Customer Reviews

Rosetta Stone V2: Spanish (Latin America) Level 1-2 - Old Version

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(23)

 

 

This is an amazing product! I have to preface my comments by stating my biases-I think the best way to learn a language is through immersion lessons in that country (this is how I learned Czech). If that's not possible, then the next best way is with intensive lessons with a great teacher (I don't have a Spanish tutor yet, but I'm going to get one). But for those of us who want to study Spanish on our own every day (I do one lesson a day, which takes me about two hours), the Rosetta Stone is awesome. I've never used any other language software, so I don't know if there are other great programs on the market that are this good, but I doubt it.

Why is this product so awesome? It's intuitive, fun (isn't that half the battle in learning a language?), interactive, and comprehensive. I'd describe the method as similar to the Berlitz language school method in that you start the lesson and great looking pictures come up on the screen with the words that match each picture (the obvious difference being that the Rosetta Stone does this with great graphics on your PC versus a Berlitz teacher using a picture book). Then the words are spoken so you intuitively learn by making these connections (you need a good headset).

After you learn the words the lesson goes through the same words, but in 4 different exercises (Listening, Reading, Speaking, & Writing). Over time the words build up to phrases and then to sentences. I really like the creative way the lessons teach each activity while repeating the words/phrases you're learning in a way that's not boring.

The other thing I'd say is these lessons are fun, which means I'm highly motivated to keep learning (I actually look forward to doing my lessons every day!). I wish the Rosetta Stone had a Czech version when I learned that language because it would've changed my experience from being a grind to being enjoyable.

I should mention there are a couple of things that annoy me about the software (in the Writing exercise there's not an Auto-scroll function for 2 of the parts, so you have to click on the next picture to advance; also, there's not an easy way to tell what exercises you've completed in the lesson, so I have to write down what I've finished when I take breaks). Although I'd like to see these improvements made, they are relatively trivial compared to the overall brilliance of this product.

But back to the positives, I've also noticed how mentally exhausted I've been since I started using this program. I had the same feeling the first couple of weeks when I started learning Czech intensively, so this is a good sign my brain is really being stretched by this software.

Lastly, the Rosetta Stone is very interactive because you have to click on the correct pictures/text or type in the correct spelling as you do the exercises. So, it's easy to stay engaged as you're learning, versus feeling being bored by reading some grammar lesson from a textbook or wasting your time making dull flash cards.

Based on the excellent progress I've had so far, I'm going to buy either the Italian or French versions from Rosetta Stone next, since for the first time in my life I'm having a blast learning a language and I'm progressing faster than I thought was possible.

I have read most all of these reviews and even responded to one of them, and I am very disappointed. I am not a teacher or professor or over educated. I am a normal person attempting to learn a second language. I have been using it through AKO (Army knowledge Online) so I don't have to deal with the price.

Everyone that is complaining about learning perfect grammar through the software is looking at this all wrong. This program helps you learn Spanish the same way you learned English. I am sure when you were one year old you were not searching for correct grammar, and I am also sure you parents talked to you in complete sentences. The program does the same thing. You learn by listening to the words and phrases and using you brain to see what is going on in the picture. Then associate the sounds you head with the pictures. I highly recommend this software.

Once again as far as the Grammar I read about 20 negative reviews citing no verb conjugation or grammar help. I am first to admit that I have not fully mastered all of the rules of English grammar, but I have been able to communicate effectively my whole life. And by the looks of some of your reviews a lot of you have not obtained perfect English grammar either.

This language course is very different to the traditional method of teaching languages - but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Most other courses (and language classes) would begin by teaching simple phrases such as "Hello", "Goodbye" "What is your name?", "How old are you?" etc. Then you would learn grammar rules, lists of verbs and nouns etc. Rosetta Stone does not do this. Indeed, you will not any of the above phrases until well into the course!

This course does away with the conventional method of memorising grammar rules, verbs etc, and attemts to teach you a language without having to do any of this. This is done by following through thousands of picture lessons, which include flashcards, speaking and writing - in order to 'intuitively' learn Spanish. As there is a fair bit of repitition throughout the course you will actually find that following through these exercises is enough to 'unconciously' absorb the language. Indeed, I have come across no quicker way of learning a language. Make no mistake - this course works!

