Recommend some really good software to teach me Spanish.

[Linux23]

I am going overseas in about 6 weeks and want to learn Spanish. At least the basics of it. I'm not going to be an expert over the course of a few weeks. Any good CD-ROM's that I can purchase that will teach me Spanish that's fast and easy?

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Go to any discount store/dollar store, they always have metric shit tons of language software

 

[krunchykrome]

Get a job in the kitchen at a resturaunt.

 

[thepd7]

Anyone know if that Rosetta stone acutally works as well as they claim?

 

[Linux23]

Um, I said good ones. LOL.

 

[QueBert]

Originally posted by: thepd7
Anyone know if that Rosetta stone acutally works as well as they claim?

I tried it at a clients house, they had the Spanish one. I did it for about 45 minutes while waiting for them to go pick up a router. All I saw got to do was see 4 pictures 1 at a time with it speaking which each was in Spanish, then showed all 4 at once and it would say 1 of them in Spanish and you have to click the right one. I never heard any english. The pictures were obviously, like a little girl with a dog, a boy next to an airplane. But it seemed to be very simple, I don't see how you could master Spanish with it. Maybe if I went thru the whole package I'd have a different opinion. from my hour with it I definitely don't see why it costs so much. It reminded me of a Shockwave sideshow with audio attached.

 

[AnyMal]

Originally posted by: krunchykrome
Get a job in the kitchen at a resturaunt.

winnar!

 

[Linux23]

Originally posted by: QueBert

Originally posted by: thepd7
Anyone know if that Rosetta stone acutally works as well as they claim?

I tried it at a clients house, they had the Spanish one. I did it for about 45 minutes while waiting for them to go pick up a router. All I saw got to do was see 4 pictures 1 at a time with it speaking which each was in Spanish, then showed all 4 at once and it would say 1 of them in Spanish and you have to click the right one. I never heard any english. The pictures were obviously, like a little girl with a dog, a boy next to an airplane. But it seemed to be very simple, I don't see how you could master Spanish with it. Maybe if I went thru the whole package I'd have a different opinion. from my hour with it I definitely don't see why it costs so much. It reminded me of a Shockwave sideshow with audio attached.

$299. Sheeet no.:Q

 

[mrrman]

Originally posted by: thepd7
Anyone know if that Rosetta stone acutally works as well as they claim?

My friend is learning Italian and its good as I am helping hime with the phrases...so the Spanish version should be just as good

 

[mrrman]

Originally posted by: mrrman

Originally posted by: thepd7
Anyone know if that Rosetta stone acutally works as well as they claim?

My friend is learning Italian and its good as I am helping him with the phrases...so the Spanish version should be just as good

( but I wouldnt pay $299 for it)

sorry for the dp

 

[mrkun]

I've been told there are lots of language software torrents "available."

 

[Linux23]

Originally posted by: mrkun
I've been told there are lots of language software torrents "available."

hmmm, really? lemme search a bit.

 

[ebaycj]

Originally posted by: AnyMal

Originally posted by: krunchykrome
Get a job in the kitchen at a resturaunt.

winnar!

claro que si

 

[ebaycj]

Originally posted by: Linux23

Originally posted by: mrkun
I've been told there are lots of language software torrents "available."

hmmm, really? lemme search a bit.

si hay muchos

 

[Linux23]

 

[foghorn67]

Pimsleur conversational. (sp?)
Sometimes you can find these at costco. They are are only for conversing, not writing or reading.
The German version is great.
--edit--ah, here is the linky.
look here

 

[Kreon]

I dunno about for Spanish
But I had one for German before I went to Germany a couple years ago

I think it was by Hugo?
Does that sound right?

They had a blue package (for all the languages)
And the German one had a building on it
I assume the Spanish one does too

I don't remember the cost
But it gave me some German to work with
Enough to get around and eat at restaurants and stuff

BTW: Make sure it's the "dialect" of where you're going
If you're going to Spain, don't speak Latino Spanish-they'll be snobbish

Also, another thought: get a phrase book of slang, that really helped me in Germany
There's one called "don't show this spanish book to your teacher"
It has a lot of slang stuff you definately don't learn in a course
insults, slang comments, dating/hooking up phrases
I juts flipped through it in Borders though...

