spanish and rosetta stone?

Question

what are the main/detailed differences between (latin america) spanish and (spain) spanish? i am thinking about buying rosetta stone spanish but dont know which spanish to buy. if you know latin america spanish can you go to spain and have the native "spains" to understand you? how much do u learn with level 1 and/or 2? any other info please share

Answer 1

Spanish from Spain as it is still the worldwide reference for Spanish. Indeed, most schools (even in the US) teach Spanish from Spain. It differs only by several words/sentences/pronunciation from “Latin American Spanish”. Moreover, each country in Latin American uses different expressions from one another (for instance an expression common in Mexico might not be used at all in Argentina). If you know Spanish from Spain, you can be understood anywhere.

I tried Rosetta Stone for Spanish. It was effective to learn basic words and sentences. It does not have any grammar or conjugation instructions though so it will be very hard to go beyond the basics with it.

My college uses another software called TeLL me More, by Auralog. I found it more complete and less repetitive. It covers not only the basics, but also intermediate or advanced level. My goal was to become fluent so it was perfect for me. It has a lot of different activities: picture/word association, videos, dialogues,..., includes also grammar and conjugation. It has also more content than Rosetta Stone as far as level and number of hours of learning and is cheaper. Their speech recognition is great so you can have a dialogue with the computer. You can check out their website at http://www.auralog.com for a free demo or they can send you one. I found that site of reviews as well http://learn-spanish-software-review.toptenreviews.com/. They have more content (up to 950 hours of learning) and it is cheaper.

The best way to learn a language would be through immersion, visiting these countries. Learning a language will require some time. In addition to software, you can have books which are useful as well. Audio CDs like Pimsleur for instance might help you out but you cannot get any feedback on your pronunciation so I did not like it so much.

Answer 2

Well there are some differences between Spain and Latin America. First of all. In Spain the use a different Past Tense than we do in LA. They would say "I have gone to the park" and we would say "I went to the park".... Then, the pronounciation of certain letters are different like the "z" "c". They pronounce it like "th" and we pronounce it like "sss".... And ofcourse, some Fruits, Vegetables, Animal names are different, but even among LA nations. BUT the buttom line here is that EVERYONE would understand any type of Spanish.... If you learn Mexican spanish anyone in the Spanish world would understand you,... the same with the other Spanish versions. Cheers! and I hope I could helped you somehow! Bye

Answer 3

what ever you do, do not buy Rosetta Stones language courses.. use Berlitz for quality results and training aids, it is expensive , but very quick and easy to learn.