Help
Help Topics
- Rosetta Stone overview
- Language learning strategies
- Setting up your computer for multiple languages
- Windows 2000
- Windows XP
- Windows Vista
- Mac OS X
- Japanese
- Simplified Chinese
- Traditional Chinese
- Korean
- Central European languages (Czech, Hungarian, Polish, Slovak)
- Cyrillic (Russian, Bulgarian, Ukranian)
- Vietnamese
- Icelandic or Turkish
- Need more help?
Rosetta Stone Overview
Learning How to Use Rosetta Stone:
1. Open the Rosetta Stone program from the desktop.
2. Once it is open, you need to log in with the lab account.
Username: ev_guest
Password: guest
3. Choose a language from the list by clicking it. The levels that we have available will be displayed on the right, select one of them and then click Continue.
4. Each level is broken up into units (tabs at the top), and core lessons (diamonds and squares in the middle of the screen). To select any of these, mouse over to what you want and then click.
There is only one account for everyone to use, so the software may say that you have completed lessons that you haven’t done before. If you want to keep track of your progress, then you will need to do so on your own. It it helps for us to provide progress tracking sheets, then we will happily provide them.
5. It is recommended that you start with the core lesson for a set of exercises so that you will build the mental connections you need to complete them. They take about 30 minutes. Be sure that you have enough time to finish them, since your progress may be gone by the time you return to it.
6. The lesson screens have their activities in boxed numbers at the bottom of the screen. Green ones were completed without errors. Orange indicates that there was one or more errors. Hovering over them will show you the score for that activity. Clicking the box when you see the score will take you to the activity. If you want to repeat the activity, then once you’ve clicked the box, you must click the green circle arrow in the middle of the following screen.
7. On all activity screens there is an icon in the lower left corner that shows the answers when clicked. More importantly, when clicked it will display an icon on the corner of each image that will allow you to practice your pronunciation. Clicking any of those icons will take you to a recording section. On that screen you will be able to listen to a slowed down recording, record your voice several times and play your recordings back, and compare your tone and voice level to the speaker’s. By practicing your pronunciation on this screen, you will get much closer to sounding like a native speaker.
8. At any time, you can practice identifying specific sounds in the target language. To do this, select Alphabet from the question mark drop down menu at the top of the window. This is extremely useful for beginning and advanced learners alike.
9. To return to the language home screen during an activity, click the home icon at the top of the window. To return to the language selection screen from the language home screen, click the arrow icon at the top of the window.
Play around, have fun. Even if you don’t use the special recording feature, try saying new words out loud. This is the language lab after all! If you need help with a specific lesson or activity, just ask the lab aide on duty for help.
Language Learning Strategies
Mary Jacob at UC Davis has compiled an excellent set of strategies for effectively learning Chinese and many of those suggestions are applicable to any language you want to study:
1. Review within the first fifteen minutes after class to increase your retention of new grammar and vocabulary.
2. Practice speaking by reading dialogues out loud, not just in your head. The more you say it, the easier it is to call structures and vocabulary up from memory when you’re in a real conversation.
3. Study a little every day instead of cramming once a week. Even if you study for seven hours that day, it’s not as effective as an hour a day for seven days.
4. Review new vocabulary in several short study sessions of a few minutes at a time, on the bus, waiting for your friend, whatever.
5. Make vocabulary flashcards on paper or online at Word Champ.
6. Make index cards for sentence patterns. The act of writing the structures down will help them stick.
7. Find a conversation partner or study buddy and practice speaking as often as possible. Write your own dialogues or handy phrases and practice saying them out loud.
View the full list of tips here.
Setting up your computer for multiple languages
Windows 2000
To add languages:
NB: For character-based languages, including Chinese and Japanese, you must first install or enable an Input Method Editor (IME)–if your system doesn’t have this already–to be able to type in characters, kanji, or kana.
1. Open the Start menu, and in Settings, click Control Panel.
2. Click on “Regional Options.”
3. In the “Regional Options” box, click on the “Input Locales” tab.
4. Select the language and dialect you want in the “Input Locales” box, then click “Properties.”
5. Change the keyboard layout, if you need to, in the “Keyboard layout” box.
6. Click “OK,” and then “OK” again to save your changes.
To switch between languages:
Click on the language bar, now located near your clock, and select the language you want to use.
(Thanks, Microsoft, for this How to.)
Windows XP
To add languages:
NB: For character-based languages, including Chinese and Japanese, you must first install or enable an Input Method Editor (IME)–if your system doesn’t have this already–to be able to type in characters, kanji, or kana.
1. Open the Control Panel from the Start menu.
2. Click on “Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options.”
3. Click on “Add other languages.”
4. A box will open called “Regional and Language Options.” On the “Languages” tab, click “Details.”
5. Another box opens. This one is called “Text Services and Input Languages.” On the “Settings” tab, click “Add.”
6. Yet another box opens. (“Add input languages,” it’s called). Click the “Input language” list and pick your language and dialect. You can also change the keyboard layout, if you want to. Click “OK” when you’re done.
