12
2009
The Best Software for learning Spanish?
I took 2 years of Spanish in high school, and I would like to learn to speak it fluently. I am fixing to graduate high school within the next semester, and I was not able to take another year of Spanish. I already understand basic vocabulary, but I would like to improve on it and really build communication skills. I know a bunch of basic spanish words, such as food items, but I'm really bad at communicating, such as only being able to say Hello, How are You, Where is the bathroom, and Goodbye! If I am going to put a lot of money down on a Spanish speaking software, I want to be able to purchase a high quality program that works well while traveling and will allow me to be able to fully communicate with people in Spanish. I have heard Rosetta Stone and Instant Immersion are not the best software to rely one. What would you recommend? I do plan on speaking Spanish in the future, especially in my career.
If you're looking specifically for computer software, the only thing I've tried that I found helpful was Rosetta Stone, but it's usually meant for total beginners (goes up to about third semester's worth American university level). Other than that, I know that I hate anything by Living Language other than the verbs books and Berlitz is only good for dictionaries.
If I were you, I'd try watching all my DVDs with Spanish dubbing and/or subtitles if they have it. That will help you absorb in a fun way while you're doing something you might be doing anyway. A really good grammar explanation book is "Spanish Demystified." Don't get "For Dummies" or "Complete Idiot's Guide;" I hate those.
Comments
If you're looking specifically for computer software, the only thing I've tried that I found helpful was Rosetta Stone, but it's usually meant for total beginners (goes up to about third semester's worth American university level). Other than that, I know that I hate anything by Living Language other than the verbs books and Berlitz is only good for dictionaries.
If I were you, I'd try watching all my DVDs with Spanish dubbing and/or subtitles if they have it. That will help you absorb in a fun way while you're doing something you might be doing anyway. A really good grammar explanation book is "Spanish Demystified." Don't get "For Dummies" or "Complete Idiot's Guide;" I hate those.
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I tried rosetta 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.
My college uses 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 http://www.tellmemore.com and also ask for a Rosetta Stone demo to compare, visit independent reviews websites(About.com, http://www.toptenreviews.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
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I agree that any type of computer software for learning a language is only going to get you so far and if you’ve got any background at all, it can be frustratingly simple.
Immersion is definitely the way to go, but if that’s not possible, then I’d say that watching TV in Spanish, as well as movies in Spanish will help.