I’ve been looking into the different programs for learning Spanish. From what I’ve heard Rosetta Stone isn’t all its cracked up to be. Anyone have any suggestions on software or experience with one, good or bad? I’m leaning towards ‘learning spanish like crazy’ but I thought I might get some good insight here.
Pimsleur. I think for Spanish they have 3 different levels. Pimsleur is a series of 30, 30 minute audio lessons that you use with your ipod. If you’re a complete beginner by the end of the program you’ll be able to hold a basic conversation
I’d do classes at a local community college, and if you’re really serious about it, plan to do an immersion (study abroad) program afterward. Those software programs will NOT give you what you are looking for.
I’ve used Rosetta Stone. It’s fun and thorough. Just a little expensive.
Sorry, I know I didn’t directly answer your question, but with the price of community college tuition, it is a much better alternative. The software can be used for practice on the side, or for reinforcement. Another possibility: I have XM satellite radio purely for CNN in Spanish, which I listen to in traffic and on the road, to keep up with current events and keep my Spanish up.
[quote]patricio2626 wrote:
I’d do classes at a local community college, and if you’re really serious about it, plan to do an immersion (study abroad) program afterward. Those software programs will NOT give you what you are looking for. [/quote]
x2
best way to learn is the old fashioned way; in a classroom. youre much better off having a person who’s able to explain things to you and a group of peers as well.
i took 2 semesters of Spanish and wish i could have taken a third but they didnt have the Intermediate I course available this term.
have fun trying to differentiate between lo,la,le,te,me,nos, and the different meanings they have in different contexts without a Professor.
yea your accent will prob be shit too.
[quote]LiveFromThe781 wrote:
patricio2626 wrote:
I’d do classes at a local community college, and if you’re really serious about it, plan to do an immersion (study abroad) program afterward. Those software programs will NOT give you what you are looking for.
x2
best way to learn is the old fashioned way; in a classroom. youre much better off having a person who’s able to explain things to you and a group of peers as well.
i took 2 semesters of Spanish and wish i could have taken a third but they didnt have the Intermediate I course available this term.
have fun trying to differentiate between lo,la,le,te,me,nos, and the different meanings they have in different contexts without a Professor.
yea your accent will prob be shit too. [/quote]
I appreciate all the advice. Maybe I should’ve given my background with the language first. Grew up in a mexican neighborhood and attended an elementary school that was 80% hispanic so I picked up a lot early on in life. When I was 16 I began working at a gas station/car wash where I was the only non hispanic as well as the only guy under 30 so at the time I could speak a bit and understand a lot, especially the trash talking stuff.
I took a couple years in high school as well, but I didn’t really learn much as far as speaking; mainly it was reading and writing.
I moved out of the area to attend college and pretty much ended up in a community where I wasn’t around spanish speakers and over the years lost a lot. I’m hoping to find a software to help me relearn what I lost and improve to a level where I can say I can speak and comprehend proficiently for prospective employers.
I know a computer program isn’t as good as speaking or listening in person, but it is a step in the right direction and I always use the little I have whenever I have the chance to speak with a spanish speaker.
[quote]patricio2626 wrote:
Sorry, I know I didn’t directly answer your question, but with the price of community college tuition, it is a much better alternative. The software can be used for practice on the side, or for reinforcement. Another possibility: I have XM satellite radio purely for CNN in Spanish, which I listen to in traffic and on the road, to keep up with current events and keep my Spanish up. [/quote]
I used to watch a lot of telemundo. I still try to catch sabado gigante as well as caliente!
I have the money for the software and don’t plan on using it as my only tool; i still have my college spanish books.
All the advice is appreciated.
Bump to ask a question.
I’m using Rosetta Stone to learn French. No worries; my employer gives it to us for free.
Does anyone have more insight to these programs? Also, if anyone speaks French, PM me please. I’d like to try an actual conversation at some point.
I think Rosetta Stone can go to fucking hell. Pimsleur is fucking great. After one week I could hold a basic conversation in Hindi.
[quote]patricio2626 wrote:
I’d do classes at a local community college, and if you’re really serious about it, plan to do an immersion (study abroad) program afterward. Those software programs will NOT give you what you are looking for. [/quote]
I don’t think any classes or software will make someone proficient without immersion. I was in South America for three weeks without any Spanish instruction beyond basic stuff. Within three weeks I could speak it enough to live from day to day. People in the old days knew multiple languages, not because they were taught them, but because they actually visited the countries. I mean really can you live in France for several years without picking up the language.
[quote]Brother Chris wrote:
I don’t think any classes or software will make someone proficient without immersion.[/quote]
This.
Classes and software are good for basics, practice, and reinforcement, but to truly understand a language, you need to be forced to interact in it on a regular basis.
