MY DISABILITIES DEPOT
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MY DISABILITIES DEPOT - Rosetta Stone Spanish (Latin America) Level 1, 2 & 3 Set with Audio Companion
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List Price: $539.00
Our Price: $485.10
Your Save: $ 53.90 ( 10% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Rosetta Stone
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: CD-ROM
Brand: Rosetta Stone
EAN: 9781603916738
Feature: Rosetta Stone teaches you a new language naturally, by getting you to think, live and breathe the language
Format: CD-ROM
ISBN: 1603916733
Label: Rosetta Stone
Manufacturer: Rosetta Stone
Model: 20988
Platform: Windows Vista
Publisher: Rosetta Stone
Release Date: 2008-06-16
Studio: Rosetta Stone
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Features
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Rosetta Stone teaches you a new language naturally, by getting you to think, live and breathe the language
Innovative solutions get you speaking new words, right from the start
Rosetta Stone moves forward only when you're ready--you drive the pace, you set the schedule
With Rosetta Stone, you'll discover a foundation of key vocabulary that you'll use to build into a whole new language
Audio Companion lets you take the Rosetta Stone experience anywhere: in the car, at the gym, or on-the-go
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Editorial Reviews:
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Foreign language learning with Rosetta Stone Spanish (Latin America) Levels 1, 2&3 you connect with the world around you. With level one you begin learning fundamental vocabulary and essential language structure, from greetings and introductions to simple questions and their answers. Gain the confidence and enter the intermediate level where you will be able to talk about your environment; give and get directions, tell time, dine out with self-reliance, shop and enjoy basic social interactions. Taking what you’ve learned in Levels 1 and 2, we help you reach an advanced level of competence. This competence allows you to connect with the world around you. You will learn to share your ideas and opinions, express your feelings and talk about everyday life; your work, current events and much more. Now Rosetta Stone with Audio Companion allows the learner to take Rosetta Stone anywhere: in the car, the gym or on-the-go! What is Audio Companion? Audio Companion CDs are activities that correspond to the Rosetta Stone CD-ROM software lessons. The learner can listen to Audio Companion and practice what they’ve been learning on the computer, turning travel time into productive language learning time. Audio Companion lets the student access the power of Rosetta Stone lessons whenever and wherever they want, they can play the CD’s on a stereo, or download them to a MP3 player. It empowers the student and helps reinforce the lessons in any busy lifestyle!
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: It's Great!!!
Comment: It's as good as advertised! Be careful though, You can only instal it a couple of times. So if you have computer problems like I did, it can be a problem. The support at Rosseta Stone was very helpfull though!
Customer Rating:
Summary: The item is great if only I had the activation code
Comment: I purchased the Spanish (Latin) American. When my package arrived it is labeled Spanish.
When I went to download it is when I found out it was not what I ordered. What else I found out it came with no activation code. I contacted the seller she told me it would work with out it. Only for the first two lessons. Then it kicks you out to the activation code page. I called Rosetta Stone customer support. They told me I purchased from a unauthorized dealer. That I need to ask for my money back. I called Amazon / Chase Bank. They will dispute the charge. I am returning the product. Only thing it came from China. Who knows how much this will cost to ship back to them. I learned my lesson. Know who your buying from. The product is great I have already learned more in two weeks than I have in the last 6 months on other methods I have tried. I will be buying it. But this time I will pay the full price from a authorized site. The old saying goes you get what you pay for. The price was too good to be real..$393.98 for 3 levels and the Audio Companion, headset.
Customer Rating:
Summary: There is no science to their "method"--they are lying to you.
Comment: If you watch the flash video presentation of their "Dynamic Immersion" method, you might be captivated by the idea that you could learn as you did your first language. While this sounds nice from the start, it is highly impractical and goes against all studies of language learning (second-language acquisition). As an adult, your mind is not as flexible as a child's. Why can children learn music easily? Run and bend more than you can maybe? The expression, "can't teach an old dog new tricks" has some truth to it. It takes 15 years or more to learn a language like a child. Does that sound fast to you? That also, is with constant input all day every day--not what Rosetta Stone offers you.
I took three different languages at the best language school in the US, Middlebury College. Their approaches were not always my favorite... but they met half way: Rote is REQUIRED because it's faster and makes it easier to understand. But rather than explaining the most difficult parts of the language day one, they let you absorb it through other means, such as by watching movies, listening to the language in a native setting. There isn't one way to learn a language, but Rosetta Stone is a glorified flash-card program with audio.
The limitations of Rosetta Stone first of all are to a script you can read. I spent years writing Chinese by hand, learning about stroke order, trying to understand the history of the characters... and Rosetta Stone makes it sound like "look at the word" "see the word" "know the word".... which isn't the case at all. They don't tailor their programs at all. You will see the same pictures in the Spanish version that you do in the Chinese or Hindi version. Think of the intricacies of your own language to understand how difficult it is to achieve a level of "understanding". Rosetta Stone will not teach you that.
