Rosetta Stone -vs- SpanishDict
I heard that Rosetta Stone is a good language learner, but I think SpanishDict is teaching us a lot for a lot less. Rosetta Stone charges $499.99 for 5 Spanish levels! Who would pay that?!?! Please post.
5 Answers
SpanishDict is wonderful and the lessons are amazing (and you can't beat the price) but comparing this website to Rosetta Stone is like comparing apples to oranges.
Here is my "copy and paste reply" to this type of bad rap for poor ole Rosetta Stone:
I had Version 3 and was, luckily, able to upgrade to Version 4 (TOTALe).
The course is the same, but with TOTALe, you can now go online and play games with other learners at the same level as you.
You can play games with people that are fluent in your native-language that are learning the same language that you are learning.
You can also play games with people that are fluent in the language you are learning... and that are learning your native-language. This part is very cool.
There are typing games, and speaking games available for both listed above.
Also, after every Unit, you sign up for "Studio Sessions". In these sessions you talk to a Coach and up to 3 other learners and discuss the Unit that you just learned. NO English allowed... NO Spanglish allowed... 50 minutes of 100% Spanish (or whatever language you are learning).
You can go back and do the Sessions over and over and over again as many times as you wish.
Rosetta Stone (admittedly) doesn't "teach" you anything. By this, I mean that they don't explain grammar or structure... but it's amazing how you pick stuff up without knowing what you are learning!
People always say it is expensive... if you keep your eyes open, you can find it right from Rosetta Stone's website for around $450 for all 5 levels. Price some local classes and then figure in the gas and calculate out what it would cost for a few courses. 
There are other programs available that are great as well... Pimsleur, Michel Thomas, Learning Spanish Like Crazy, Rocket Spanish, Marcus Santamaria, Platiquemos, FSI, etc... but how many of those programs give you the opportunity to converse daily with Spanish-speakers? The answer = none.
OH... one more thing... the voice recognition really works. I turned the "accept" level when I say something to the highest level... meaning it will only accept what I say if it really sounds like the native-speaker in the course. When I converse with a Spanish-speaker they are always very surprised that I start speaking Spanish to them (I guess I look pretty Gringo). And they almost always comment on how good my accent is. That definitely makes me feel good. 
Rosetta Stone charges $499.99 for 5 Spanish levels! Who would pay that?!?!
I would! And it's worth every penny! (but you can find it cheaper...)
Even the free version of their website offers more than Rosetta Stone as far as I can tell.
Come on, why would you offer an opinion like this when you've obviously not purchased and used all five levels of RS. Livemocha is a great learning site, and I've taken their entire course offering in Spanish (the paid version) and as well I've completed all 5 levels of RS Spanish. Livemocha takes a different approach, using limited life situations to build conversational Spanish skills, but it doesn't even come close to RS in it's ability to teach you vocabulary. RS excels at building vocabulary and proper pronunciation.
Now that Rosetta stone is offering interaction with a real teacher over the internet I think it's not as much of a ripoff as it used to be. I think a lot of people are thinking of version 3 when they berate it.
A lot of people complain about the voice recognition in the course, but that's because they're pronouncing things wrong. My Spanish friends always get it right first attempt.
Last time I was in a bookshop in Ireland I noticed that LiveMocha now sell an actual pack of 3 collins grammar books, cds, and automatic membership of the website. That's great, that's worth more than Rosetta stone in my opinion and it was much cheaper. Even the free version of their website offers more than Rosetta Stone as far as I can tell. Less flashcards and a bit heavy on the present continuous though!
Busuu.com is another flashcard website that lets you talk to native speakers without paying. But it's hard to find people because the option is always turned on by default, so you end up ringing people who are too shy to pick up the call.
If I was on a really tight budget what I'd do would be buy the old edition of Hugo Spanish in 3 months on Amazon for 12 euro. It's a solid grammar reference and goes up to intermediate level (though if you used only that and if you really tried to do it in 3 months your knowledge would be very patchy) then use online resources for everything else.
Now that Rosetta stone is offering interaction with a real teacher over the internet I think it's not as much of a ripoff as it used to be. I think a lot of people are thinking of version 3 when they berate it.
Yes... even the difference between Version 3 and the current Version 4 is like apples and oranges.
A lot of people complain about the voice recognition in the course, but that's because they're pronouncing things wrong.
Some of the people in the online sessions with me still pronounce "blanco" like "blank-oh". I can't friggin stand it!! LOL
The normal setting of the voice recognition to "accept" your pronunciation is toward the low side. Like I said, I maxed it out -- and now it doesn't let you get away with things like "blank-oh".
I never want to sound like Mayor Bloomberg:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwVKU_ko274
Hi jacob, welcome to the forum
There are lots of threads about this topic open on this site, maybe you can make a search and get more input there, thanks
