Rosetta Stone (software)

Overview

Rosetta Stone Language Learning is proprietary, computer-assisted language learning (CALL) software published by Rosetta Stone Inc, part of the IXL Learning family of products. The software uses images, text, and sound to teach words and grammar by spaced repetition, without translation. Rosetta Stone calls its approach Dynamic Immersion. The software's name and logo allude to the ancient stone slab of the same name on which the Decree of Memphis is inscribed in three writing systems. IXL Learning acquired Rosetta Stone in March 2021.

Corporate history

Rosetta Stone Inc. is an American education technology software company that develops language, literacy and brain-fitness software. Best known for its language-learning products, in 2013, the company expanded beyond language into education-technology with its acquisitions of Livemocha, Lexia Learning, Fit Brains, and Tell Me More. In 2021, it became a subsidiary of IXL Learning. Corporate headquarters are in Arlington, Virginia. There are also offices in Harrisonburg, Virginia; Boulder, Colorado; Austin, Texas; Seattle, Washington; Concord, Massachusetts; London, United Kingdom; and Seoul, South Korea.

Beginnings

According to the company, originator Allen Stoltzfus learned German through immersion while living in West Germany and found it relatively easy. In the 1980s, Stoltzfus began learning Russian in a classroom setting, but found the classroom setting much more difficult. He wanted to simulate the German experience, and he decided to use computer technology to create a similar learning experience. He enlisted the aid of his brother-in-law, John Fairfield, who held a PhD in computer science. By 1992, CD-ROM technology made the project possible. Allen and John, along with Eugene Stoltzfus (Allen's brother), formed a company known as Fairfield Language Technologies in Harrisonburg, Virginia. They hired Greg Keim and Michael Silverman along with other significant team members. They released their software product under the title The Rosetta Stone.

2000s and IPO

In 2003, the company announced the hiring of Tom Adams, a businessman with international experience, as president and CEO. In 2004, Rosetta Stone Ltd. established its Endangered Language Program to contract with endangered language communities interested in custom software development to support language revitalization efforts. In 2006, the company changed names to Rosetta Stone, Ltd., and converted from an S corporation to a C corporation. Ownership transferred to investment firms ABS Capital Partners and Norwest Equity Partners. On September 23, 2008, Rosetta Stone Inc. filed an initial public offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission. On April 15, 2009, the company was listed as the Rosetta Stone on the New York Stock Exchange, raising $112 million in its initial public offering of stock shares. In its first full day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange, the stock gained 39% from its opening price. After a strong opening, however, the stock stumbled amid reports of weaknesses in Rosetta Stone's US business, resulting in the cancellation of a second offering, and a disappointing year end price just 5 cents off its opening price. The stock traded under ticker symbol RST. As of December 2015, the stock was at approximately $29.2 (USD) per share.

2010s

In 2013, it acquired four companies:

Vivity Labs Inc (creators of the Fit Brains Trainer, software marketed for brain training) for around $12 million, but by 2016 Rosetta was looking for a buyer for the product. It was later discontinued on June 7, 2018. Vivity Labs, which originally produced the games, was founded in 2008 in Vancouver, British Columbia by Michael Cole, a game developer, Paul Nussbaum, a neuropsychologist, and Mark Baxter, who had worked in the brain training field for the prior seven years. The platform was started mostly with private investors' money and was also supported by Telefilm Canada and National Research Council Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP). Livemocha, Tell Me More, Lexia Learning. On September 17, 2013, Rosetta Stone announced the launch of a new Kids Division. In November 2014, it debuted its first kids reading program for consumers, Rosetta Stone Kids Reading. Since 2016, the company's president and CEO has been John Hass. Rosetta Stone is transitioning to a cloud-based business model that goes beyond language learning and deeper into education technology.

Acquisitions

On August 31, 2020, Rosetta Stone announced that they had entered an agreement to be acquired by Cambium Learning Group for $792 million. On March 17, 2021, Rosetta Stone was acquired by IXL Learning from Cambium Learning Group.

