What is the best computer based program for learning Spanish?
I have never learned any Spanish and hope to learn for travel and to work toward being fluent. There seem to be so many programs on the market, both paid and free. I am wondering if anyone has an opinion on the best program. Since I live in the Americas I've decided to choose Latin American Spanish.
12 Answers
I have heard from my colegas at school that Rosetta Stone is good.
However,I'm using an audio-only program where I can put the CD's in my car CD player and follow the directions and reply to to dialogs. It's called "The Pimsleur Approach. It is easily located on Amazon.com. I recommend the comprehensive course, not the cheap short ones. I am currently learning Hebrew with the Pimsleur Approach.
One cheap course they offer is their 8 lesson introductory course that features the first eight lessons of the comprehensive course.
Now that I have given an answer to your question, could you do me and the rest of the members here a favor and please fill out your profile? It will greatly help us in giving you the proper answers to your questions. If you don't know about profiles, just click on my name next to my picture to see how it's done. You do not have to write your bio in Spanish.English will be fine.
Buena suerte (good luck) in study of Spanish.
To be honest, I don't think that a computer program is the way to go. It might be fine to just learn vocabulary, but you have to learn Grammar in order to really learn a language!
I can tell what I would not advise! Do not use Rosetta Stone! I have been told by numerous people that Rosetta Stone does not work in the long term, and is just a waste of money.
Use the free programs that SpanishDict includes! They actually work quite well! Or maybe take a class if you have the time. There are lots of different ways to learn!
When I learned at school there was no internet and I still like to have a paper grammar book for reference. When you start, pay a lot of attention and time to pronunciation - Spanish unlike English is entirely logical on pronunciation so you will be able to pronounce correctly lots of words. Learn the alphabet in case you need to say or listen to how something is spelled.
I enjoy Notes in Spanish - they have money off regularly if you want the worksheets.
La vida loca by the BBC is good too.
The Independent has a free course here
I use a mix of media to improve plus I go to a group class with a native speaker.
Here are podcasts from a Colombian and a Brit. I like his one on how to roll your 'r's Spanish obsessed
and here is a fairly new site where you can listen to short videos with different accents - I think it is based in Canada Spanish listening Accents do vary from country to country. I found Cuba challenging but Mexico no problem. Stay motivated, consider some face to face lessons and as soon as you feel confidant some native speaking via skype or face to face.
I, as have others here, have posted lots of music suggestions - it is a good way to get used to the sound of Spanish. Gabriela Moreno is easy to listen to or Mercedes Sosa.
I haven't recommended a specific computer programme as I have never used one!
I tried Rosetta Stone a few years ago and I found it OK for learning vocabulary but I really didn't like how it didn't specifically teach grammar -- you just had to puzzle out how to conjugate verbs, for example.
There are so many great resources on the internet, I would only use Rosetta if you can borrow a free copy at your library. If you like their style, try out Duolingo. I found their format pretty good but I only tried the first five or six lessons; some people say that their format falls apart as the subject matter gets more complex.
As for Pimsleur, I've always said that it's the best program for making you FEEL like you're learning a language crazy fast. Around 10 years ago, I believe I went through the first 3 levels for Spanish and I felt awesome. I then went to Argentina and was stunned when it seemed like nobody used the exact wording I'd learned and as a result, I was completely lost.
What I've learned is, to a native speaker, there are a dozen ways to say any particular thing and if you've only memorized specific phrases, then you're going to be in trouble when the person you're speaking to doesn't use the exact phrases you've learned. That's why, in my opinion, it's better to learn the grammar and the vocabulary.
That being said, Pimsleur is a great supplement to help you work on pronunciation and a bit of introductory listening practice.
If you want to learn with a more structured grammar and vocabulary-based approach, I found a site called SpanishHour to be pretty effective.
In the end, there are a million sites out there so a lot of it's going to come down to personal preference and learning style.
Notes in Spanish is good.
