Rosetta Stone vs Preply
Overview
Rosetta Stone is one of the oldest and most tried and tested solutions for language learning. It immerses you in interactive core lessons conducted entirely in the target language and provides speech technology to get you speaking in your chosen language quickly and correctly. Rosetta Stone lets you choose both your level and your reasons for pursuing a language and if you purchase Lifetime Plus, you can access regular small group lessons with a live tutor.
Preply is a language learning platform that connects you to language tutors based on your needs and schedule. It’s highly user oriented: you choose your language (from 35 on offer), your teacher, how many lessons you take and whether to learn 1-1 or in groups. You pay for lessons in blocks of hours and can connect with other learners via the community.
Pros
- Very immersive, you see, hear and read only in your target language in true to life scenarios
- Speech technology to fine tune your accent and object recognition which allows you to point at an object with your phone camera to identify it and have a conversation about it in your target language
- Allows you to personalize your language goals
- Provides In depth progress reports
- Flexible - available in desktop and device versions
- Regular small group lessons with live tutors for Lifetime Plus subscribers
- Good user experience
- Live tutoring from native speakers with real time feedback
- 1-1 tuition enables lessons to be tailored to individual needs
- Learn what, when and where you want at your own pace and with no subscription on desktop or device
- Immersive due to live teaching
- Comprehensive - 35+ languages with varied content and lessons plans for all levels
- Free Preply blog and Q&A community
- 1-1 or group lessons available
- Placement test based on Common European Framework (CEFR) levels and structured curriculum
Cons
- Can feel rather repetitive
- Not great for grammar, writing or cultural context
- No placement test
- Full immersion in the target language may be off putting for some
- No free trial - though trial lessons are heavily discounted and you can get a refund if you are dissatisfied with a lesson
- Classroom software can be glitchy
- Complex pricing system with auto renewal
Best for
Best for: Those looking to learn a new language from scratch or seeking to improve their speaking and pronunciation. Most suitable for those happy to learn purely in the target language and to learn intuitively rather than in a structured analytical way.
Best for: Anyone wanting to receive live, individual one to one tuition. Whether this is to learn a brand new language or improve on existing skills. Also, those not wanting to commit to an annual subscription who want to learn on-the-go and by their own schedule.
Price
From $7.99 per month
From $15 per hour
Number of users
500,000 active users
11 million
Overall
Overall: Rosetta Stone propels your language-learning forward by adapting a program of courses to suit your learning aims. It immerses you in the target language (combined with visual and audio clues) so you can learn instinctively and without relying on translations. It also stands out by offering additional features such as voice and object recognition.
To providerOverall: Preply develops your vocabulary and fluency by connecting you with tutors 1-1. By doing this, you can speed up your learning and get on track with a personalized program. With over 32,000 high-quality teachers, Preply stands out by allowing you to select from a huge pool and filter lessons by availability. Do remember to cancel auto renew if you decide you don’t want any more lessons
To providerSupported languages
Spanish, French, German, Italian, English, Japanese, Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, Filipino, English (US), Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Irish, Korean, Persian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Spanish (Latin America), Swedish, Turkish, Vietnamese
English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Italian, Korean, Arabic, Chinese, Portuguese, Russian, Polish, Turkish, Dutch, Ukrainian, Hindi, Hebrew, Greek, Czech, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Hungarian, Urdu, Thai, Serbian, Latin, Punjabi, Persian (Farsi), Romanian, Tagalog, Danish, Bengali, Sign and Indonesian.
About
Rosetta Stone is a language e-learning service founded in 1992 with the aim of unlocking the secrets of language learning success. This is why it was named after the actual Rosetta Stone (which unlocked the secrets of Egyptian hieroglyphics).
It's now one of the oldest and best known names in the industry with 500k+ active subscribers.
As well as having platforms designed for personal and business use, Rosetta Stone has a K-12 educational platform. Around 15% of schools in the US subscribe to one of Rosetta Stone's products.
