Top Spanish Learning Programs Comparison: Rocket Spanish Premium Vs Rosetta Stone Spanish
Which is the better choice for learning languages – Rosetta Stone or Rocket Languages? Before we make a decision, we have to consider several factors – cost, teaching methods used, and the pros and cons inherent in each software program. In this way, we are assured that we are making the right decision, an educated choice.
Which product should we put our money on? Which is the more cost-effective option? We will try to give you the necessary information so you will be in a strong position to make the best decision.
ROSETTA STONE – Methodology
Rating: Three Out of Five Stars
Rosetta Stone has language instructional software for thirty one languages. These include the more popular ones such as Chinese (Mandarin), English (American), English (British), French, German, Hebrew, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Spanish, and the like.
Rosetta Stone employs what they refer to as the natural learning technique. The student learns the way an infant does, by having things pointed out to him, hearing the names for these things, and mimicking the words. His first lessons cover seeing a succession of pictures, and simultaneously hearing a native speaker identify these images in the language of choice. This approach has no place for translating into the target language, learning and expanding one’s vocabulary, or similar exercises. Neither is the native language used at all for it is believed that such usage will just get in the way of the learning process.
Rosetta Stone encourages the student to listen to words, say them himself, put these words in writing, and basically memorize the words related to the images seen.
Rosetta Stone Spanish, similar to most Rosetta Stone language teaching software, comes in three phases. If you go through all these three stages, you will be exposed to the following (the same holds true for Rosetta Stone for other languages):
• Words to meet, greet, and take your leave by
• Words used to express common courtesies
• Learning how to ask and answer basic questions
• Words to communicate with when buying or asking for things
• Asking, understanding, and giving simple directions
• Eating out, ordering food and drinks
• Telling time
• Engaging in basic social exchanges
• Communicating what you feel and what you want
• Participating in more intricate social functions
• Expressing thoughts, intentions, and expectations
• Sharing thoughts, beliefs, preferences
• Dealing with crisis and other urgent situations
The Rosetta Stone Spanish technique provides the student with the natural atmosphere for learning. By going through a series of picture cards and hearing the accompanying related words spoken, the student is provided with the appropriate situation to learn at his own pace. He associates the words with the pictures, thus enlarging his vocabulary, and in the process, learns what to say in related situations.
Click here to learn more about Rosetta Stone Spanish
ROCKET LANGUAGES – Methodology
Rating: Four out of Five Stars
Rocket Languages has language instructional software for many of the more popular languages such as Korean, Japanese, French, German, Italian, Chinese (Mandarin), English (American) and the like.
Most Rocket Languages programs share comparable essentials to help its students understand and speak their languages of choice more fluently. A deeper appraisal of the fundamentals of Rocket Spanish Premium will provide us with insights into what the other Rocket Languages programs have to contribute.
Rocket Spanish Premium includes the following essentials in its program aimed to facilitate the reading, writing, understanding, and speaking of the Spanish language:
1. Interactive Auditory Lessons – Rocket Spanish Premium aims to teach the language to its students by employing an interactive, audio-centered methodology. It provides a total of twelve hours of Spanish teaching, broken down in the more learning-friendly series of thirty two lessons averaging twenty five minutes each.
2. Coaching in Grammar – Rocket Spanish Premium provides thirty one sessions of coaching in grammar. The lessons start with the simplest grammar concepts, and continually building on previous sessions, go on to include more complicated lessons. These studies centering on grammar eat up about one hundred hours, utilized in smaller, more manageable lumps.
3. MegaVocab Software Game – Rocket Spanish Premium presents its instructional vocabulary material in a fun, motivating manner. It seeks to teach you more than a thousand words centering on about twenty diverse topics. Moreover, it also has the MegaVocab Creator, another enjoyable software which makes it possible for you to put in words and images of your choice.
4. MegaAudio Software Game – Rocket Spanish Premium tests your ability to listen, again by employing a game to whet and sustain your interest. It seeks to rate your grasp of more than a thousand Spanish words.
5. MegaVerbs Software Learning Game – Rocket Spanish Premium sticks to its goal-centered technique even with the addition of the fun-and-games dimension. This game practices the student in the conjugation of verbs, in discerning the dissimilarities among the different verb tenses and their applications.
Rocket Spanish Premium has a well-rounded design. It provides its students various situations where Spanish is heard, learned, and mastered. It tackles the many facets of the language, allowing its students to learn vocabulary and grammar, and facilitate comprehension of the language. Moreover, by adding the flavor of fun through its games, it is able to draw and sustain its students attention, thus, enhancing their capacity to learn.
Click here to learn more about Rocket Spanish Premium
Rosetta Stone Spanish– CONS
Without doubt, Rosetta Stone Spanish offers its students a lot of opportunity to acquire the words, phrases, and sentences needed to acceptably communicate in the Spanish language. However, it does not have the well-rounded approach necessary to assure its students of facility in the use of the language. The following covers some of the areas for improvement:
• Rosetta Stone Spanish teaches its students the way you would a child. It has a very simplistic approach. Students who expect the structure and organization in a language learning program will do well to look elsewhere.
• Rosetta Stone Spanish uses pictures which are universal. Thus, it fails to capture the essence of the Spanish culture which can raise the level of appreciation of the language being learned.
• Moreover, Rosetta Stone Spanish seems inclined to teach the more formal tone of the language, thus failing to expose the students to its colloquial and more common form.
• Rosetta Stone Spanish seeks to enhance and develop its students’ vocabulary. It, however, fails to teach grammar and syntax which are essential to the comprehensive learning of any language. A student can get some level of insight into grammar rules if he is observant enough. Rosetta Stone Spanish, however, fails to teach grammar in a structured, systematic manner.
Rocket Spanish Premium – CONS
Rocket Spanish Premium will not make you as fluent in the language as a native speaker is (there is no language instructional software which can do this, in fact). However, it enables you to feel adequately comfortable in the language by giving you a good grasp of essential vocabulary, grammar rules, and the rudiments of effective conversation. The following are its obvious areas for improvement:
• Rocket Spanish Premium provides no means to enable the student to monitor his progress. It needs to develop a feedback mechanism for its students.
• Sometimes, the pictures in the program fail to match the word(s) being taught, thus bringing up, without meaning to, the level of difficulty for the vocabulary guessing game.
Rosetta Stone Spanish – Cost
The company’s website provides the following price list for Rosetta Stone Spanish:
• Level 1 – $206.10
• Levels 1 & 2 Set – $368.10
• Levels 1, 2 & 3 Set – $464.00
• Levels 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 Set – $574.00
Rocket Spanish Premium – Cost
The company’s website provides the following price list for Rocket Spanish Premium::
• Instant download of Rocket Spanish Premium Package: $99.95
RECOMMENDATION: GET ROCKET SPANISH PREMIUM
After careful consideration of all essential factors, it seems clear that Rocket Spanish Premium will give you the best value for your money. It is a well-rounded program. It teaches you the vocabulary needed to get by in real-life situations, as well as the necessary grasp of fundamental rules of grammar.
A point-by-point comparison of the prices also makes the decision easy.
The complete set (including all five levels) of Rosetta Stone Spanish probably offers more things to learn than the Rocket Spanish Premium package, as well it should, considering its steep price.
However, you probably would gain more from the $99.95 you will spend on the Rocket Spanish Premium package than from the $206.10 you will shell out for the Rosetta Stone Spanish Level 1.
In summary, if you want a language learning software that will give you an ample amount of useful vocabulary words, a good grasp of grammar rules, as well as conversations and audio input based on real-life situations, at a very reasonable price, you should get Rocket Spanish Premium.
