The software uses ZERO English in teaching Spanish

In an attempt to learn Spanish as quickly as possible before departing for a year in Mexico, I turned to two different language-acquisition approaches: Spanish software and an instructor-led Spanish language course.

Attracted by its compelling marketing and rave customer reviews, I purchased rosetta stones panish version 3
. But the first several times I used it were dismaying. I wanted to learn to say "Hi," "How are you?" and "Fine, thanks. And you?" Instead I learned "The clown has blue hair" and "The boy is under the table." After making a note to myself to search out a clown and a mischievous boy upon arriving in Mexico, I figured out how Rosetta Stone really works.

The software uses ZERO English in teaching Spanish. Instead it uses visual and verbal cues, both pictures and words, to teach you your new language in a "natural" way. You'll begin to understand the relationship between words, pictures, sounds and meanings while being fully immersed in the Spanish language. Once you get the hang of it, your vocabulary will grow very quickly. Although the point of rosetta stone
is clearly not to learn/memorize vocabulary. It's to understand how to form clear words and sentences, as well as to understand spoken Spanish by developing your "Spanish ear." In this regard, rosetta stone
is much better than a textbook.

But even after many hours of using rosetta stone
, I still wasn't familiar with the simple components of the basic conversations in which I'd be engaging in Mexico. So I enrolled in a Spanish course that used a similar "natural approach."

The course provided me with all the benefits of Rosetta Stone (developing my verbal, visual, and comprehension fluency) plus one all-important bonus: Spanish conversation. It's one thing to familiarize yourself with the meanings of different words and phrases, but it's quite another thing to employ the right ones with the right pronunciation at the right time. This freedom to learn to ad-lib in a foreign language is among the biggest advantages an instructor-led course has over language software.

You want to learn a language in the way you will be using it: to speak, to write, or to read. My goal was to learn to speak Spanish. Rosetta Stone did an admirable job teaching me, but nothing compared to the actual, dynamic conversations I enjoyed in my Spanish class.

Author's Note: Living in Mexico, I can confidently say that the only thing more effective than both software and a language course is a Spanish immersion experience.