimes and enforces your knowledge other times. It's a good stand-alone but also wonderful to supplement to any Hindi learning classes. It's super easy to use!