TLBaja79
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Posts: 267
Registered: 10-17-2013
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Rosetta Stone or other Spanish programs?
I am looking for a good Spanish program to learn me some better Spanish!
I had a decent base back in high school but it has eroded over the years and in no way has it gotten any better. I wish I could go spend months down
south of the border living and speaking Spanish but that's not happening anytime soon. I'm able to get by on the basics and have a decent vocabulary
but far from fluent.
Has anybody used Rosetta Stone or any other programs out there?
I'd be interested to hear from the nomads before pulling the trigger on $250+
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bajalearner
Senior Nomad
Posts: 670
Registered: 8-24-2010
Location: Tijuana
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Mood: in search of more
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Be careful if buying one from Craigslist.
I bought a rosetta stone program off Craigslist for $50. which turned out to be just a few levels of the program. I installed it on my laptop before
purchasing but didn't realize it was only a small portion until after I used it awhile. I did get some use from it and wasn't impressed. $250 is
too much. But everyone learns in different ways.
Have you done a search for "free Spanish lessons"?
For me, having a person teach me is the best way. Do you have time to use an adult school or community college?
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cj5orion
Nomad
Posts: 336
Registered: 2-6-2010
Location: Pacific Beach/Gonzaga Bay
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Mood: time for a cervaza !!!
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I did some searching on the net for spanish "lessons"
nada !
Home Remodels/Builds..Recession!
Gone BAJA BUILDIN/FISHIN !
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jim1944
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: 10-27-2010
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Try looking for podcasts. There are several different series.
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DavidT
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https://www.duolingo.com
Fluent Forever by Gabriel Wyner is also very helpful in how to learn other languages.
David
Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious.
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DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
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| Quote: | Originally posted by TLBaja79
I am looking for a good Spanish program to learn me some better Spanish!
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Classic. Thank you.
"YOU CAN'T LITTER ALUMINUM"
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DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
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Try this. The price is right:
http://spanish.about.com/od/learnspanishgrammar/
Sign up for the newsletter too.
.
[Edited on 10-24-2014 by DENNIS]
"YOU CAN'T LITTER ALUMINUM"
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güéribo
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Posts: 239
Registered: 10-17-2014
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I agree with bajalearner. The best way, if possible, is to find a conversation partner. Language is relational. The motivation to be understood--by
a real human being--is what causes us to improve.
I used to be a language teacher. I noticed that the students who put their heads down into their books and didn't interact with classmates rarely
improved. They learned words, verb forms, etc. They could fill out a worksheet. But they usually didn't reach the point of being able to use the
language in the real world--to have a conversation!
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Lee
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3506
Registered: 10-2-2006
Location: High in the Colorado Rockies
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Rosetta Stone is great. Word/picture/verbal accelerated type learning. Class is where your laptop is. Intensives at Se Habla-La Paz helped
to. Berlitz doesn't work for me. Classes in La Paz involved homework and lots of writing and that was useful. If you're only interested in
conversational Spanish, then any paperback covering real life situations is good. I'll never be fluent but I can be understood.
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DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
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Location: Punta Banda
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Lee
I'll never be fluent but I can be understood. |
That's one of the troubles with them pesky Messicans. Most are just too gracious to tell you different. 
"YOU CAN'T LITTER ALUMINUM"
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weebray
Super Nomad
Posts: 1094
Registered: 7-19-2010
Location: La Paz
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Mood: lleno
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I second duolingo, very good intro. But nothing beats one on one with a private teacher.
Every beautiful beach in the world needs a few condo towers - NOT.
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bajalearner
Senior Nomad
Posts: 670
Registered: 8-24-2010
Location: Tijuana
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Mood: in search of more
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| Quote: | Originally posted by DENNIS
| Quote: | Originally posted by TLBaja79
I am looking for a good Spanish program to learn me some better Spanish!
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Classic. Thank you. |
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pauldavidmena
Super Nomad
Posts: 1715
Registered: 5-23-2013
Location: Centerville, MA, USA
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SpanishPod101 has some professionally produced podcasts at multiple levels. The basic subscription is free, but to get access to transcripts and
other language tools one has to pay for the "Premium" package. The "Premium Plus" package includes 1-on-1 instruction for $23 a month.
Better than any program has been a local Spanish conversation MeetUp group that meets for a couple of hours every other week. My particular group consists of native Spanish speakers, educators, and people
like me who don't get to practice enough here in the suburbs of Boston. There are many similar groups through the U.S., so that might be an easy (and
free) way to gain some conversational proficiency.
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Alm
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 2729
Registered: 5-10-2011
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| Quote: | Originally posted by jim1944
Try looking for podcasts. There are several different series. |
x2.
Don't know if this would workl for somebody on intermediate level, but it helped me a lot to get from "very basic" (read - a few phrases) to
intermediate, including past and future tenses. Yes, I can "habla" now.
Coffee Break Spanish by Radio Lingua is the best of podcasts that I know, and it's free for download on Itunes. 80 lessons total.
