As others said, you can go to the Rosetta Stone website and do a demo there, and also get a free CD sent to you, as a sample, so you can try it before you buy it. You may also be able to get it via your library, so I'd have you search for the program there first, and only buy it if you can't get it there.

In addition if you do buy, I suggest you only buy one language at first, and see how it goes. If it goes well, you buy the other. If not, you're only out the cost of the one language.

That said, I've tried Rosetta, as well as Pimsleur, and classes. Of those, my recommendation would be to combine a class with either Rosetta or Pimsleur. You only learn so much vocabulary off Pimsleur or Rosetta, and you really need a class to bring your skills up to the next level. With something like Rosetta, you really only learn the language at a very, very basic level - no where near true speaking ability. But it can be a good place to start, and it would be a wonderful addition to an actual class, if they were to also take a class.

With that said, if a class is not available to you, and you are choosing between Pimsleur and Rosetta for two boys, I think Rosetta might work better for them... while Pimsleur would work better for you. I believe Rosetta would work better for them because it's fully interactive - there are pictures, sounds, the kids speak, they can record themselves speaking, etc. It should keep them interested. Pimlseur is audio-only, which for two boys, probably won't hold their attention. I think Rosetta would be the better option.

The problem I have with Rosetta is that it really just teaches you words without much context, and what context there is isn't particularly relevent to the situation you'd be in if you went to Germany tomorrow. For example, if you want to string the words you know together in a sentence and speak to someone, you won't really get that from Rosetta, unless you want to ask them "Where is the book? Where is the pen? It's in the library. :LOL:.) But you will get real world context from Pimsleur (Do you speak English? I only speak a little German. I'm sorry, but where is the toilet, etc.) But Pimsleur doesn't teach as many words as you'll get from Rosetta.

What I mean is that, with Rosetta, you'll get all the basics re: what you yourself may remember from language classes. "Where is the book? It's under the shed." etc. Pimsleur, however, does an amazing job of teaching useful language; what I'd call "tourist German" - you'd finish the CDs not only being able to ask and answer all the basic questions, but you'd have amazingly good pronunciation (another strength of Pimsleur).

One of the nice things that Rosetta does is that there are no actual translations. You see a picture, hear and see the text of the German word, and it clicks in your head. As an aside, though, one of the problems I had with it was that sometimes, I couldn't tell what the pictures were supposed to *be*. I mean, I grew up in Boston; how was I supposed to know if the picture of this animal they showed was a cow, a steer, cattle, a bull, or something else? :LOL:

So for you, an adult? Pimsleur. But for your boys? Rosetta.