Rosetta Stone Inc. Signs Sponsorship Agreement with U.S. Swimming Sensations Michael Phelps, Ian Crocker and Katie Hoff

Jan 29, 2008

America’s Top Swimmers Prepare For Beijing by Learning Chinese with the New Rosetta Stone Version 3 Program

ARLINGTON, Va. (Jan. 29, 2008) — America’s top swimmers training for Beijing will learn Chinese with Rosetta Stone®, the No. 1 language-learning program. Rosetta Stone Inc. has signed eight-time Olympic medalist and 17-time World Champion Michael Phelps, Olympic gold medalist and World Champion Ian Crocker and six-time World Champion Katie Hoff to sponsorship. The partnership marks the first time Rosetta Stone has associated itself with the sport of swimming and, conversely, marks the first time these athletes have aligned themselves with a language company. As part of their continual effort to experience the Chinese culture, Phelps, Crocker and Hoff will prepare themselves by learning to speak the language using Rosetta Stone Personal Edition soon-to-be released Version 3 Chinese language-learning program.

“We’re thrilled to build a sponsorship program around the world’s biggest names in swimming. The natural parallels of our product and company mission—to bring people together through language—taps into the energy and spirit of these athletes, and their excitement and interest to learn Mandarin,” says Tom Adams, Rosetta Stone CEO.

“After returning from a trip to Beijing with Michael and Katie last April, the significance of the language barrier between English and Chinese was quite evident,” says Peter Carlisle, managing director of Octagon’s Olympics & Action Sports. “In speaking with our clients about it further, they expressed an immediate interest in developing a better understanding of Mandarin. We researched the marketplace and felt Rosetta Stone was a natural fit for Michael, Katie and Ian, and a terrific extension to the already creative and expansive marketing campaign from Rosetta Stone.”

With the stringent time restraints of training, Phelps, Crocker and Hoff now have an easy, flexible and fast way to learn Chinese before August 2008 arrives.

“I feel it’s important to try to speak the local language of a host country. I’m excited to use the Rosetta Stone software because it’s the best solution in helping me incorporate language learning into my already hectic routine,” says Phelps. “It will be fun to learn along with Katie and Ian so we can all put our skills in Mandarin to practice, hopefully together, in Beijing next summer.”

“When Michael and I were in Beijing after Worlds, we had such a great time exploring the city and sites. However, it was just so hard to understand and communicate even the simplest words and phrases with people,” says Hoff. “I’m eager to get started and extend my very limited Chinese vocabulary beyond ‘ni hao’ (hello) and ‘xie xie’ (thank you). My mom, dad and brother are going to be in Beijing to support me so all of us are going to use Rosetta Stone to learn the language together and test each other along the way.”

“To be able to connect with the people in the country in which you are visiting and competing is always important. I’m familiar with Rosetta Stone products, because I’ve used it to help me with my Spanish classes. My experience in China is going to be a lot more fulfilling because of this opportunity to learn Mandarin,” says Crocker.

Phelps, Crocker and Hoff are not alone in their aspiration to learn Chinese. The language is one of the most widely spoken in the U.S., after Spanish/Spanish Creole and English, with more than two million speakers, according to the U.S Census.¹ Growing worldwide interest in Beijing also has created a demand for the new Rosetta Stone Version 3 Chinese program, which offers next-generation features to speed the learning process and gain speech proficiency quickly.

For most Americans, learning Chinese is a daunting challenge. Knowledge of an estimated 3,000 Chinese characters is required to read most Chinese newspapers, and the tones distinguishing many same-sounding words in spoken Chinese are often indistinguishable to “English” ears. For learners of any age, Rosetta Stone swiftly eliminates the challenge of new characters and sounds by helping users learn Chinese with the same skills they used to learn their native languages. The key is learning Chinese completely from the inside, without the faintest hint of translation. Without direct translation, learners think and communicate in Chinese from the beginning by connecting the meaning of new words and phrases to vivid images of everyday objects and events—just like they learned their first languages.

Rosetta Stone: the fastest way to learn a language

With its proven method, innovative versatile instruction and clever, easy-to-use program, Rosetta Stone creates an engaging learning environment. The Rosetta Stone Dynamic Immersion™ method immediately teaches users to think in a new language by connecting the new language with vivid imagery in real-life contexts to convey meaning.

Through Adaptive Recall™, learners are tested on new language knowledge at optimal intervals to ensure efficient retention. The program’s Contextual Formation™ uses these patterns and life-like simulations to provide the context learners need to produce completely new spoken or written language. The Rosetta Stone Version 3 instinctive user interface, high-quality audio, beautiful photography and state-of-the-art technology make the language-learning experience dynamic and exciting. Proprietary voice-recognition technology, guided pronunciation exercises and simulated dialogues build confidence in speaking and are completely tailored to the user. Rosetta Stone Version 3 is now available for U.S. consumers in the 10 most popular languages offered by Rosetta Stone. Rosetta Stone Version 3 will soon be released to the public in Chinese, along with Irish, Japanese and Hebrew. An additional 16 languages are available in Rosetta Stone Version 2.

Dynamic Immersion, Adaptive Recall, Contextual Formation and Language Learning Success are trademarks of Rosetta Stone Ltd.

¹ 2000 U.S. Census