BajaNomad

Rosetta Stone

Gaucho - 1-1-2009 at 11:41 AM

Happy New Year Everybody!

Has anybody ever used the Rosetta Stone software to learn Spanish? I can get by with the Spanish I know but I really want to get proficient this year.

DENNIS - 1-1-2009 at 12:38 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Gaucho
Happy New Year Everybody!

Has anybody ever used the Rosetta Stone software to learn Spanish? I can get by with the Spanish I know but I really want to get proficient this year.


Rosetta Stone is a good program. Of course, it's only as efficient as the student is diligent and dedicated to learning.

shnookey - 1-1-2009 at 01:00 PM

My husband got it for us a couple of weeks ago- but I'm not having much luck with it. It goes from really, really simple to expecting you to be able to converse with not much in between. It is all done in Spanish, so there is no explanation when it comes to verbs and conjugations and tenses. So it is
hard to know why you would use ser instead of estar and vice versa.

It's lots of pictures and lots of Spanish, lots of parroting.Some people learn
that way,but I'm not one of them. I'm using visual link Spanish right now and it seems to work a lot better.

karenintx - 1-1-2009 at 01:29 PM

I suggest "Visual Link Spanish" www.spanishprogams.com

We had purchased R/S and it was not working for me...then my husband found Visual Link Spanish online. After trying the free lessons we purchased the program. It is so easy! Wish we had found it before getting the R/S.

Woooosh - 1-1-2009 at 02:01 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by karenintx
I suggest "Visual Link Spanish" www.spanishprogams.com

We had purchased R/S and it was not working for me...then my husband found Visual Link Spanish online. After trying the free lessons we purchased the program. It is so easy! Wish we had found it before getting the R/S.


I bought the Spanish R/S (the Latin American version- they also offer a european version) last year. Didn't work well for me for pretty much the same reasons as the other posters said. JMHO though.

If I were to try R/S again- I would use the cheaper on-line version before investing more in the CD version though.

Gadget - 1-1-2009 at 04:36 PM

Thats good info.
I am tired of Leslie always asking "what did he say?"
I mentioned that I was going to buy RS so she could learn and I could expand my vocabulary.
All you have to go on is the ad hype on stuff like this.
Glad to get consumer input.

ckiefer - 1-1-2009 at 04:44 PM

iTunes has some "free" podcasts for learning spanish called coffee break spanish. We have 76 podcasts to date. We also have the Berlitz Learning System for Spanish which is pretty fun.

capt. mike - 1-1-2009 at 04:53 PM

visual link!! thx for the tip!

bajabif - 1-1-2009 at 06:18 PM

you can also just take rosetta stone online. i thought it was easy, not boring, and a pretty good price

AcuDoc - 1-1-2009 at 07:42 PM

I tried the link but was received "Sorry, we did not find results for "www.spanishprogams.com""

www.spanishprogams.com

is there a different link?

I did find VisualLinkSpanish.com is this the same

thanks in advance

[Edited on 1-2-2009 by AcuDoc]

Pescador - 1-1-2009 at 08:49 PM

There are two programs that are very effective and reasonable in price for conversational spanish.

http://www.learningspanishlikecrazy.com

and

http://www.rocketspanish.com

[Edited on 1-2-2009 by Pescador]

CD courses

msawin - 1-1-2009 at 09:00 PM

I have had Pimsler's leasons for a couple of years now. I burned up up my first set over playing them on my CD player. Have a new 14 lesson set and love it. Have it on my Zune.. The best. Got a copy of "speaking Spanish Like Crazy" for my last drive to Loreto to listen to, and a little bit differnet. Some differnet angles but I have had Pimsler's for a while and was ready to catch on to it..... Pimsler's...... tops.

martin-o

Gaucho - 1-1-2009 at 10:07 PM

Thanks for the input everybody. R/S is sending me a free cd to try out before I committ. I'll look into the other options as well.

tjBill - 1-2-2009 at 11:33 AM

I used Rosetta Stone when I was first learning Spanish. I consider it the best. Its fun to use, so you will actually spend the time practicing. It uses the 'imersion approach' so you're learning spanish as its spoken instead of wasting time conjugating verbs.