Good Luck and have fun

 

[fallenangel99]

I want to brush on my Spanish; I'm going to Puerto Rico in October and need to impress a few PR women (Although I hear PR women in PR are bitchy just like PR women IN NYC)

 

[QueBert]

Originally posted by: fallenangel99
I want to brush on my Spanish; I'm going to Puerto Rico in October and need to impress a few PR women (Although I hear PR women in PR are bitchy just like PR women IN NYC)

aren't females bitchy pretty much everywhere? Latina wemens do tend to have more attitude, but if you say the right things in Spanish to them that attitude will turn hella cool. You gotta be confident in yourself and able to be smooth with the words, pretty hard if you're not already speaking Spanish. And as far as I know none of the softwares that teach a foreign language teach you how to mack to the ladies But if you approach a Spanish female correctly the attitude will be a smile and a "eyyyy PAPI!"

daamit i need to learn Spanish and go to P.R.

 

[natto fire]

Sorry to revive this old thread, but at least I searched, right?

Anyhow, I am in the same boat and remember "acquiring" Rosetta Stone and being sort of underwhelmed by it. However, I was assuming that the retail box version of it included manuals and what not that supplemented the software. (Which was exactly like Quebert described it)

I think some of it had to do with my dedication however, and would be willing to give it another shot. I figured the best way to learn would be to hire a tutor or take a class, but I am looking for a cheaper way to learn.

As another side note: I have heard it is harder to learn new languages as you get older, but was wondering how much truth there is to this. Also, does proficiency in your native language effect your learning of another?

 

[zinfamous]

Pimsler

 

[xanis]

Originally posted by: mrrman

Originally posted by: mrrman

Originally posted by: thepd7
Anyone know if that Rosetta stone acutally works as well as they claim?

My friend is learning Italian and its good as I am helping him with the phrases...so the Spanish version should be just as good

( but I wouldnt pay $299 for it)

*cough*torrent*cough*

Hmm what? Who said that? Of course I don't condone such illicit activities.

 

[Martin]

I got Rosetta Stone stone a while ago and went through about 1/3rd of Level 1. Although the software itself is pretty crappy (reminds me of the multimedia crap in the mid 90s), it a pretty good tool for casually picking it up.

What I found is that by itself it won't be enough - it teaches in a very informal, sometimes vague manner. After a bit, you'll feel you need a good grammar book/site to teach you the formal rules (like this:http://www.studyspanish.com/tutorial.htm), and a book about conjugating verbs. I never stuck through with it, but I think that if you use RS, the website, and a few good grammar/verb books you can learn it fairly easily and fairly well.

 

[Martin]

Originally posted by: Captain Howdy
Sorry to revive this old thread, but at least I searched, right?

Anyhow, I am in the same boat and remember "acquiring" Rosetta Stone and being sort of underwhelmed by it. However, I was assuming that the retail box version of it included manuals and what not that supplemented the software. (Which was exactly like Quebert described it)

I think some of it had to do with my dedication however, and would be willing to give it another shot. I figured the best way to learn would be to hire a tutor or take a class, but I am looking for a cheaper way to learn.

As another side note: I have heard it is harder to learn new languages as you get older, but was wondering how much truth there is to this. Also, does proficiency in your native language effect your learning of another?

Like I mentioned about, I felt that after a few units you really need a formal book/site whatever. But I found the same problem with motivation: I downloaded RS for the hell of it, but then had trouble sticking with it because my original motivation was "wouldn't it be neat if I learned Spanish"

But yeah, I learning languages is definitely harder as you get older (I was fluent in English a few months after I came here when I was 9), but it helps if you know other languages as well. The funny thing about Spanish is that I found it to be somewhere in between English and Bulgarian (words very similar to English, but the grammar was more similar to Bulgarian), so that helped me a bit.

Anyway, as you suspect, its mainly a matter of sticking with it...

 

[mrkun]

Use spanish.about.com for any sort of grammatical help you may need.

It does indeed become harder to learn a new language as one ages, although there's a lot of variation between individuals, and some just have a knack for learning new languages. Also, knowing formal grammar in your native language will definitely help you in learning another.