Rosetta Stone is for people who feel they do not want anything to do with rote memorization and who also have no need to learn the language seriously. Pimsleur Spanish I - 2nd Rev. Ed.: Learn to Speak and Understand Spanish with Pimsleur Language Programs (Comprehensive) (English and Spanish Edition), while far from complete, is at least worth it's money due to the fact that you can SAY full sentences, and it helps you to overcome fears in pronunciation. As other users have mentioned, there are far superior products now available, such as Fluenz, if you really want a computer method. Fluenz also is smart-phone compatible. They also tailor their programs for their languages, and readily recognize how adults learn. Fluenz Version F2: Spanish 1+2+3+4+5 (Win/Mac) with software DVDs, audio CDs, podcasts, and Navigator. Learn Spanish with the latest upgrade.
There are too many subtleties in languages for you to just "pick up"---please don't think that this program will give that to you.
If you are excited by the prospect of pictures, I would suggest using a DK Visual Dictionary, which Amazon has. Spanish English Bilingual Visual Dictionary (DK Visual Dictionaries) Also, watch movies you know with Spanish subtitles or with a Spanish track and Spanish subtitles. (Most DVDs have this option) I find that movies I know the words to, make this exercise very meaningful... when watching Forest Gump, I was familiarized with the imperative (commands) when Jenny shouts, "Run, Forest, run!" Grammar can be picked up through cheap or free means. Reading the lyrics to songs in the language can help, and translations now are abundant. It also helps if you can hear quick speaking and pick out the words. One of my main problems with French was learning where words ended and began. Rosetta Stone wouldn't teach me that, but movies, music, and other media do. Try using podcasts. Blog/podcasts such as [...] give you more meaningful aspects of the language, such as idioms and how to learn different accents.
Remember: language learning is all about input. True immersion means you will live a life of the language, just as you would if you were raising a child. I recommend reading newspapers online, even if you only understand 10% or less. Familiarity with the shape of words is important as well. You want to be able to "know" when a word "sounds" Spanish.
There are workbooks, dictionaries, programs, audio tapes, all geared toward helping you. Be honest with what you will do. If you won't put in the effort to learn things by "rote" even if through flashcards, then your progress will be greatly inhibited. There are also online communities to get involved in if you want a "penpal".
I am absolutely against buying Rosetta Stone for four main reasons:
1. The program is a "one-size-fits-all" where they change the audio to whichever language they want to sell you.
2. There is no depth to the language, in Spanish for example, the word "banana" isn't the same in every country, even in Latin America. This is an important cultural point, which they pass up, due to point 1.
3. They don't explain pronunciation at all.
4. Their marketing is false and unfounded, and the price is much too high for what they offer.
If you want computer software, check out Fluenz before you buy. (There are others as well) Personally, I'm going to stick to music, movies, Pimsleur, and books such as Using Spanish: A Guide to Contemporary Usage which give me depth to the language. See also: Using Spanish Vocabulary for explanations on registers, polite speech, colloquialisms, regional phrases, and differences between synonyms.
It bothers me a great deal that people are being sold on this marketing that they should "grasp the language without interference". Rosetta Stone IS INTERFERENCE. The availability of Spanish resources for English speakers makes this product a FAIL. If you are hoping to learn Turkish, then perhaps I understand why you would choose it.
For those who want flashcards, download Anki [...] you can make your own and add audio, or you can download some that are pre-made.
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If you're really going to spend $500 on learning Spanish, take a class where you can have things explained to you.
That's my two cents, hope it's helpful.
At the very least, please try the demo on their website before you buy it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Never Bought It, Never Will. THANK YOU!
Comment: Thank you for telling me about this product before I bought it. I am so glad I didn't jump in with both feet before researching others' opinions. Not having a head for learning languages, I believed every word the advertisements said about these products. I'm sorry for any of you who had to fork out the bucks to learn a valuable lesson. I think I'll take an evening course at the local community center. Thanks again!
Geo
Customer Rating:
Summary: Good product, terrible customer service
Comment: I had extreme difficulty loading Rosetta Stone on my laptop. During the process, the program told me that there was an update I should download from their website, but doing so caused fatal errors. I tried contacting their customer service department via phone. The first time I tried, the phone simply rang and rang until I finally hung up. The second time I tried, I was put on hold for 40 minutes, when I gave up. The third time I tried, I actually got through to a real human being (after being on hold for over 30 minutes), who took my name and then managed to disconnect me. I then gave up entirely and, after restoring my computer to a point before I had loaded Rosetta Stone, got it working without the update that was highly recommended. It works okay, with some glitches in the voice recognition area. I'm somewhat satisfied with the product as a language teaching system, although not as thrilled as I had expected to be, given its glowing reviews. Rather than a logical progression in material, there seems to be quantum leaps in levels of difficulty.
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