Dynamic immersion

In a Rosetta Stone Language Learning exercise, the learner pairs sound or text to one of several images. The number of images per screen varies. For example, the software shows the learner four photographs. A native speaker makes a statement that describes one of the photographs, and the statement is printed on the screen; the learner chooses the photograph that the speaker described. In another variation, the learner completes a textual description of a photograph. In writing exercises, the software provides an on-screen keyboard for the user to type characters that are not in the Latin alphabet or accents that may not be in their native language. Grammar lessons cover grammatical tense and grammatical mood. In grammar lessons, the program firstly shows the learner several examples of a grammatical concept, and in some levels, the word or words the learner should focus on are highlighted. Then the learner is given a sentence with several options for a word or phrase, and the learner chooses the correct option. If the learner has a microphone, the software will evaluate word pronunciation using the embedded speech recognition engine, TruAccent. Each unit contains reviews of the content in those lessons, and each unit concludes with a Milestone activity, which is a simulated conversation that covers the content of the unit.

Scoring

The program immediately informs the learner whether the answer is right or wrong. Through the Preferences screen, the learner can choose whether a sound is played or not when an answer is clicked. At the bottom of the window, the program shows all the screens for the current lesson. If all answers for that screen are correct, the button for that screen turns green. If some answers are correct, the border of the button turns green, but the screen number itself turns orange. If all answers for a screen are wrong, the button turns orange. This applies to all lessons except review and Milestone lessons, which are treated as tests. In those lessons, the buttons for each screen all remain clear. In all lessons, there is a button that can be hovered over to display how many answers are correct, incorrect, or have not been answered. Each time an answer is clicked, one point is given. At the end of the lesson, the total number of correct, wrong or skipped answers is shown alongside the percentage of correct answers for that lesson. If too many questions were answered incorrectly, the program suggests the learner should retry the lesson.

Software versions

To use Rosetta Stone Language Learning, a student needs the Rosetta Stone application software and at least one level of a language pack. The latest major version of Rosetta Stone is Rosetta Stone Language Learning 5.0.13. Language packs also have version numbers. The version number of the language pack is distinct from the version numbering scheme of the Rosetta Stone application, and a language pack is only compatible with specific versions of the application. Version 4 and 5 are backward compatible with language packs developed for Version 3, but not older ones.

Version 1

By the end of 1996, Rosetta Stone Version 1 had a selection of nine level-one language courses (Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish) and four level-two courses (English, French, German, Spanish). A CD-ROM product called The Rosetta Stone PowerPac featured introductory versions of seven of the courses. At this time, Fairfield Language Technologies had already begun development of the Arabic, Esperanto, Hebrew, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Swahili, Thai, and Vietnamese courses. Within a few months, the Japanese, Thai, and Vietnamese courses were complete, and development of Latin, Polish, and Welsh courses were underway. The Latin course was the next to be completed, followed by Hebrew. In this fashion, Fairfield introduced new courses to market gradually. Rosetta Stone Version 1 was developed for Macintosh System 6 and higher, and Windows 3.0 and higher. Later revisions of Version 1 for Macintosh required System 7. The final revision of Version 1 was v1.9.

Version 2

At Version 2, Fairfield continued to add more language courses, but also marketed more editions of The Rosetta Stone software. The PowerPac CD-ROM introduced in Version 1 now featured basic lessons in seven languages. One complete level of a language course was now called a Personal Edition of the software. Because many consumers found The Rosetta Stone to be too expensive, Fairfield started a series of "Explorer" editions. An Explorer CD-ROM was a lower-cost excerpt of a Version 2 course. Each edition of the Rosetta Stone Explorer series (Japanese Explorer, Welsh Explorer, etc.) included three units (22 lessons) from Level 1. The company no longer sells Explorer editions. Then there was Global Traveler, a CD-ROM and electronic translation dictionary package for people requiring some facility in English, French, Spanish, Italian, or German. The lessons on the CD-ROM teach words and phrases for travelers. The electronic translator was programmed with about 60,000 words and 720 phrases.

Compatibility

The Rosetta Stone v2.0.x is backward compatible with some of the later language packs for Version 1; specifically languages courses with a version number of 3.0 or 4.0.x. The Rosetta Stone v2.1 through v2.2.x are only compatible with v6.x language courses. These versions of the language packs and software engine are neither backward compatible nor forward compatible. Language discs developed for The Rosetta Stone v2.0.x are incompatible with these later revisions of the software. In v2.1.4.1A of The Rosetta Stone, the program began using copy protection software called SafeDisc.