I would recommend the Michel Thomas method... It's significantly cheaper and it gets better reviews than Rosetta Stone does. About $60 for the course or less.
The content in each of the Michel Thomas language methods is the same, apart from the languages of course. So, as a user of the French version, I can tell you exactly what you'll learn in the German version. You will learn to conjugate verbs in first person, second person, and third person. You will the basic tenses, including but not limited to simple past and future. You will learn the correct sentence structure. You will only learn to speak and listen. You will not learn to read or write unfortunately. Also, at first you might speak really slowly. But then after a while you get faster, even with the ever increasing complexity of your sentences. The foundation course is 8 hours long.
I would suggest you use this method with either the old "Teach Yourself" German book. Along with the old "Assimil" German book. And if you can get your hands on a "Berlitz" book that would be excellent too. Also, one great book is "English Grammar for Students of German". It explains to you English grammar and logically lays out the German equivalent to it. It's written by Cecile Zorach I believe.
Hi - I am currently using Rosetta Stone I find its weirdly sticking in my head.
If you are unsure about purchasing most local libaries in the UK have Rosetta Stone or Pimsleur that you can borrow (obviosuly not copy!)
I have attached the link to the pimsleur website - I have no knowledge of how good this is or the differences between this system of learning and Rosetta stone however supposedly the CIA use this to learn languages - http://www.pimsleur.com/Learn-German
Im going to study Deutsch trhough RS. I have done around 120 hours with a private teacher based on Callam-method. Which I found great. I also took this method to learn English in a school.
Montberg thanks for the review of Rosetta Stone although now I'm going to google the level thing ie A1, B2 etc (is this a Rosetta stone level classification or do other programs use it?). Also going to google the Migros on line test.
Sarah T I'm glad to hear that you can find the Rosetta Stone in the UK libraries but I'd be happier if I could find it in a US library. I have commitment issues and so frequent libraries. I have often picked up spanish language programs in a library and to see if there is anyone worth owning.
Sometimes this forum just helps me to ask questions. I just found the Common European Framework, (. . .B1, B2 . . .) and am embarassed to say that I've never heard of it. I've always wanted some type of benchmark to track my ability in Spanish but somehow when searching I never stumbled on this (I suppose my USA origens are showing - arghhh!)
Does anyone have the German Rosetta Stone disks here? If so, are they able to burn? I would pay to burn them if I could use it here, but I unfortunately don't make much money here to pay a lot. If not, anyone would be kind enough to borrow it? I'm looking for another way to learn. I think the Swiss German dialect here could be hindering me learning hoch Deutsch if that is possible?! I took some classes, but I am looking for another alternative that isn't so expensive. Any other suggestions are welcome.