Down-loadable digital media learning programs are immensely popular for learning languages. For North Americans Spanish is one of the most frequently selected languages to learn. It seems that you need Spanish not only when you cross the southern border of the U.S. but also when you need to communicate with people who have already crossed that border, going north! There are an estimated 30 million people in the U.S. who speak Spanish, and a few million of these don’t speak English.
So what are the choices of learning programs for Spanish? How do the prices compare, and the quality?
The most popular alternatives are:
Pimsleur Spanish. The Pimsleur approach offers three levels of Spanish. Each level consists of 30 audio lessons at 30 minutes each, a total of 15 hours of audio instruction. The materials are available on CD or cassette (your choice) and are accompanied by a sight reading booklet and a study guide. Each level costs $169 for a total of $507. There is a comprehensive package with extras, priced at $572 Emphasis is on spoken Spanish which covers both formal Spanish (as spoken in the drawing rooms of upper-class society, at Universities and at high-level business and political settings) and, to a certain extent, street (or everyday spoken) Spanish. There is also a down-loadable digital version available at $155 per level.
Rosetta Stone Spanish software comes on CD’s and also offers three levels of Spanish. Their pricing is a bit more complicated. Spanish Level I by itself costs $195.00. Spanish Level II by itself costs $225.00, but if you get Levels I and II together as a set, the price is $329 (you save $91). Then Spanish Level III by itself costs $245. However, if you get all three levels together as a set the price for all three together is $499. Rosetta Stone has long been known as the “Cadillac” of Language learning; the most complete, maybe the best, and one of the most expensive.
Rocket Spanish learning program also comes on CD’s. It uses some of the same basic teaching methods as Pimsleur, but takes a heavily conversational approach to learning, focussing on everyday spoken “street Spanish”. They use interactive conversational teaching and “learning games” to maintain student interest. They offer a comprehensive course, covering from beginners to advanced students, for a single price of $300. This is for the hard-copy version, with books and CD’s in physical form. There is a shipping charge of $50 to send the whole package, so the net cost is $350 delivered. There is also a digital down-loadable version available for $100.
Pimsleur and Rosetta Stone Spanish are excellent at teaching you formal Spanish or “Castellano”, the way educated Spanish speakers converse. If you are traveling in Latin America and need to deal with everyday people you will find a lot of difference between what Pimsleur or Rosetta Stone taught you and what is being commonly spoken. For everyday usage or traveler’s Spanish, you will need to know and be able to converse in street Spanish.
You may need both. If you only know street Spanish, and then need to interact with educated Latin Americans in formal situations, you will come across as an uneducated hick. In reality, there is street Spanish and then there is formal Spanish. (Just as in English there is everyday conversational English and then there is university English. But the differences in vocabulary and rules of grammar between the two forms of the language are much greater and more pronounced in Spanish than they are in English) To be able to communicate effectively in both formal situations and ordinary street conversation, you would need to know both forms of Spanish, in order to be able to switch back and forth between them as needed.
This author has no personal experience with Rosetta Stone Spanish but it is reputed to teach primarily the formal version of Spanish, along somewhat the same lines as Pimsleur.
All three are very good products and highly recommended. Which is best for you would depend on your reasons for wanting to learn Spanish. For everyday conversations and street Spanish, Rocket Spanish is probably the better choice. For formal, educated Spanish (Castellano), Pimsleur or Rosetta Stone would be a better choice. For complete domination of the Spanish language, you would need to know both the formal and the street forms of Spanish.
For a free 6-Day Spanish E-course, ($37 Value), visit: Learn Spanish Free To learn more about learning Spanish, fast and easy, visit: Rocket Spanish
Jorge Chavez has been an internet entrepreneur and marketer since 2002. He began to learn Spanish after he was 30, now is bilingual English-Spanish. He has monolingual friends, relatives and clients who only speak Spanish and others who only speak English. Read his articles at http://rocket-spanish.ya23.com