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Rosetta Stone Spanish (Spain) and Assimil | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| erinserb Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 7194 days ago 135 posts - 144 votes  Speaks: English* | Message 1 of 7 27 June 2012 at 6:32pm | IP Logged |
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I truly want to learn Spanish, now that my interest is waning in French :-( - but I believe this is only temporary.
Can anyone recommend RS Spanish (Spain 3rd version) vs. say Assimil Spanish? I live in the U.S., but I have decided that I would really like to learn the European Spanish, and don't believe that I would lose much in understanding Latin American Spanish. Is this true? I am a second-career librarian and probably don't need to learn a language, however I believe it is MOST important and that more people in my profession should be encouraged to speak and/or be at least bi-lingual. I love to watch RTVE where I can here the Euro/Castillian dialect. Latin American Spanish is beautiful too; but I think I could get the best of both worlds if I concentrated on the Spanish of Spain 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| COF Senior Member United States Joined 5829 days ago 262 posts - 354 votes Speaks: English* | Message 2 of 7 27 June 2012 at 7:07pm | IP Logged |
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There isn't much difference, and it's probably easier for a European Spanish speaker to understand Latin American Spanish than vice versa, as it is generally thought that most Latin American dialects are more clearly pronounced and not spoken quite as fast. Edited by COF on 27 June 2012 at 7:08pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ElBrujo Newbie United States Joined 4706 days ago 29 posts - 52 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 3 of 7 27 June 2012 at 7:20pm | IP Logged |
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Well, I haven't used Rosetta Stone for more than a few lessons, but I do highly
recommend Spanish with Ease, although not as one's sole resource. You'll need other exposure to the language, like Destinos, Notes in Spanish, and Michel Thomas, for example. With regard to how much you'll understand if you only stick to Iberian resources, that really depends on how much exposure to spoken language you experience. If you were to be able to understand a news broadcast from Spain, one from Latin American country 'x' probably wouldn't be much of a problem. If you only stick to media resources and don't speak with real people, regardless of what regional variation of Spanish they speak, you will likely experience some challenges understanding real people in real-time conversation. Most of the resources that I use are of the Iberian variety, but since the majority of the people with whom I chat online are Latin Americans, I have no problem understanding most speakers, except a few here and there who present me with some challenges because of a strong regional accent. I'm blabbering, but the point is, if you want to understand a specific group of peoples, you need to talk to them. You can use entirely Iberian resources and not understand a lick of Iberian Spanish if you don't speak with Spaniards. Also, you're limiting yourself by only using Iberian resources, but some people may disagree with me here, so I'll let someone else do the arguing for me. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| erinserb Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 7194 days ago 135 posts - 144 votes Speaks: English* | Message 4 of 7 27 June 2012 at 9:13pm | IP Logged |
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ElBrujo - thanks. During my learning of Spanish, I hope to have friends to speak with and - maybe - have a resource like Skype to carry it one step further. Actually, I have really come to like Spanish and its importance. French can wait for me.
As to using another resource, I could go with Assimil and I do have access to Destinos and the videos, plus I purchased the textbook and audio files. I hope this is a good start. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| dbag Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5020 days ago 605 posts - 1046 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 5 of 7 28 June 2012 at 1:28am | IP Logged |
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I would say, if you are studying Spanish, you would be crazy not to get Spanish
with Ease, regardless of what pronunciation you want to focus on. Seriously, it is the bees knees. Sure, you will need other resources, you always will, but there's very little available that even comes close in terms of vocab, grammar and idioms. It is quite simply packed with WAY more Spanish than nearly anything else I have seen. FSI, sure, but I would say Assimil scores higher when it comes to the all important idioms. I have heard linguaphone is comparable too. A year after finishing the course, I am still impressed at how advanced the dialogs are. Pick up a copy and make it your best friend. Edited by dbag on 28 June 2012 at 1:29am 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Random review Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5781 days ago 781 posts - 1310 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin, Yiddish, German | Message 6 of 7 28 June 2012 at 2:38am | IP Logged |
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Rosetta Stone?
If I could do it all again I'd still start with Michel Thomas, which I'd do quickly over a single weekend (a few weeks into Assimil I'd come back and do the review course- once only). I'd then move on to Assimil's Spanish with ease (but I'd supplement their method with shadowing) and Pimsleur (if you can afford it or get it from the library like I did). Half an hour a day for each. after 90 days you'd finish pimsluer and be well into your active wave of Assimil, I'd now start watching and reading things in Spanish. On finishing Spanish with ease I'd move on to the FSI Basic Course, which should take about 6 months (if you're dedicated) to a year (if not). Continue to watch and read things you enjoy. At this point I'd also start looking for people to talk to. On finishing FSI 12-18 months from now (depending on how long you take on FSI) you'll either be at my level, if you don't find anyone to talk to (I'm currently studying Assimil's Using Spanish) or way above my level (if you do find someone to talk to). I don't know how helpful the above is (just that it's how I'd do it if I had a time machine), but at any rate please don't worry about which variety of Spanish to learn at this stage. I believe that most Spaniards would much rather speak with someone who speaks good Mexican Spanish than someone who speaks bad European Spanish...and vice versa. Edit: if you're watching RTVE you're too advanced for Michel Thomas and I'd skip the passive wave of Assimil too. Get straight into the active wave of Assimil (plus shadowing). With that in mind my time estimate (based on an hour a day every day is no longer 12-18 months but 9-15 months (depending on how hard you work at FSI). Edited by Random review on 28 June 2012 at 2:49am 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| erinserb Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 7194 days ago 135 posts - 144 votes Speaks: English* | Message 7 of 7 28 June 2012 at 6:44pm | IP Logged |
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Thanks to dbag and random review - very good advice - I have Assimil French with Ease and it is awesome. If that quality is the same in Assimil Spanish then I will use it along with Destinos :-)
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