| The “Discovery Method” of Grammar Learning | Rating  |
The Rosetta Stone Latin American Spanish language learning program uses what is called the “Discovery Method” of grammar learning. That is, the learner “figures out” or “discovers” the significance of grammar usage in context while listening to and repeating lesson grammar focus points. The use of the definite articles and personal pronouns: “La”, “El”, “Ella”, “Ellos” are an example of this.
The language learner has the option upon entering the program, to select their level and lesson content. Lesson content can be:
- reading, writing, listening, speaking
- reading, writing, listening, speaking – extended
- speaking and listening
- reading and writing
So, the learner can focus on those language skills in which they need input and practice or just skip those areas with which they are already familiar. This allows the learner more autonomy and control over lessons, which I found to be important. The pronunciation lesson units are particularly important. It is a welcome feature that the language learner can click on sound/pronunciation boxes to repeatedly listen to and repeat the pronunciation of sounds. Since the alphabet in Spanish is very similar to the English language alphabet, pronunciation of recognized letters, consonants, and diphthongs is fairly simple and straight forward.
| Further into Latin American Spanish Language Fluency | Rating  |
The program uses “Dynamic Immersion”, that is, all sections of each lesson are in the target language only. The learner must read, write, and listen to sounds pronunciation, phrases, and dialogues only in the target language. While this does promote greater fluency in Spanish at a faster rate, it also requires extensive support using other methods, especially for Spanish language learners who may be inexperienced or be having problems with language learning. By completing all the lessons, exercises and levels of the Rosetta Stone Latin American Spanish online program, a learner will achieve a level of fluency in the use of the language, but not equivalent to a year of total language immersion with a formal teacher or an immersion experience of being in a Spanish-speaking country. The program is approximately the equivalent of perhaps a two or three month intensive Spanish immersion experience. In an actual immersion experience, a learner would learn far more cultural and practical Spanish-speaking ability than is provided for in the program.
The only distinctive differences between the Latin American Spanish and Spanish (from Spain) programs of the Rosetta Stone system are the pronunciation and listening modes in which the phonology and pronunciation are for each of the respective areas. An informal style of the Spanish language is used. The slides, photos, images and vocabulary used in both the Latin American Spanish and Spanish (from Spain) are the same. No attempt is made at teaching or integrating Spanish cultural elements into the lessons.
| Rosetta Stone Latin American Spanish Program Summary | Rating |
I am not a native speaker of Spanish, but since I’ve spent the last fiftheen years living in Colombia with frequent, extensive travels in Ecuador, Panama, Costa Rica, and Mexico, I found the Rosetta Stone program to be a very good one for learning Spanish. It is not however, especially geared for Latin American Spanish except for the pronunciation and connected speech elements of the language. No explanation of the differences is implied or given during the course of the program elements I reviewed over the course of four weeks using the online program elements. The vocabulary, images, exercises, and situations are the same but are pronounced very differently as is the case with Latin American vs. Spanish from Spain. It would be useful to provide more Spanish culture-related elements into the language learning program including the use of relevant images, names, and situations that would frequently involve a foreign language learner.