Ebay has good prices for RS.:light:

castaway$ - 1-2-2009 at 12:08 PM

I have the Rosetta Stone and I like it however like others have said there are some issues, sometimes I don't know what the picture is trying to portray which creates confusion. Also the computer evaluation of how well you are pronouncing the words, even on easy, can be very frustrating the mexicians can understand me but the program doesn't. But I do think for learning the basics irt has worked well for me.

hey Martin -

capt. mike - 1-2-2009 at 01:03 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by msawin
I have had Pimsler's leasons for a couple of years now. I burned up up my first set over playing them on my CD player. Have a new 14 lesson set and love it. Have it on my Zune.. The best. Got a copy of "speaking Spanish Like Crazy" for my last drive to Loreto to listen to, and a little bit differnet. Some differnet angles but I have had Pimsler's for a while and was ready to catch on to it..... Pimsler's...... tops.

martin-o


is Pimsler's the one the foreign service uses? and other gov't branches that need quick study and results?

tjBill - 1-2-2009 at 05:28 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by capt. mike
is Pimsler's the one the foreign service uses? and other gov't branches that need quick study and results?


No, Pimsler is a special approach developed by Paul Pimsleur, like the Rosetta Stone and the foreign service its based on actually speaking the language rather studying grammer rules.

The foreign service courses are sold by lots of publishers including Barons.

Hook - 1-5-2009 at 06:43 AM

Are learning spanish like crazy or rocketspanish audio-only programs? I would prefer not to use a method that forces you to sit at a computer to learn.

Also, I took three years of spanish in high school and seem to have retained alot of it. I've also augmented this with practical use in Mexico. Where I am deficient is in vocabulary (nouns, verbs, adjectives) and remembering verb tenses beyond present and past tense. My pronunciation is fine.

Any recommendations on which one?

Eugenio - 1-6-2009 at 11:37 AM

Many Foreign Service tapes can be downloaded free at:

http://www.fsi-language-courses.com/

Click on Spanish on the left.

Some of them are pretty slow - be patient.

elizabeth - 1-6-2009 at 12:29 PM

Try livemocha.com...itīs fun, itīs good, and itīs free!

Pescador - 1-7-2009 at 10:02 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Hook
Are learning spanish like crazy or rocketspanish audio-only programs? I would prefer not to use a method that forces you to sit at a computer to learn.

Also, I took three years of spanish in high school and seem to have retained alot of it. I've also augmented this with practical use in Mexico. Where I am deficient is in vocabulary (nouns, verbs, adjectives) and remembering verb tenses beyond present and past tense. My pronunciation is fine.

Any recommendations on which one?


I am fluent but due to disuse, felt I needed to brush up on conjugation of verbs, as well as reflexive usage, and always looking to increase correct usage. I found that level II of Learning Spanish Like Crazy, which I downloaded on an MP3 and listened to while I walked around the lake by my house for approx. an hour a day, was a great help and really accomplished what I wanted to do since my friends in Mexico commented on the improvement. The download, which cost $99, was great and not only did I have the audio, but I had a PDF of each lesson which was helpful for the first exposure to any given lesson.
I also reccomend the "Practice Makes Perfect" workbooks that cover, "Spanish Vocabulary," "Spanish Pronouns and Prepositions," and "Spanish Verb Tenses". These are available from Amazon.com.

[Edited on 1-7-2009 by Pescador]

lizard lips - 1-7-2009 at 01:45 PM

Because I have a Mexican wife and all of her family here in Ensenada (except for a few) only speak Spanish it was do or die. I really wanted to speak the language and converse with them especially since I moved here in 1987. I learned from them and of course my wife and son who was born here and speaks both languages.

I will never be "fluent" because there are words used in a sentence that may have a accent or sound used that may make the sentence a completely different meaning. I know that statement doesn't make much sense, but I tried. It gets worse when you go to South America because of the different way they speak like New Yorkers talking to someone from Alabama. People in Venezuela speak Spanish with a kind of Italian sound. Colombians speak so fast with a different accent it's hard for me to follow but I just pull out the words I know and usually I get it. I think Argentine Spanish is spoken with a beautiful accent. Portuguese is probably one of the beautiful languages spoken on this, or any other planet. I remember checking in to a hotel in Sao Paulo and the girl that checked me in started speaking Portuguese and my heart started to beat really fast, but that may have just been from the short skirt she was wearing. OK, back to Spanish!

I suggest that if you desire to learn the language speak to shop owners, taco vendors, or anyone else as much as you can every day as well as the best study tools that fits. The Mexican people love it when a gringo speaks Spanish to them and appreciate the fact that you are, at the very least, trying. You will be corrected constantly but learn from it.

My Mom and Dad have lived in Mexico for the last 35 years and their Spanish is poor at best because they just felt they did fine without it, and they do get by, but wouldn't it be nice to be able to talk to your neighbors?

Really go for it and one day when you least expect it, the language will flow out like a local!

shnookey - 1-7-2009 at 05:15 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by elizabeth
Try livemocha.com...itīs fun, itīs good, and itīs free!


This site rocks!