Beginners Spanish: Beginner Spanish Language Resources

Learn Spanish Program

This was one of the first products I bought when I set out to learn Spanish. It's focus is more on memory than learning the language, which at the time I felt was a good idea. I thought "If I can remember more Spanish words, surly this will make it easier to learn!"

The package contains 5 main components:

Spanish Link Words Book - This concentrates on associating mental images to Spanish words in order to help you remember and recall them as needed.

Spanish Matching Game - This as a word-association game designed to help you match up the Spanish counterparts for English words.

Spanish Flashcard Program - A software version of the classic flashcard method of learning.

Memory Boosting Report - These are around 12 different methods designed to help you remember and recall which can be applied to any situation, not just learning Spanish.

Daily Memory Booster - Another memory technique designed to quickly form associations between words, visuals and numbers.

Conclusion:
If you want to improve your memory but learning Spanish is an afterthought then this is for you. However if your main goal is to learn the language, this is defiantly not a good place to start.

It is really more aimed at memory improvement, which is no bad thing, but lacks the necessary components for learning a language.

It's biggest flaw is this: Although you will learn a 1000 new Spanish words which are all very useful, and you will be able to link those words with their English counterparts, the material lacks a very important part of the language learning process: Grammar and Meaning!

It's all very well knowing what the words are and being able to recall them, but that's no good if you don't know what context to use them in or how to form a correctly grammatical sentence.

However, if you have tried learning Spanish before and failed I would recommend this product as a precursor to another language learning package.

Tell Me More - Spanish

This was the most expensive, but if you have the money and you're serious about learning the language, I would definitely suggest this.

It is essentially a software package containing thousands of different exercises, activities and videos to give you a complete knowledge of the language.

It is divided into workshops which teach you not only the vocabulary and grammar of the language but also pronunciation and even a little geography thrown in.

You can use the software in three different ways:

The Dynamic Mode lets the computer decide what activities or videos to give you depending on the results of any you have completed previously. I personally liked this mode as it took care of the decision-making when it came to what activities to do next.

In the Guided Mode you give the software information such as how much time you have to learn the language and how good you want to be in the end.

And there is a free mode where you can pick whatever activities you want yourself.

Conclusion:
This really was a complete experience! There is so much I like about this package. One of my absolute favorite parts of the software was the pronunciation sections.

I have to say it was very high tech, it used speech recognition technology to help correct any pronunciation errors and also 3-D animations to illustrate the movements of the lips and mouth.

It also has hours of video footage which I found most helpful is not only can you read the language but you can see and hear it at the same time.

This will teach you everything! You might look like you work in a call center when wearing the FREE headset and microphone they provide, but when all's said and done you WILL know Spanish very well.

Rocket Languages - Spanish

This is a very nice little package which, while not as all encompassing as others, was a very effective learning method.

The package consists of around 12 hours of audio, adopting the classic audio tape method, but also gives you the transcripts and lots of activities.

It comes with two lots of software, "MegaVocab" and "MegaAudio.

MegaVocab is a word building game designed to help you learn and remember the 1000 most commonly used words.

MegaAudio is another game where you listen to Spanish people speaking natural Spanish in order to learn a greater understanding of the spoken language.

Another fantastic part of this package is that they give you access to their online forums.

Here you can ask the writers and a whole load of people going through the same process as you, at various stages throughout, any questions you might have. From how to properly pronounce a word to where and where not to use different words etc.

Conclusion:
I really liked this course, and here's why:

1. You can use this course ANYWHERE. You can download the audio to your iPod and listen on the way to work or (as I did) lie in the bath with your headphones in.

2. The software which is bundled with it is very good, at times even fun! And it really does help you remember the words, understand them and speak them with a good level of fluency.

3. All the material is built around the most common language and scenarios that you are likely to encounter in the real world! Which essentially mean you only learn what you need and after that you pick the whole thing up naturally simply by speaking Spanish.

4. The forums were a fantastic resource for help as there are 100s of people who have or are learning Spanish with these tools who are more than happy to help and just chat with. You'd be amazed at the community feel in the forums which really helps you relax into the process, knowing others are doing the same.

In the end, my advice is this:

While I have used them all and am now fluent in the language, I don't think their all necessary. If you have the time and the money, I would say that "Tell Me More - Spanish" is the way to go.

The level of detail and sheer amount of material provided and the technology and method used will leave you with a phenomenal knowledge of the language.

However, for those on a budget and/or those wanting to learn not only the basics but enough to make you a comfortable Spanish speaker, I would advise using BOTH the "Learn-Spanish-Program" and "Rocket Languages - Spanish".

The "Learn-Spanish-Program" puts the word in your head and gives you a great help when it come to remembering and recalling those words, whereas the "Rocket Languages - Spanish" package tells you both how to understand, use and speak them in the way they were intended.