So, I was lucky and received a 1 year subscription to Level 3, Latin American Spanish from Rosetta Stone, courtesy of PC. I've been playing around with it for a couple of weeks now, and I hope to get through at least Level 2 before I leave (ideally the whole thing!). Hopefully this will put me on par with the others who are in my PC volunteer class. I've heard one couple is already planning a 2-month homestay in Mexico before March so that they can get a jump start on the language...
My experience with Rosetta Stone so far has been positive. I have tried a different online learning program, and there are some things I like more about Rosetta Stone (maybe due to all the hype):
- I've gone through 1.5 units in Level 1 (4 units total in Level 1). I have not seen a single word of English since everything is presented in pictures and Spanish. So, I am not as reliant on a Spanish-English dictionary.
- However, the trade-off is that there aren't any real grammar explanations. While the pictures are pretty good at explaining grammatical concepts (singular vs plural, first person vs third person, some verb conjugations), there are a couple of things that I am just not understanding. I wish the program would provide some type of explanation for these, since they advertise it as "the same as how you learned your first language"--but I'm pretty sure they taught us grammar in school.
- They go back and force you to periodically review modules. This has been good for reinforcing vocabulary and concepts.
The thing I am still unsure about is if Rosetta Stone will get me thinking fast enough to hold a conversation in Spanish. Some of the answers are just coming out of my mouth (yay!), but I had a hard time with the end-of-unit "test", which was more of a conversation. I am hoping / wondering if the higher level units start getting into more conversational practice, so that may help. PC has also given me access to www.scola.org, which streams TV and radio from other countries. This has been a great way to hear Spanish in real-time and try to absorb it at real speeds.
Oh What Fun, Jack Turns ONE!!
5 years ago
1 comment:
You have learned 3 languages and I believe you must know the only way to learn a new language well is to practise and practise and practise. My daughter takes Spanish at school for 3 years, but I don't notice she practises speaking that much. She is doing very well at school, but one day she will know that that is not enough when she has to travel or live in Mexico. I like the way you learn a new language and so far, I enjoy reading every your posts. Keep the good work.
TY
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