I love this software, because it has helped me understand a lot more Japanese than the tapes from my textbook. The language is very natural, and the fact that you can see pictures and read the sentence being spoken at the same time helps significantly. You can repeat the lessons as many times as you want to help you master the content, without the exercises becoming boring or excessive. I practice almost two hours a day, and after a week I started to notice improvements. Now when I want to say something in Japanese I don't do any translating in my head first, I can feel the Japanese words coming together. However, I already knew some Japanese before I bought this software, so for a true beginner this program might be a bit advanced. In addition, the immersion method this software follows might not be for everyone. Finally, you do need to have the discipline to study regularly, preferably one hour every day. Ganbatte kudasai!!

This is a great program for a few reasons. One is that you have plenty of time for listening and taking in the language before you actually speak it (great for pronunciation and comprehension--my comprehension sucks, so I was really happy with this). Two, there's no explicit grammar instruction, which makes it easier to speak the language in the beginning--you're not sitting around silently trying to think of the correct grammar structure instead of just speaking and getting your point across, regardless of grammar troubles (you'll want to work on grammar with a book or some other program when you reach high-beginner/intermediate levels). Three, it's fun. And you're learning the same way you learn your first language, association of words, phrases and visuals. The price is worth the product.

One problem is that what you learn is not immediately useful in actual conversation. My experience was that I needed to get to about level 4 of the first unit before I could actually start "talking" Japanese. If you want straight-up conversational Japanese in a few short months, I'd suggest Pimsluer, which is overpriced, but will get you to where's-the-bathroom-and-what-time-is-it land in a jiff. Another problem is that there is no actual writing practice. You place the characters in the right spot with your mouse to form correct sentences, which helps with character recognition, but not hand writing. Finally, the voice recognition is innacurate. I had a native Japanese speaker listen to my speech. In several instances, I was told by the program that I couldn't be understood, but my Japanese friend said there was no problem in understanding me.

You can make up for the lack of grammar instrcution and hand writing practice by getting a book called "Japanese for Everyone" for grammar work after you half way through the first RS cd, and picking up "Remembering the Kana" for learning to write Hiragana and Katakana in a pretty painless fashion.

A high quality, effective interactive learning system. Two complaints:

1) No obvious explanation of grammar. It took me forever to figure out what various particples and other "connectors" meant. If figured this out in an hour at a Japanese class and I am much the better for it.

2) Romaji (spelling Japanese words phonetically with roman/english letters) is a waste. There are differing opinions on this. But my suggestion is to go through the comphrehension and speaking exercises, skip the word recognition and spelling exercises, and supplement the writing with a good book on Kanji and the Kana. Think about it, would a Chinese try to learn German by first trying to spell out all the German words with Kanji? Well, duh...

I had initially reviewed this software more negatively because of the software being shipped with disks for the old Mac system. However, now Fairfield Technologies will replace the disks with new OS X disks, for free, even internationally.

Good product, and amazing service.

This software is designed around the immersion approach to learning languages. A drill will show you a picture of an apple, and you'll see the word spelled out while a narrator gives the pronunciation. At various points in the drills, you will have the chance to read the Japanese word for apple, use your logic and language skills to pick the picture for apple after hearing the word in Japanese, and more. Its target audience is the self-motivated learner who's serious about learning and mastering basic Japanese over a 1-2 year period. Anyone looking for a quick and useful phrases for a short visit to Japan should use the Rosetta Stone Explorer or Traveller programs instead of this set. That said, using the Rosetta Stone is a lot cheaper than a plane ticket to Japan, or the tuition fees at intense summer Japanese courses at various universities around the US. If you master all the drills and vocabulary in the program, you will be well equipped to go to Japan, and to continue learning the language in an immersion environment.

The student who has headphones and microphone attached to his or her PC will be able to take advantage of all the listening, reading, speaking and writing drills in the program. Users can switch back and forth between the romanized, hiragana and kanji scripts.

Your Japanese teacher may not have the time (or patience) to give you individualized, repetitive drills. That's not a problem with this program - you can practice all you like and the program will never get tired of you! As such, the program is a good supplement for people formally enrolled in a class.

For the student who dislikes the immersion approach and prefers to learn Japanese scripts and grammar before tackling any listening or reading, I recommend the Power Japanese and Kanji Moments programs from Bayware software.

Once you have completed the Rosetta Stone programs, you will still need some formal study of grammar, but this program covers basic principles like the subject-object-verb order characteristic of Japanese, and basic verb forms.

I used the online version of RS Japanese, and was extremely happy with it, but only because I have very high-speed internet access. Once my use license expired, I could no longer access the programs. If I had the CDs, I'd always be able to refer to the program later. Take your pick based on your own personal convenience.

I liked my RS Japanese experience so much, that I took the plunge and bought the Level 1 Korean edition on CD.