Pimsleur Spanish and Rosetta Stone Spanish are probably the two best-known Spanish language programs. They have both been around for decades, and they both have good reputations. I know that Rosetta Stone is updated at times, and I am not sure about Pimsleur.
What Are They?
Pimsleur Spanish is an audio course, long available on cassettes and now on CDs. It is based on the Pimsleur Method, where you learn by listening and by speaking – not just repeating what’s on the CD but also by having to create new sentences out of the vocabulary you’ve learned. You end up with a relatively small vocabulary but it is the most important words in the language to know for conversation. You tend to end up with good pronunciation as well.
Rosetta Stone Spanish is a multi-media program that you use on a computer. It is completely in Spanish – there is NO English. In fact, Rosetta Stone sells the same program to an English speaker that it sells to, say, a German speaker if both are learning Spanish. The method relies heavily on images to teach vocabulary, and it does use voice recognition software if you have a microphone, to help drill you on proper pronunciation.
Oldies but Goodies?
How have these two programs stood the test of time?
Pimsleur Spanish has stood up well. Dr. Paul Pimsleur’s "graduated interval recall" is widely used now, specially in flashcard programs. This is the idea that in order for a word or phrase to enter our long-term memory, we need to hear it again and again… and with longer intervals between the reviews over time.
One criticism of Pimsleur Spanish is that some of the expressions you learn are more old-fashioned and formal than Spanish as it is now spoken in Latin America.
Rosetta Stone Spanish teaches you the language much as a child would learn it, totally in Spanish. In the years since it first came out, research has shown that once we pass puberty, we learn foreign languages most effectively if we use our native tongue to analyze and understand. (One example of a program that does this very well is Fluenz Spanish, which you may not have heard of, as it is quite new.)
Despite that, people who are visual learners do tend to like Rosetta Stone.
Finding Out More
Both courses are rather expensive, but they provide you with many hours of learning. I am guessing that you might be able to find the Pimsleur Spanish on cassettes (since nobody wants those much any more) for a much lower price.
See my reviews of each for more information about them and for links to various places you can buy them:
