If You Want to Help Your Customers with the Rosetta Stone Database, Then You Need to Read this Post

One of the many databases we offer to the public is Rosetta Stone, a tool that provides audio and visual elements in order to teach foreign languages. The beauty of this program, since it is audio and visually based, is that pretty much anyone (no matter what language they speak) can use it to learn another language.

For example, to navigate through the program, you never really encounter specific words to perform functions. If you want to exit a particular part of the program, you click on the picture of someone parachuting (they're bailing out!). The reasoning behind this is that anyone across numerous cultures can eventually understand that the parachuter is the Exit button. This is confusing at first, but you eventually get the hang of it.

There are a few things to note about our Rosetta Stone subscription:

• While Rosetta Stone offers several introductory lessons for each language, the main purpose for our subscription is to provide an English as a Second Language service. Therefore, you will notice that ALL lessons for English are offered, compared to 2 or 3 for all the other languages.
  
• Another important note, found on the Library Databases page under Rosetta Stone's description, is that "the program is available in the Humanities Department at Central Library, the East Shelby, Parkway Village, Raleigh, and Randolph branches, and the InfoBus." Rosetta Stone requires Shockwave 10.1. Previously, it required only Shockwave 10.0. Automated Services technicians upgraded all public computers to Shockwave 10.0. The Rosetta Stone database promptly upgraded the requirements.
  
• Access to MPLIC's Rosetta Stone subscription requires a library card. However, the free version of Rosetta Stone is available on their website (no library card required). The only difference is that MPLIC's subscription has ALL English lessons (as noted above). Therefore, if someone who speaks English wants to use it to learn French, then they really do not need to access it through our databases.

Rosetta Stone is a fun tool. If you would like to learn more, read this training handout and give it a whirl.