Rosetta Stone (RS)

is regarded by most experts as the world’s best “learn-a-language” software. I was amazed at how quickly it works. Among their other highly effective methods, it uses pictures instead of ANY English as it teaches you….that’s the same way you learned your first language. It’s so simple it’s genius.

Civilians can purchase it at www.rosettastone.com

Military: The DoD has a contract with RS to make it absolutely free to military personnel (and maybe civilian contractors). All you need is an AKO account. SWC-ies especially need help these days now that the DLPT-5 is your most likely obstacle in The Course. Use RS to get a head start. Your spouse too can use it if (s)he has an AKO guest account.

You can find Rosetta Stone on the AKO main page. I spent a few hours digging it up because they don’t organize the info very well. Like most other things the Army issues you, you have to find the ways around it, buy something else yourself instead, or waste time trying to understand the government-worker/contractor brain that created it (probably on a Monday, to boot). That is what I have had to do here too. Until AKO fires Fred Flinstone as their webmaster, use these steps to make your life easier. Better still, your language lab may burn a disk for you so you can run it without jumping through the hoops of the AKO 12-step process every time you try to log on.

Okay, enough AKO-bashing. I have sort of reorganized it into a little easier format below. Just follow these steps.

• Sign into AKO, then click on
• “Self Help”
• “E-Learning”
• “Rosetta Stone”

If you have problems, it’s most likely because you don’t have Java or Adobe Shockwave installed on your computer. To get them,

• Click on www.java.com/en/

• For Adobe, click on www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/
• Now make sure your pop up blocker is off if you have one. That’s usually a simple click on the “pop up blocker” icon on Explorer or Mozilla or Safari or whatever browser you are using to surf the internet.
• You may have to restart your computer now and re-log back into AKO, SelfHelp, E-Learning, and RS...
• Now try to download Rosetta Stone again
• That should do it for 99% of people, but If you still have problems, RS will send you an email teling you what else your system needs. Comply and try again.
• Contact the Skill Soft Customer Support Desk at: http://onlinesupport.skillsoft.com