You would be surprised at how many foreign people here never learn any more than ‘‘Excuse me’’, ‘‘Thank You’’, and ‘‘One more beer, please.’’
Best option: live where the language you want to learn is primary, and don’t leave until you’re fluent.
Next: Befriend people who speak the language you want and spend many hours around them, pissing them off because you’re trying to figure out what they’re saying.
Last: Using some sort of medium, ie, a class/course, audio or computar application.
rosetta stone = very basic, for beginners.
I use livemocha.com
you also need to sleep with someone who doesn’t speak english - only the language you are trying to learn. this is your best bet in terms of efficiency.
[quote]OsakaNate wrote:
[quote]Brother Chris wrote:
I don’t think any classes or software will make someone proficient without immersion.[/quote]
This.
Classes and software are good for basics, practice, and reinforcement, but to truly understand a language, you need to be forced to interact in it on a regular basis.
You would be surprised at how many foreign people here never learn any more than ‘‘Excuse me’’, ‘‘Thank You’’, and ‘‘One more beer, please.’’[/quote]
That would drive me insane. I worked in suburb of Phoenix for three months that mostly spoke Spanish. Picked that stuff up easy (this was after my first trip to SA). Hell I even went to a Vietnamese kitchen everyday for two and half months and could speak enough of it to get around, as well as, have a polite (not like Vietnamese people are really all that polite) conversation.
How long are these people living in Japan that they don’t speak, or are they just over there for business. I have seen Spanish, Vietnamese, and Polish speaking people all keep their native tongues and hardly pick up American because they never put themselves out into the culture.
Another part of the way I learned (this is when I went to SA) I picked up a class at a local Spanish school that lasted a week (it was the first part of a six part course), with that plus the dealing with the locals in three weeks I was way better than before…like way better.
I took two years of Spanish and I couldn’t speak a lick of it. Five classes and three weeks of being all that you could talk trumped two years. Don’t ask me to write the stuff, because I can’t.
[quote]Brother Chris wrote:
[quote]OsakaNate wrote:
[quote]Brother Chris wrote:
I don’t think any classes or software will make someone proficient without immersion.[/quote]
This.
Classes and software are good for basics, practice, and reinforcement, but to truly understand a language, you need to be forced to interact in it on a regular basis.
You would be surprised at how many foreign people here never learn any more than ‘‘Excuse me’’, ‘‘Thank You’’, and ‘‘One more beer, please.’’[/quote]
That would drive me insane. I worked in suburb of Phoenix for three months that mostly spoke Spanish. Picked that stuff up easy (this was after my first trip to SA). Hell I even went to a Vietnamese kitchen everyday for two and half months and could speak enough of it to get around, as well as, have a polite (not like Vietnamese people are really all that polite) conversation.
How long are these people living in Japan that they don’t speak, or are they just over there for business. I have seen Spanish, Vietnamese, and Polish speaking people all keep their native tongues and hardly pick up American because they never put themselves out into the culture.[/quote]
Understand that I’m being slightly facetious. But only slightly.
English is recognized here as the medium of international communication, and Japanese study it starting in jr. high school. Most of them forget it by the time they’re out of college, though.
Many of the people who don’t bother to learn the language are English teachers. Some of them are only here for a year or two, others for much longer. They get by because transportation areas use romanizations of Japanese words and English directions for tourists, and by working in English-language environments. They make friends with bilingual Japanese or foreign people, and never put themselves out into the culture enough to really need the language, so they don’t put the effort in to learn much of it.
It would drive me crazy. My Japanese is intermediate at best, and it kills me whenever I can’t participate as well as I’d like in conversations.
I think that you can learn enough to get around from those computer programs i.e. how to ask for things, greetings etc. However, to move beyond this level you’ll need immersion either in the culture or, as someone already suggested, in a female native of that language (definitely works: that’s how I got past the beginner/intermediate stage in French).
If you have regular contact with Spanish speakers, just buy a grammar/communication book and try what you learn out on them as you go along: this is the type of interaction that these CD-ROMS are trying to emulate anyway. Use a decent book though: maybe try and find out what book gets used on a Uni course or whatever and use that.
Expect to have people laugh in your face for quite some time, but don’t let it get to you. A class may help too, but I know a few people who’ve picked up languages with no formal training so it’s not a prerequisite.
OK, key to learning languages: vocab and grammer. Then starting reading everything you can. I use anki.com for flashcards. Fluenz has a really good computer program for spanish (I own it). Also, this book is really good for spanish: Madrigal’s Magic Key to Spanish - A Creative and Proven Approach, by Margaret Madrigal (I own and use it)
Write down all the exercises in the book and you will learn spanish in like 6 months.