Without ANY high-school Spanish, having started it at nearly-retirement age, I tried different free methods:
DVDs from library - rip, watch, repeat. Some success, not much. It should be fun, otherwise you won't learn. Standard Deviants series was fun - don't
remember if I made it through 3 or 4 of their DVD before found Coffee Break. They do explain grammar in Deviants.
Textbooks - boring, and no interaction, no sounds, no feedback. Some grammar can only be explained through textbooks though.
Was about to buy some $$$ program, possibly that famous Rosetta, but then read an interesting research where they concluded that Rosetta IS NOT
SUITABLE FOR ADULTS. Doesn't work well. Because adult brain needs explanations, while Rosetta doesn't explain anything, they talk in Spanish and
show pictures - a lot of static pictures btw, not always a movie. Very interesting research, with statistical data showing that people who were happy
with Rosetta, were mostly those in the process of learning, while people who have already learned, have used methods other than Rosetta, and majority
of those were using podcasts. Yes, Rosetta includes online video-classes, don't know how many, but I'm sure not enough.
There are also nice series on Youtube, called Extra en Espanol - with subtitles both in Esp and Engl. Try different sources, 'cause sometimes
subtitles are in Esp and Russian  . Very funny series, but this is more for
practice than learning. They use all the tenses and conjugations from the very 1st episode, and never explain anything.
Edit - PS: Why is this post here in General Questions? don't we have Spanish section on Nomads?
[Edited on 10-24-2014 by Alm]
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TLBaja79
Nomad
Posts: 267
Registered: 10-17-2013
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Awesome thanks for the ideas, I'm going to skip the $250 and check out some of the podcasts.
I couldn't agree more that being down in Mexico talking Spanish is by far the best but unfortunately I'm a loooong ways from being able to spend a lot
of time south of the border.
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DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
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| Quote: | Originally posted by TLBaja79
I couldn't agree more that being down in Mexico talking Spanish is by far the best |
I disagree in a way. Spoken Spanish...the vernacular.... is a large part incorrect and will make much more sense with a correct, solid foundation.
Home study will give you a lot of this.
When all the dust settles, it becomes clear that the biggest obstacle to learning a language [or anything] is an inadequate level of desire. You
really have to want it or it's just another tedious job.
"YOU CAN'T LITTER ALUMINUM"
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Alm
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 2729
Registered: 5-10-2011
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Practice makes it perfect. Speaking with locals helps, but only after you've already learned enough vocabulary and
past/future/conditional/subjunctive grammar.
Podcasts worked for me because my work involves a lot of waiting (read - waiting for action). Management is OK with me having ear buds from
Smartphone on such times, from their point of view this is better than reading a newspaper or snoring. OTH, I had a huge incentive to listen to
podcasts because had nothing better to do
I downloaded all the Coffee Break lessons from Itunes, they are numbered 1 to 80. I renamed them by adding the endings "-Preter", "Fut", "Perf",
"Health" etc, and listened off-line. Repetition is the key, you're not going to learn anything if listen to it only once. MP3 player or Ipod or any
Smartphone - whatever you have.
Coffee Podcasts are free, transcripts are not. They are Scottish, but you'll soon get used to accent. Also, they use both Spaniard's "TH" sound for
S,Z,C and Mexican "S" sound for the same, can be distracting at times. I did familiarize myself with basic grammar and pronunciation prior to this, so
could figure out the spelling of most words without transcripts. Standard Deviants DVD and (very boring) printouts from Spanish Grammar helped me with grammar.
Btw, Spanish.about.com is an excellent source for grammar when you can't grasp something otherwise.
Duolingo I didn't know about, have checked it just now, seems like too simple and too brief course. Not enough practice, examples and repetition, and
too much typing. Try it though, maybe you'll like it.
Here is a nice interactive series:
Mi vida loca
and podcasts that I listened to before had found Coffee Break Spanish: Discover Spanish. 6 units *6 lessons, 36 lessons total. Short basic course, but maybe this is what you need. Download it so that you'll skip the
annoying intro at the beginning of each lesson.
Different things work for different people.
[Edited on 10-26-2014 by Alm]
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BajaBlanca
Select Nomad
Posts: 13196
Registered: 10-28-2008
Location: La Bocana, BCS
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interesting how varied the opinions are. Les learned a LOT when he used Rosetta stone for Spanish and I have used itftwice - once for Italian when we
were headed to Italy and then again for Polish before we went to meet Les's family.
I really liked it and Les's Spanish comprehension improved tremendously.
A teacher can be the best solution but then again - it depends on the teacher.
Best of luck.
[Edited on 10-27-2014 by BajaBlanca]
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kiterkip
Nomad
Posts: 139
Registered: 10-17-2010
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If you do try Rosetta Stone, be sure to also use the Audio Companion to Rosetta Stone. I find it to be very helpful. Once you have run through the
actual PC/Laptop chapter... you then play the Audio Companion in your car, or on your walk. Every time a word or concept comes up, your brain sees the
image that you studied last week on the PC.
Works great... all that's left now is some discipline
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Pescador
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3587
Registered: 10-17-2002
Location: Baja California Sur
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I did not like the approach in Rosetra stone and found for conversational spanish that Learning Spanish Like Crazy was a more helpful approach.
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