Any suggestions for learning Spanish?
September 8th, 2010 | 
Author: 
Hi. I am considering purchasing software to help me learn Spanish. I want something I can work with on my computer (I am a visual learner, no audio only). I was looking at Rosetta Stone (of course), and as I was reading reviews, I saw that several people were quite unhappy with customer service, and someone recommended Fluenz. Also, some people pointed out that they didn’t find some of the vocabulary beneficial, e.g., names of animals.
I was unable to try a Rosetta Stone trial (it would not load), but the Fluenz trial lesson went very well. Fluenz is geared for tourists and business people – I want to learn it for the sake of learning it. To simply converse. Also, I plan on going into the medical field (BSN), and am curious if one encourages a freer style of conversing (again, the Fluenz trial went well, but I am not interested in ordering coffee and asking for the bill).
Also, I have a toddler, so would Rosetta Stone be beneficial for her?
If there are any other suggestions, I would appreciate that.
Two more questions: If I were to go with Rosetta Stone, how many volumes would it be worth buying? I do not plan on spending $800 on the complete set.
Is there anything I should know when purchasing, i.e., saving receipts (again, someone pointed out the needed their receipt from six months earlier to have their CD replaced)?
Posted in 
Tags: 
Learning To Speak Spanish
if at all possible learn from a teacher. i tried the rosetta stone demo and didnt like it. i like being able to ask questions, such as what is vosotros, and i like talking to a native spanish speaker, because they can correct you on many things. it also depends on where the CD is from. if you get the south america one, it will be a little different then the spain one, and then you might not understand some things if you ever go to the other one. i suggest just getting a tutor in the city. it is also fun to just hang out and speak spanish to people. i will leave you with some cool links you should check out and try if your just beginning.
The Verbarrator
Marry a Mexican.
Learn Study 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. Fluenz does not have speech recognition so I would not recommend it.
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.