I won't say that's impossible, but it's an extremely ambitious goal. Do you speak any other foreign languages? Which ones? Have you had any experience learning Spanish before? It also depends on your definition of "fluent". What do you plan on doing with the language? Traveling? Working? Studying abroad? Using it in your current job? All of these require different levels of fluency. If you are really serious about learning Spanish, my advice is to set a more concrete goal that clearly defines why you're learning the language.goal: fluent by September
This is the main thing about Rosetta Stone. Like I said, it's basically just super expensive flash cards. That's fine as a supplement, but you will not reach any sort of conversational fluency with Rosetta Stone as your only tool.It can be a good supplement to something else, like having a friend to practice the language with, but it is not enough by itself. It doesn't really teach you grammar or to think for yourself.
Obviously total immersion isn't practical, but there are still plenty of things you can do. TV, Radio, literature, practice with native speakers or other people who are learning. I don't know where the OP lives, but there are options even in ass-crack nowhere.Totally immersing yourself in a foreign language is great advice except for the fact that it's completely impractical for almost everyone that is not actually moving to a different country.
Every one of those suggestions is completely idealistic and utterly impractical.
How the hell are any of those "idealistic and utterly impractical"? All of them are just different variations on language partners, which is an extremely tried-and-true method of learning a language. You speak English and, guess what, millions of Hispanics in the USA want to learn it and practice their speaking. It's not a matter of "bouncing grammar off of" native speakers, it's getting practice hearing real speech and producing it yourself. Your belief that Rosetta Stone and Spanish novels will give better results than conversing with native speakers is just plain wrong. Sorry.Every one of those suggestions is completely idealistic and utterly impractical.
Did i say that? or did I say that it'd be more efficient?Your belief that Rosetta Stone and Spanish novels will give better results than conversing with native speakers is just plain wrong. Sorry..
Are you really that busy that you can post on forums yet you can't have Skype or some other random Spanish chatroom open to chat with people in? You can't write an e-mail to a Spanish penpal a couple times a week? Really? That's absurd.Did i say that? or did I say that it'd be more efficient?
Do you idealists have day jobs, or just ample time and money to "immerse yourselves in other cultures"?
I'm calling you and Toe idealists because you're completely disregarding probably 80% of the reason why 99% of RS purchasers bought it in the first place:convenience.
Good luck, but if you pull it off try not to end up acting like that prick from the commercials who rattles off some shit in French with that smug look on his face like he's Charles fuckin' de Gaulle.Goal: Fluent by September.
I've always had terrible luck as well with the voice recognition. Each time I used Rosetta Stone I ended up just disabling it.Has anyone been able to get the voice recognition to work properly? Even in my native language (Swedish) it gives me like a 30% fail rate. Imo i think rosetta stone is a decent way to build vocabulary as well as a way to learn how Spanish is written. If you goal is to have conversations in Spanish though i would look in to additional exercises...