7. Now you’re back in the “Text Services and Input Languages” box. Click on the “Default input language” list and select the language you use most. That way, when your computer starts up, it knows what to do.
8. Add more languages, or click “OK.”
9. In the “Regional and Language Options” box, select “Install files for complex script and right-to-left languages” and/or “Install files for East Asian languages” if those apply to you and the language you’re working with.
10. Click the “Regional options” tab. Click on the “Standards and formats” list and choose your region. (Unless you are living in another country, you can just leave it “English (US).” You don’t have to change the region to use multiple languages).
11. Click the “Location” list and select your location. (Again, you can just leave it as it is).
12. Click “OK” to save your settings.
To switch between languages:
Click on the language bar, now located near your clock, and select the language you want to use.
(Thanks, Microsoft, for this How to.)
Windows Vista
To add languages:
1. Open the Control Panel from the Start menu.
2. Click on “Clock, Region, and Language.”
3. Click on “Regional and Language Options.”
4. In the Regional and Language Options window, select the “Keyboards and Languages” tab, and click “Change keyboards.”
5. Under “Installed services,” click “Add.”
6. Double-click the languages you want to add. Add any text services and options you want, and click “OK.” For character-based languages, including Chinese and Japanese, make sure you select the Input Method Editor (IME) option to be able to type in characters, kanji, or kana.
To switch between languages:
1. After you add input languages, the Language Bar should appear in the lower right corner of your screen. If it is not visible, right-click the taskbar, point to “Toolbars,” and click “Language Bar.” Click the Input Language button and select the language you want to use.
2. Click the Keyboard layout button and select the layout you want to use. Remember to select the Input Method Editor (IME) to type in character-based languages like Chinese and Japanese.
(Thanks, Microsoft, for this How to.)
Mac OSX
Mac OSX includes support and input capabilities for many languages that do not require special installation, but some alphabets (Cyrillic, for example) require installation of compatible fonts from the the Mac OS 9 Installation CD. Installation of these custom language kits will automatically activate that language. Keyboard layouts for the activated language will appear in the “International Preferences” panel.
To type text in a given language:
1. Select a keyboard or input method in the “International” panel of “System Preferences.”
2. A new keyboard menu with a flag icon will appear in the menu bar of all applications, which will allow you to choose different keyboards or input methods.
Help for specific languages in Mac OSX:
(This section is copied in toto from the Apple support site. Thanks, Apple!)
Japanese
1. Open the document in a Mac OS X application.
2. If necessary, use these fonts: Osaka, Osaka-mono, or Hiragino
3. To type text: Select the Kotoeri input method
Simplified Chinese
1. Open the document in a Mac OS X application.
2. If necessary, use this font: Hei
3. To type text: Install the Simplified Chinese Language Update, if needed, and select Simplified Chinese input method
Traditional Chinese
1. Open the document in a Mac OS X application.
2. If necessary, use this font: Apple LiGothic.
3. To type text: Install the Traditional Chinese Language Update, if needed, and select Traditional Chinese input method.
Korean
1. Open the document in a Mac OS X application.
2. If necessary, use this font: Apple Gothic
3. To type text: Install the Korean Language Update, if needed, and select Korean input method.
Central European Languages (Czech, Hungarian, Polish, Slovak)
1. Install the Central European Language kit in Mac OS 9.
2. To read in Unicode applications, use these fonts when necessary: Lucida Grande, Geneva, Times, Helvetica, Courier, or Monaco. Many other fonts work with these languages as well.
3. To write in Unicode applications: Select and use the Extended Roman Unicode keyboard.
4. To read in any application, use these fonts when necessary: Times CE, Helvetica CE, Charcoal CE, Geneva CE, Palatino CE, Courier CE, Chicago CE, Monaco CE.
5. To write in any application, select and then use any of the following keyboards: Czech, Hungarian, Polish, Slovak
Cyrillic (Bulgarian, Russian, Ukrainian)
1. Install the Cyrillic Language Kit in Mac OS 9.
2. To read in Unicode applications use the Lucida Grande font when necessary.
3. To read in any application, use these fonts when necessary: Charcoal CY, Geneva CY, Helvetica CY, Monaco CY, Times CY
4. To write in any application, select and use any of the following keyboards: Bulgarian, Russian, Ukrainian
Note: You cannot type Cyrillic with the Extended Roman keyboard.
Vietnamese
You must use a Unicode application.
1. To read: If necessary, use the Lucida Grande font.
2. To write: Select and use the Vietnamese keyboard.
Icelandic or Turkish
You must use a Unicode application.
1. To read: if necessary, use these fonts: Lucida Grande, Times, Helvetica, Geneva, Monaco, or Courier. Many other Roman fonts support these languages as well.
2. To write: enable and use the Extended Roman keyboard.
(Seriously, thanks, Apple!)