Rosetta Stone is very immersive and uses only the target language (combined with audio, images and speech recognition) to teach you from the very start.
Preply was launched in 2015 as an online marketplace where learners pay fees to teachers for live online individual or group lessons.
It now has 32k+ teachers of over 200 nationalities who offer personal tuition in 35+ languages. You select the language you want to learn, the level you want to learn at and the teacher that best suits your needs. Discounted trial lessons help you land on the best tutor and once you have made your choice, you pay for monthly blocks of hours (minimum 4) rather than committing to an annual subscription fee.
Placement tests will identify your current proficiency. Levels are based on the Common European Framework and tutors will aim to progress you through these levels.
How it works
To get started on Rosetta Stone you choose the language you want to learn and either go for a three day free trial or subscribe to one of the options (see costs below).
Following this, you choose your proficiency level and your learning aim (travel, work, etc.). Rosetta Stone will then present you with a learning plan based on your answers:
These plans are the core part of the program. The overall aim is to teach you useful vocabulary and phrases that match your learning aims.
Each lesson is split into bite-sized parts which challenge you in different ways and help to keep up your engagement.
Rosetta Stone also offers a range of supporting features such as:
- Speech recognition to hone pronounciation
- Seek and speak (object recognition)
- Phrasebooks
- Stories
- On demand videos
- Live tuition with expert coaches and native speakers (for Lifetime Plus subscribers)
All of these are described in detail in the features section below.
One of Preply’s selling points is that it’s designed around you. You’re in full control of what and when you learn and can trial different tutors to find your fit.
You simply go to Preply.com, click on ‘Get Started’, choose the language you are hoping to learn and click continue.
You’ll be asked a series of questions about your goals, current level, tutor type (eg native speaker or from a particular country where the language is spoken), when you want your first lesson, the type of lesson you’re looking for and your budget.
Following this you open a free account using your email address, Google or Facebook, and then choose from the filtered tutors who best match your requirements.
You’ll see their star rating, numbers of existing students and lessons and their proficiency in your own native language (which is essential to ensure good communication between you). Plus, you can sort the results by popularity, top picks and pricing
You can then take up to 3 discounted trial lessons, usually around 50m long. You use this time to discuss your level and focus areas and sample a tutor’s teaching style.
Once you find someone you’d like to have lessons with, you commit to a monthly subscription of a number of hours per week (between 1 and 5). You can distribute these hours in whatever way you and your tutor agree upon (eg 1 a week, or two every other week, etc).
What a lesson is like
Generally, whatever the level or language, Rosetta Stone’s lessons are structured in a similar way.
They are grouped around communication topics depending on your purpose for learning (eg: business, travel, etc.) and designed to teach useful vocabulary and phrases which you then practise.
Lessons themselves are split into bite sized exercises conducted entirely in the target language.
You’ll usually hear and see a word or phrase along with a number of pictures and try to match them together. The aim is to get you learning actively and intuitively, rather than just memorizing words and translations. You’ll also be asked to repeat words and phrases using voice recognition.
On Preply, lessons vary according to your current level, your tutor and how far along you are with them.
The Preply classroom is similar to Zoom/Skype but is a built-in feature of Preply’s desktop and app versions. So, you don’t need to download any software.
Within the Preply classroom, you’ll find a note and chat section, interactive whiteboard*, and homework tab. These help to structure your learning and encourage engagement. Tutors can send attachments and lesson plans, which appear in their own area. This means your learning is easily accessible wherever you are.
*Interactive whiteboard not available on the mobile app.
After 2 hours on Preply, I improved my basic German skills by:
- Getting personalized expert teaching from a native speaker
- Conversing with my tutor in the target language
- Reading new words aloud from a shared screen and sharpening my pronunciation
- Highlighting correct answers on the interactive whiteboard
- Engaging in external resources and homework tasks set by my tutor
- Running through grammar tests
Who is it good for?