The course starts of with simple objects and phrases, then slowly builds up to more complex sentences, phrases, and extracts of conversation. It aims to mimic the way you first learned English as a child. For this reason there is no conversational Spanish until well into the course. This means that you will really need to complete the course before you are able to converse in Spanish - it is not an effective tool for quickly learning Spanish phrases before going on holiday.

Good points:-
1. Much more fun than conventional courses, as there is no concious memorisation or drills. The course really keeps your attention, and you feel motivated to move to the next lesson.

2. Very effective for quickly learning new vocabulary

3. The software is very user friendly, well presented and easy to use

4. No 'formal' teaching, or translation. You learn everything 'intuitively'

Bad points:-
1. No good for quickly learning a bit of Spanish (e.g. before going on holiday). You need to complete the course! Simple phrases are not taught until well into the course.
Examples:
i) You are not taught how to say your name or how old you are until 30% of the way through the course.
ii) You are not taught how to say "Hello" and "Goodbye" until you have worked through 60% of the course!

2. There is not a huge amount of conversational Spanish in the course, and no conversational practice, so you will additional study material before you are able to converse well in the language.

3. The course is VERY expensive

4. Because most of the course involves describing what is happening in pictures, most of the descriptions need to be in the Present Progressive tense, e.g. "The boy is eating", "I am sitting down". This creates a problem for this course when it comes to Spanish because the Present Progressive tense is not used much in Spanish - it is mainly used to describe processes or to emphasize that something is happening RIGHT NOW. Due to the nature of this course MOST of the present tense verbs are of this form, wheras is other Spanish courses there are normally only a handfull of Present Progressive examples IN THE WHOLE COURSE!

What is puzzling though, is that in Spanish the Simple Present tense is normally used in place of the Present Progressive (just like in Fresnch, as there is no Present Progressive in French). For this reason I would have expected the Simple Present to be the main tense taught as it is in Rosetta Stone French (or at least a combination of the two) - but this is not the case. Even the Level 3 Spanish course makes extensive use of the Present Progressive tense, which is slightly puzzling.

Despite it's faults, I would still highly recommended this course because it allows you to learn Spanish very quickly and with little effort. However, you will also need additional study material from elsewhere.

If you have any dougts I would recommend first installing the demo version from the RosettaStone.com website.

This program has beautiful graphics. However, it essentially ducks the subject of conjugation. The present progressive tense is used in most cases. There is minimal practice on other tenses. Since many verbs are irregular, this is an important omission. The approach used fosters recognition but not recall of Spanish words and sentences. The exercises are all multiple-choice rather than having the student supply the answer.
The vocabulary is limited.

I can't believe that NASA actually uses this program as a primary learning tool for Spanish.
You pay for the graphics rather than for really learning Spanish.

I aquired this cheaply, thank goodness. It is pretty much useless. Present Progressive Tense, OVER and OVER, e.g. I am speaking. And that's about it for verb conjugations. In Spanish, the present tense is usually used to express this. For example, in Spanish, while "hablo" means "I speak", it also means "I am speaking"; it is much more likely to say "hablo" than "Yo estoy hablando" for "I am speaking". There are big differences in the way these forms are used in English and Spanish. Yet, I would suppose it's much easier to write a program to teach one verb ending than, say, 6, for the present tense...of course, you'll have the ser and estar verbs down, just probably not the difference between the two.

To be fair, it does cover a lot of irregular verbs. But, if you're only learning one conjugation, what's the point? You won't even know they're irregular.

Over and over, and all throughout this program, this is all there is. No verb conjugations, no explainations of what your saying. I can't speak for other languages, but as for Spanish, look elsewhere, unless you want to speak in one verb tense that is used way less often than its English counterpart. FSI is best for fluency, Pimsleur is great for getting pronounciation and grammer basics down, and if used in conjunction with vocabulearn, is fairly effective, fairly painlessly.

The program is a very effective teaching tool. The combination of visual and audio cues make the lessons easy to remember. But I am puzzled by their choice of the things they teach first. If you're thinking of actually using some of the stuff you learn in the first several units on a trip to Mexico, forget it. Most of it is really impractical, unlike the Pimsleur CDs which I really like. For example, Rosetta will teach you early on "The boy is running. The horse is eating a carrot" while Pimsleur prefers things like "I want to drink a beer. How much is it?" for early lessons. As you can see, the practicality of the latter far exceeds that of the former. Proably because Pimsleur focuses on statements involving "I" and "You" instead of the 3rd person. You learn vocabulary faster with Rosetta. But ignoring the possibility that you will be called upon to describe horses eating carrots, if you want to use what you learn any time soon, try Pimsleur.

