It costs $229 to purchase one introductory level course in any of the 31 languages offered by Rosetta Stone.

However, Boston University students have the option to utilize the 24 Rosetta Stone language programs offered through the Howard Thurman Center for free.

HTC decided to establish the Rosetta Stone service in 2008 because they wanted to offer another language learning option, Senior Administrative Secretary Alexandra Bastien said.

The program costs $95 per license and HTC has ten licenses total. And because there are not always ten people using Rosetta Stone at once, more than one person can use a license at a time. Between 15 and 35 students utilize the program per day, depending on how late it is in the semester, Bastien said.

‘There are more in the beginning of each semester and then as finals come up, less students come in to use the program,’ she said.

Rosetta Stone teaches its users to be able to speak with less of an emphasis on grammar. According to the company’s website, the program ‘teaches a new language by immersion, rather than translation and memorization drills.’ The translation is easy with the help of audio translation services. What matters is a person’s understanding and familiarity with the language.

College of Arts and Sciences junior Lauren Zimmerman, who uses Rosetta Stone for about an hour twice a week, said that the program is popular among BU students.

‘There are quite a few people using it, usually between five and ten,’ she said. ‘I personally want to improve my language skills and want to use all of the resources available.’

As a linguistics major, Zimmerman started out using Rosetta Stone for German, but said she’s now also learning Turkish, French and Portuguese.

Bastien said the most popular languages to learn are French and Spanish.

However, other languages are quickly catching up.

‘Arabic has become increasingly popular,’ she said. ‘People always say their reason for using Rosetta Stone is personal. Very few are using it to supplement their classes.’

Many students said they use the program to practice languages they have already learned, and also to prepare for study abroad trips.

A study published on the Rosetta Stone website claims the program can help students to ‘significantly improve’ their ability to speak Spanish after 55 hours of study. Those 55 hours are essentially equivalent to one semester of a college language class, the website reports.

Rosetta Stone promises on their website that participants will ‘learn naturally, engage interactively, speak confidently, and have fun’ when using their program.

‘It’s good as a resource,’ Zimmerman said. ‘It reinforces what I already know.’