Is ROSETTA STONE REALLY the best software for learning Spanish?
September 5th, 2010 | 
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quest asked:
How so? I have heard many people say that rosetta was the best alternative or software for learning Spanish.
How so? I have heard many people say that rosetta was the best alternative or software for learning Spanish.
Right now I am using a software by BERLITZ Spanish Premier. I really want to learn some Spanish. I started teaching myself a few years ago and then I stopped. Now, I’m really ready to get back into the habit, and I really want to take it more serious this time around.
Also, if I am steady at learning, how long woild it take for me to be fluent in learning spanish?
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Posted in Learning Spanish
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That whole approach didn’t work for me. Nothing like a good old book to learn from. Maybe that’s just me…?
Learn Spanish Online Audio
nope.
Learn Spanish Beginners
Rosetta Stone is definitely the best – BEST FOR ADVERTISEMENT -
As far as being effective, yes as any modern audio-visual course are -
Rosetta Stone is expensive… they need to fund the TV commercials…
When I moved to Argentina, I knew just a few Spanish words -
I was 49 of age – just an “old fart” – moving for a job -
Took me 1 month to be able to “survive” in Buenos Aires -
Took me 3 months to have a normal social life, as an expatriate -
Took me 6 months to be almost fully fluent -
After 17 years in Argentina, I am retired, and forget my English -
Often vacationing in Brazil, now I learn Portuguese – doing good -
Want To Learn Spanish
I tried rosetta stone for Spanish. It does not have any translation, grammar or conjugation instructions so it will be very hard to go beyond the basics with it. It is good for the basics as it is pure memorization. There is no way to be fluent with it. Their program is based on the same thing where you see these 4 pictures over and over again. I was disappointed especially for the price I paid. If you already have a strong base, you will know most of the content.
My college uses another software: tell me more. My goal was to become fluent so it was perfect for me and I bought their individual version. It has a lot of different activities: picture/word association, videos, dialogues,…, includes also grammar and conjugation. It has also more content than any other language software. Their speech recognition is great so you can have a dialogue with the computer. You can contact them to get a free demo and also ask for a Rosetta Stone demo to compare, visit independent reviews websites(About.com, …).
The best way to learn a language would be through immersion, visiting these countries. Learning a language will require some time. In addition to software, you can have books which are useful as well. Audio CDs like Pimsleur for instance might help you out but you cannot get any feedback on your pronunciation so I did not like it so much.
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I don’t know that its “the” best. Here is a good alternative, its not Berlitz either:
Be patient, that’s all I can suggest as far as time goes.
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I am a 60 year old returned to college major in Spanish. I have had 5 semesters.. I have worked on some of the most sophisticated electronics and computer equipment known to man, but for me Spanish is the toughest think I have had to learn. . I have also experimented with Rosetta Stone..
Rosetta Stone is like the Suzuki method of music instruction. It is the immersion and the memorization of phrases. Memorizing patterns so to speak. It does not break down the grammar., it covers nothing about the culture. It is great software and works very well, especially the voice recognition part.
If I were to show you how to fix a TV by replacing a certain board, which screws to remove, which connectors to pull off etc. you would have successfully repaired the TV but still have no idea as to what you had just done.. So I think Rosetta Stone vs formal instruction comes down to just that.. You will learn Spanish, but are you the kind of person who needs to know what is behind it. If not RS is a good choice or at least a good start. .
I suggest a few semesters of a college course or formal instruction and then take rosetta stone if you dont want to go farther with the formal approach. It is important to understand why Spanish grammar is different than English…