Rosetta Stone

[sanbartoloian]

I have had classes both in Peru and in KY to learn Spanish with little success. I know that it's me not the teachers. Recently I got the complete set of Rosetta Stone and so far I have to say it's teaching me. I do a good deal of review but I think I am learning. It is a bit pricely unless you add up my tutor costs until now.

[RICHARDandNORA]

Yes, Rosetta Stone is superior. I tried many programs before RS and, for me, it worked the best.........

[roddd]

try this its free

http://www.livemocha.com

[calygirl]

I'm a veteran of many different methods to learn Spanish...they all have their good parts. But whatever way you choose to learn, the very most important part is USING the language in real life. The best success I had was classroom learning in Lima and then immersion in the culture and speaking to everyone in Spanish. Most of my husband's relatives in Lima speak very little English, so I used family get-togethers for practice and used only Spanish in stores, restaurants, etc. Remember, if you don't use it, you lose it! The hard part is returning to the US, where the opportunities to speak Spanish on a regular basis are somewhat limited.

[goingnowherefast]

I think Rosetta Stone is pretty over rated personally. Contrary to their advertisement, no one is going to learn a language using only Rosetta Stone. Rosetta Stone should be supplementary to daily interactions. I've been speaking Spanish at home now for a few years, all day, everyday, but it took me about 3 or 3.5 years of living in Spanish speaking places to get comfortable to using it is a primary language, being able to make jokes, being able to be sarcastic, really being able to accurately express myself. I've learned you just have to be very patient and let your mind train itself, you can't rush it. For my first year of living in a Spanish speaking country I spoke no Spanish, the 2nd year I started to understand it better, the 3rd year I started to get comfortable speaking, the 4th year my accent began to improve, etc.

Funny, I came back to California and I have plenty of opportunities to speak Spanish with the Mexicans (although I think my Spanish is better than theirs!). It's amazing, a lot of times you hear the Mexicans speaking Spanish and think to yourself "they speak so fast I want to learn to speak like them, etc..." and after speaking with them I realize they are 1st and 2nd generation Americans who have Spanish speaking parents, English is really their mother tongue, and their Spanish is actually pretty bad!

[RICHARDandNORA]

Going, I agree with you. However, one must start somewhere, with some system. For me, initially, just hearing the "Spanish sounds" taught me nothing for I did not know when one word began and the next ended. I heard only staccato syllables, much less what it meant and any sentence structure. Later during the learning process, immersion is very functional. Of the language programs, Rosetta Stone is very strong.

[ehat]

@calygirl-I also had trouble with that when I got back to the states from Spain. I got involved doing volunteer translationg/interpreting at senior housing center and other volunteering where they need spansih speakers and joining groups on meetup.com. There Spanish language meet ups once or twice month in big cities. Its nothing like being in a spanish speaking country, but its fun way to speak it now and then

[sanbartoloian]

My friends are too kind and I have been to lazy. Wanting to speak Spanish for me was a poor excuse for learning. I find the time with Rosetta Stone is the best thing for me. There is also a six month period where I can contact other students and tutors at and about my level via Rosetta Stone to practice with.

[skareem]

You may want to try:
http://radiolingua.com/

I had downloaded their 75 Spanish podcasts and used them in my car and on my iPhone.

Pretty good especially when it's for free

Best of luck!

S.

[bmike1]

you can try the website spanishdict.com It too is free.