I got this program to help with listening comprehension. It does a good job at that. Overall, the program is way overpriced. As one reviewer pointed out, it is mostly in the present progressive or the present tense. It helps one learn basic vocabulary and very simple sentences in the present tense, but is sorely lacking in teaching more complex grammar and more complicated vocal utterances. This is not a stand-alone program. You will need to study Spanish elsewhere to really learn the language. It does excel at teaching listening comprehension but you will need to supplement these CDs with plenty of other learning. In addition, I completed Level One and got stuck in Level Two because the exercises are so redundant and get to be tedious. I wish it had a better way to keep my interest.

Before buying that software, I tried contacting directly the company but was only able to leave a message that never got returned, same for my email, no answer back.
Anyway, I decided to order...I was really surprised when I got my package.
You can learn words and sentences at first pretty fast with their method, but these 4 pictures get so repetitive after a while, it really seems that it is the only activity...The interface itself looks old too, especially for a software valued at more than $300.
I was serious about learning the language so I still insisted.I was able to learn words and sentences, but could not develop an understanding of the language at all...of course, I would know basic words, sentences, but could not go as much in depth as I would have liked with such an expensive software...
There is also no grammar, which is also a big negative point as you cannot learn seriously a language without one.
I am really surprised at all these positive reviews too after that, seems like all the positive ones appear on the first page of Amazon, but not the negative ones...
The only good thing is their money back guarantee, which is a nice marketing gimmick...but it should not hide the large flaws of that software

If you have your heart set on learning a language while sitting at the computer, then this is the best computer based language learning program there is. The competition in this genre is terrible. Rosetta Stone software is stable and usable. And it is the only program I've seen with a user interface that doesn't look like a children's book.

Having said that, I wouldn't recommend that anyone who is serious about learning a language use a computer program as a primary tool. Sure, you need a computer to load up your mp3 player and write to your foreign language speaking pen pal. But it takes some really serious determination to sit your butt in a chair, night after night for hours learning Spanish. Don't set yourself up for failure.

Unless you are a very exceptional learner, you're going to have to practice for at least a half-hour every day. For me, that means fitting it into my lifestyle. I study while I'm driving, washing dishes, waiting in line, whenever. And I've been doing it for years. If I had to sit in front of a computer, it wouldn't have lasted a week.

If you still really want computer based language training, this is the best I've seen. I believe they've added a third level to the Spanish program which should make it more complete. The boxed edition is very pricey, but Rosetta Stone has an online version for which you can pay monthly. They also have sample lessons on the website.

I would recommend starting with an mp3 player and a good comprehensive audio course (Pimsleur or Platiquemos). Forget the computer programs, or use them as a supplement.

I've been using Rosetta Stone Spanish for 3 months and let me tell you, like almost all other language software out there, this one is totally useless and will *NOT* prepare you for the real world.

Why, then, do so many people rate it so high? Short of calling them company plants, the reason may be the program does have some pleasant-looking lessons, like cartoonish graphics and big fonts. The lessons are usually short and simple, which may make the learner feel good, but the materials are utterly useless for real-world conversations. When I showed a few "advanced" lessons to a friend of mine from Chile, she laughed and said nobody talked like that in Spanish.

Previously I owned another language program, an Italian-teaching package "free after rebate" from CompUSA, that also used the Rosetta Stone method. This is all a sham, period, just like Berlitz. They promise a lot but delivers absolutely nothing. Okay, you might think I had been expecting no pain, all gain. Wrong, I speak (and write) three other languages and I knew the pain one must go through in order to master a language. But I wanted a *real* language course that does not shy away from the difficult things, instead of treating you like a kindergartener. Let's face it: the so-called "learn like a child" method does NOT work, because you and I are adults, and we cannot think or learn like a child, period.

Do yourself a favor and don't waste your money on this. At least don't feel shy about returning it for a full refund within the six-month promised refund period. If you want to learn Spanish, books like "Spanish All the Way" are probably a much better way to go -- or acquaint yourself with some native speakers and practice, practice, practice.