Rosetta Stone's learning style would suit anyone who's:
- Learning a new language from scratch
- Keen to improve their skills in another language
- Happy to learn purely in the target language
- Like to learn intuitively rather than in an analytical way
- Appreciative of consistent, predictable content
- Interested in applying language-learning to real-life scenarios
- Keen to join regular small group live tutorials
- Needing to learn flexibly on any device
Preply’s learning style would engage anyone who’s:
- Wants to learn a new language as an absolute beginner
- Eager to improve their language skills (especially grammar and pronunciation)
- Believes they’d benefit more from 1-1 learning
- Busy and unable to commit to fixed time slots
Interested in learning a language for educational reasons or as a hobby
Compared to similar platforms like italki, Preply seems more suitable for beginners. Tutors don’t initially insist on speaking entirely in the target language. And you can ensure that your tutor is proficient in your own language to aid good communication.
With classes for kids as well as businesses, Preply really has something for everyone and doesn’t expect a foundational level of knowledge.
The tutor-contact feature means you and your teacher can discuss your skill level and lesson aims outside of lesson time. This way, Preply ensures you’re fully equipped for your lesson even before it begins.
Features
- Personalized learning
- Flexible learning
- Speech recognition
- Seek and Speak - object recognition
- Phrasebooks and stories
- Regular live small group classes led by a tutor
- Personalized 1-1 live tuition
- Direct contact with native speakers
- Immersion
- Flexible learning with no annual subscription
- Desktop- or device-based to best suit your needs
- Free Preply blog and Q&A community
Is it worth it?
A lot depends on the type of learner you are.
If you like to work things out for yourself and are happy to plunge right into your chosen language then Rosetta Stone's dynamic immersive approach is likely to suit you well.
It will teach you the vocabulary and phrases you need to achieve your language learning goals. And though its core lessons can feel a little repetitive, Rosetta Stone gives you the freedom to jump ahead or focus on the specifics that interest you. It also provides lots of fun resources to help you actively practice the language.
And if you subscribe to Lifetime Plus you'll be able to boost your learning real time feedback with live tutorials from expert native speaking coaches.
But if you are a very analytical person who wants to understand the grammatical structure of a language, or you want a strong focus on writing, it may not be the best choice for you.
While I'm nowhere near proficient in speaking French, after a few hours on Rosetta Stone I was speaking more confidently and precisely than before. Also, the additional features such as seek and speak, stories and videos were a great way of immersing myself in the language outside of core lessons.
Overall, with a free trial option for three days, I think Rosetta Stone is worth trying out. After choosing your goals, you can get a feel for the site by taking a few lessons. As most users agree, it's a helpful place to start and gets you speaking actively in your new language.
In short, it depends on your learning style.
If you’ve used other app-based programs like Babbel or DuoLingo and found them not to be very helpful, Preply is an outstanding resource for getting individual, live, personalized learning.
Also, if you have a busy timetable and can’t commit to fixed days, you can search tutors by availability and speed up the booking process.
I hit on two excellent tutors and found that after a couple of hours I greatly improved my vocabulary and pronunciation. Plus my understanding of German grammar (which I remember from my school days as terrifying) improved massively. If only it had been taught the Preply way when I was at school!
Getting instant feedback reassured me that I was on the right track, unlike on pre-set apps. Although some see it as complementary to other learning, I think 1-1 tutoring is an invaluable method. And Preply matches you with tutors who are advanced or proficient in your own native language so you can easily express your questions, needs and learning style preferences.
With trial lessons available at reduced prices and a range of tutors to try out, there’s little to lose and a lot to gain with Preply. So, if you’re looking for a learning plan that suits your skills and lifestyle, I think Preply is definitely worth considering.
Just make sure you understand its pricing structure, use up all your hours and cancel your subscription when you decide to stop!
Why not browse the tutors and book a trial lesson?