Rosetta Stone V3: Spanish (Latin America), Level 1, 2 & 3

Well structured with repetition yet variety. The photos are excellent and interesting. Recommend doing a lesson daily for best results.

I bought levels 1,2 and 3 assuming that, based on the price, it must be great software. Well, I like the software, but it has TERRIBLE and CONTINUOUS TECH problems. The software will work for awhile; the tech dept is only open mon-fri until 7 pm...so by the time I can get home from work and call them at 6, I wait for 10 to 20 minutes to get an answer, and then the techs have NOT been able to solve my problem in the 40 to 50 minutes remaining. So then they tell me to call back and ask for a Senior Tech person, but then when I finally DO have time to call back on a week-night, they will not let me talk to a senior tech....YIKES! so the Jr. techs (nice people, at least) have me uninstall my software and then re-install the software, but then I can't re-activate it because it's already been activated, and it's another dept that I have to call back on yet another day to scold me because I'm again re-activating the software that I paid over $400 for. They sort of treat me like I'm trying to steal their software each time I have to get it re-activated YET AGAIN! I've never in my life had such a protective and nasty software program. I WISH I could get my money back...so don't buy this unless you plan to put only on ONE computer, not VISTA and are yourself a master computer tech who can make long phone calls to Rosetta Stone during the days Mon through Friday.

I have the Spanish (Latin America) version and it's great software.

HOWEVER : not only does Amazon not tell you that the software comes with it's own USB headset, they even suggest that you buy a completely unnecessary headset in the "Better Together" section! And - silly me - I fell for it and wasted $33 on a USB headset that I didn't need to buy at all.

So far having a great time with the Rosetta Stone. I do agree that if I hadn't already had a history with Spanish, it could be a little more difficult. I do, however, recommend a Spanish/English dictionary. Even for me, I find myself getting stumped and have to call a spanish speaking friend every once in a while. But in any case, I am doing very well and having lots of fun. Just don't get carried away. You can find yourself going and going and going. Stop after a few lessons and let it sink in.
:)

The Rosetta Stone method tries to emulate native speakers by plunging you right into the language, not quite total immersion, but perhaps the next best thing. It accomplishes this with pictures and phrases, without taxing you by making you memorize vocabulary and making you conjugate countless verbs. You sort of assimilate the language by association as you look at a photo, hear a phrase and try to figure it all out. Does that sound difficult? Believe it or not, it's not.

One nice thing about Rosetta Stone is that you can move at your own pace, without worrying about being left behind. However, you have to be careful not to go too long before going back to the program. Like a child learning how to talk, you have to keep at it, but if you do (you can skip a day here and there) you'll find you really do pick up on the language.

I've been using both the Spanish and the Japanese courses for three weeks now and I haven't missed a day, save for one very hectic Sunday with either course. I had four semesters of Japanese in College and lived six months in Madrid, where I worked pretty hard at studying Spanish. but all of that was a long time ago. But I do think my experience with both languages helped me a lot, especially with the Japanese, as the grammar is so very different from English.

I am moving through the courses at a pretty good clip, but like I said, I've had prior experience in both languages and I'm pretty dedicated when I set my mind to something and I really like the challenge of studying two languages that are so different at the same time. It beats watching reruns of House and Boston Legal and with Rosetta Stone it's not nearly as difficult as you might think, in fact it's kind of fun.