Lots of Audio from a Wife (Spanish) and Husband (English) team.
PS
This one is good too Learn Spanish
It is a site in Germany.
It has Spanish audio with simultaneous Spanish/English text.
When I first started learning Spanish my daughter gave me a dvd called Synergy Spanish.It contains about 25 lessons of speaking and listening excercises and also a 200 page document in PDF format ,which you can print and contains 25 lessons of question and answer excercises.I put the lessons on cd,s to listen to in the car.Its a good starting point that uses the present tense only and claims you can learn Spanish using 138 words.It is a Latino Americano based course.I would reccomend it highly
This is going to sound weird to many of you out there but for someone my age the best way for me is by grammar and book (now books can be replaced with online sources). For writing the language I have my WordReference.com Spanish / English dictionary open in a tab and I can compose fairly quickly because of my level of proficiency.
However if you want to go to a country and immerse yourself in the language use the Pimsleur method (currently the best in my opinion). Barring that, go with what you know and carry a dictionary, notebook and pen in your "mochila".
I agree with Daniela about the Pimsleur course. I'm in the middle of level 5 right now. I love it. I do it when I drive to and from work - could not be easier. HCA, since you obviously have a good knowledge of the language, I think it would be great for you. I got the MP3 version, so I have it all on my computer to load it on any device I use.
Then if you can supplement that with real conversations with real people, you're almost home.
All these are great resources and I have used most of them. I have found great writing and translation experience in using Duolingo immersion and translating articles from Spanish to English and inverse translation from English to Spanish. I recommend finding a translation team to work with. Duolingo, authough it is not perfect, is free. Duolingo
I started learning Spanish just over 4 years ago now. I knew absolutely no Spanish whatsoever before then (apart from perhaps por favor, gracias etc), I bought a set of CDs by Michel Thomas - The Michel Thomas Method - and really enjoyed them. They lit the fire for me wanting to learn Spanish. I then ran into this forum. I found the four sets of lessons on here excellent - I would really advise doing them!.
Once you know the basics, then it's a matter of building and consolidating your understanding. I have added learning Spanish into my daily routine - so it is no longer a chore or seen as studying, it's just something I do for fun lol! There are countless free resources on the internet. Rather than read English newspapers, I read and watch the news on line in Spanish - BBC Mundo is an excellent site. I listen to Spanish radio and watch Spanish TV clips - again there are loads of resources, just google Spanish TV! I read and listen to conversational podcasts - a site called Spanishpodcasts is excellent I find,
As I said, there are countless resources out there. But my advice would be to start with the basics, then build from there. Try to have fun doing it, then it doesn't become a chore!
The most important point though when you are studying via the internet etc; it is imperative that you have a point of authority to help you when things just don't seem clear at all - which is often the way with languages! Often they make no sense at all lol. Thais is where forums such as this - and others on the web - are priceless. You have unbelievably kind native speakers around, who are only too happy to help. For me personally, this has been (and continues to be) invaluable.
In summary, I would advise:
- The Michel Thomas Method (Basic and Advanced) CDs complimented by the four lessons on this site. This will give you the basics of the language (ie the building blocks). 2. Watch basic video lessons (eg BBC La Vida Loca; Destinos) and read reference articles/material to consolidate your learning. 3. Continue consolidating your learning via all other internet resources (eg podcasts, radio, news sites etc)
All the above should be underpinned by advice from native speakers on forums etc. Oh and of course, as much verbal practise as you can lol!
Good luck!
I don't recommend you learning grammar in order to learn any language.
Well, unless you learned grammar first in your native language, that is. If that is so, then probably you were an ace in grammar when you were, what 5 y.o.? Then by 13 y.o. you knew everything about grammar in your language, and you stilll have it, right?
I found Rosetta Stone too boring and repetetive. It's too slow. Pimsleur is good for speaking and listening but you don't learn reading and writing. Duolingo is ok but not in depth enough. My favourite is rocket. It's the best one. I got it from this site Rocket
