Rosetta Stone Spanish

by Rosana on April 1, 2009

in Rosetta Stone Spanish

I have a page on my website about Rosetta Stone Spanish, and I wrote a long review of it here in the blog after I had a chance to try it out.

I’ve been mulling it over a bit since then. Was I fair to the program, and why is it so popular?

Well, in terms of being fair to it, I think I labeled my opinions pretty clearly. What program someone will find the most helpful for learning Spanish is partly a matter of personal taste, just like shoes or food. You like chicken, he likes steak, she goes for vegetarian fare.

But even allowing for personal tastes, I have a significant beef with Rosetta Stone. It makes perfect sense to me to use English to understand another language. For example, I  mostly speak Spanish with one of my friends here in Mexico, a bilingual Mexican woman. If I don’t know a word or phrase, she can usually explain it in Spanish. But quite often it’s most effective for her to just give me the English equivalent.

In fact, contemporary research into learning languages indicates that adults and teenagers learn additional languages best by making use of their native tongue and by being able to analyze with their minds.

Rosetta Stone Spanish doesn’t allow for any of this. And for that reason, I’m not a major fan.

As for why it is so popular, well… the company does do effective marketing. And clearly not everyone shares my opinion. Hey, that’s no shock!

If you have used any level of Rosetta Stone Spanish, please add your comments below.

And to see what people who’ve used it say at Amazon, go here: Rosetta Stone Spanish, Latin American, Level One.

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  • Eric
    I've used Rosetta Stone for Italian and Spanish. I did not know Italian before I started, but Spanish was a review. I also speak French.

    One problem with Rosetta Stone is that many times the examples aren't and can't be clear. For example, the present tense can be used as the progressive in all three languages, but do you ever make the literal translation as in "I am running" instead of "I run"?

    Getting across the use of the subjunctive without more explanation is impossible. How about the passive voice?

    So, Rosetta Stone is good, but you need a good grammer book and some flash cards--Rosetta Stone's vocabulary is on a par with a high school class. I want more travel oriented vocabulary and want to be able to read newspapers and magazines, maybe a novel.

    Also, I have had trouble with the voice recognition software. Sometimes it gives me an error message before I can open my mouth.

    Finally, I upgraded my computer to Vista 64 and Rosetta Stone does not work. You would think that they would keep up with the latest operating systems from Microsoft. Now Windows 7 is expected shortly. Will Rosetta Stone support it? I can use an old computer.
  • Mike
    As an example: I made a grammatical error. See if you can find it using Rosetta Stone. :-)
  • Mike
    Rosetta Stone does a great job at creating the illusion that you are learning a language. If you want to learn how to pronounce a fixed set of vocabulary the correct way--then it's for you. It will not however, teach you how to communicate. And there is a reason for that:

    Adults do not learn the same way as children do during their formulative years. Language is mathematical, and once the code of the language is developed in the human mind, you will need the cipher/keys to unlock another language. Those are called grammar rules. They tell you the rules of the language, which Rosetta Stone does not.

    Save your money. Brush up on your English grammar (Grammar Key is the best I've seen), then get a basic work book. With the help of a native speaker, you will learn the pronunciation the right way. As you learn the structure of the language as dictated by the grammar rules, then (and only then) will you be able to start "playing with" the language by plugging in vocabulary and verb conjugations.

    Take it from a former military linguist: ROSETTA STONE is a sham, the result of great marketing aimed at a culture that wants to learn a language with minimum effort.

    Ojala que aprenden el espanol rapido, y que la idioma abra puertas que nunca han tenido antes.
  • Rosana
    EXCELLENT comment, very helpful! Your first sentence had me howling with laughter.
  • Rosana
    Dan, I bet you will meet people and expand your learning wherever you are, with the attitudes of openness and curiosity you have expressed here!
  • Dan
    Rosana if you only knew how much i'd love to visit Mexico..But i wil never say never...and if i ever get lucky enough, i would love to meat the people and expand my learning....
  • Rosana
    Thanks, Bill. Readers, if you click on his name, you can go to his site, Learn Spanish, Travel Spanish.
  • Hi Rosana, My wife and I have used quite a few programs, including Rosetta Stone. I think Rosetta Stone is okay, but it's not my favorite. I tend to get a little bored with it after a while. I did meet a man in Argentina once who had only used Rosetta Stone, and he did pretty well. Not fluent, but he could get around. I think Rosetta Stone works best when it's used along with other things, like Pimsleur Spanish and Coffee Break Spanish. You get a few different perspectives that way and (best of all) don't get bored. You even get to hear different accents. Of course, the best, fastest way to learn Spanish is to go to the source and take immersion classes in a Spanish speaking country.
  • Rosana
    Thanks, Dan. Come on down to Mexico to try out your Spanish once you get a bit more! Believe me, I have lots of American friends here in Mexico who are over 60... some well over it... who work on their Spanish a lot and do really well!

    Of course, it helps here that the Mexicans are so pleased when we speak our mangled Spanish. (Yep, that includes my spanish.)
  • Dan
    I'm trying to learn Spanish just for the injoyment of learning it..I love the sound of the language and here in America it is the second most important language....I'm Now 60 and realize what a shame i've waited so long to really get into it..I guess i'm what they refer to as a typical Lazy American...By now i should have been able to reallly speak this language instead of beginning..But since i'm not rich, all this free help really is wonderful and reallly appreciated...
  • Rosana
    Thanks, Dena. Appreciate your comments about Rosetta Stone.

    I agree that learning Spanish free should be an option, and that is part of why I regularly blog about free websites that teach Spanish. I *am* also glad that the paid programs exist, because often a lot of work has gone into them and I do like some of them a lot.
  • Dena
    I have experience with Rosetta Stone. If you can study a language and do not need to always know "why?" something is being said like it is... then Rosetta Stone is quite good. Learning without support of 'another/maternal' language is just like how we all learned as babies... someone pointed to a "gato" and said "cat" and our minds just absorbed it. Rosetta Stone is very helpful if you can be in this "baby's mind" mind-set. Other than that - I agree it is expensive and is not useful for some people - I personally believe that anyone should be able to learn another language for free... as a gift to the world and humanity!
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