Online Spanish Courses

How Does The King of Online Spanish Courses, Rocket Spanish compare with Rosetta Stone?

Although this site predominantly deals with online Spanish courses we thought we’d compare what we believe to be the best of the many online Spanish courses against what many also believe to be the best off-line course.

Rocket Spanish and Rosetta Stone are commonly regarded as being the best Spanish courses currently available and people often ask me which of the two courses I would recommend. Fortunately, I have been lucky enough to try both courses and outlined below is my honest verdict on them both:

Online Spanish Courses: Rocket Spanish

Rocket Spanish was the first language course created by the successful Rocket Languages trading company in 2004 and because of the success of this course the company were able to release further language courses all of them following the same successful template as used in Rocket Spanish, undisputed champion of online Spanish courses.

Rocket Spanish is one of a large number of online Spanish courses but in terms of it’s effectiveness it ranks second to none, providing me with results that I’d expect from successful online Spanish courses.

Rocket Spanish targets the teaching of everyday Spanish and is primarily aimed at the beginner who wants to be able to speak and understand everyday Spanish as used in typical situations such as eating in a restaurant or travelling.

One of the main advantages of online Spanish courses are their ability to stay ‘modern’, updating their courses and vocabulary regularly in order to be more applicable to modern usage and Rocket Spanish is the market leader in this field, it is impossible for ‘off-the-shelf’ courses to be able to do this and as a result they become outdated quite quickly.

The lessons in the course were very easy to follow and because I listened to many of them on my MP3 player it was very easy to work them into my day and repeat sections that I struggled with as many times as I found necessary.

As with a number of online Spanish courses, Rocket Spanish has incorporated the use of interactive learning games into the course which are both fun to use and, more importantly, were excellent when I was trying to absorb new information, something that is extremely difficult to achieve when learning from a book or when using purely audio lessons.

How Does Rosetta Stone, the Cream of Language Courses Compare With Online Spanish Courses?

Unlike Rocket Spanish, Rosetta Stone Spanish doesn’t offer a downloadable course, it is a high end, ‘off the shelf’, physical product, created by a company renowned for producing quality language learning material and this course is no exception.

Rosetta Stone’s language teaching method is known as “Dynamic Immersion” which is a way of teaching using interactive games, both visual and audio, to teach Spanish. This is not dissimilar to how many other courses teach, including Rocket Spanish.

The thinking behind this method of teaching is that the student is immersed in the language using a number of different teaching techniques and styles because there is never just one way of learning that will suit everybody, we all learn differently and are receptive to different ways of absorbing information.

Learning a language in this way is the same as how we learned to speak English when we were children, a natural, progressive and practical way to learn, and it’s effective too!

The Verdict: Online Spanish Courses Edge it!

So…which course is better? A lot depends on what, as a student, you prefer, both courses are very similar in their approach to teaching Spanish, the methodology and the quality of educational material provided.

However, the biggest swing factor in my decision making process was the cost. Online Spanish Courses are always going to be a more cost effective alternative to their physical counterparts and Rocket Spanish is no exception, costing a mere third of the price that you would pay for Rosetta Stone course!

This makes Rocket Spanish a clear winner in my opinion and my choice of preferred course as online Spanish courses do offer far greater benefits to the majority of us.

Read my Rocket Spanish Review here and get all the details on the very best of online Spanish courses

Hasta Luego Amigos

FILED UNDER: ONLINE SPANISH COURSES

Online Spanish Courses: Why Is Learning to Speak Spanish So Difficult?

Online Spanish Courses will certainly make it easier for you to learn Spanish but first we’ll explain why speaking Spanish can be difficult for many people.

Understanding spoken Spanish comes far easier to a lot more people than the ability to actually speak and use the language itself which is very surprising, but when you consider how babies learn to speak, it really isn’t that difficult to get your head around it.

Babies and young children will learn to talk by repeating words they have been exposed to and have listened to constantly, over a period of time, but what is noticeable is that these same children also understand what is being said a long time before they can actually use the words themselves.

The chances are that you will be exactly the same when learning Spanish, or whatever language you may be learning, you will understand and recognize words but for some reason you just won’t be able to use them…online Spanish courses will help with this!

I now live in Spain and my two sons grew up listening to Spanish on a daily basis, but when it came to using Spanish, it was if there was some kind of mental block, and their frustrations were apparent for all to see, thankfully they are now both speaking Spanish fluently and have many Spanish friends (one specific course from a number of online Spanish courses helped them a great deal with that!).

The reason I brought up the story of my kids learning Spanish is that the biggest problem for many people, including children, is overcoming the fear of making mistakes and gaining enough confidence to start speaking in Spanish. Children in particular, can be very cruel when mistakes are made when speaking, often teasing and knocking the confidence of a learning child.

Learning material that will help with pronunciation will provide some initial help to sort this out and there are a vast array of online Spanish courses and learning aids to choose from to assist in helping to overcome these issues.

However, it really boils down to getting plenty of practice and not being fearful of making mistakes, relaxation is the key. I remember when I was a young soldier posted in Germany in the eighties, I found it difficult to pluck up enough courage to use what I had learnt, that was until I started socializing and having a few drinks with the locals, my inhibitions fell away and I found myself speaking German, not always accurately, but confidently, and that is what mattered.

If you are anything like me, and there are far more of us than you think, you may well be having a difficult time learning Spanish and this will normally be because of the mental block that you have subconsciously put in place to avoid the embarrassment of making mistakes. Online Spanish courses will help you to work on removing this block and as soon as it is removed you will find that speaking Spanish will become much easier and far more enjoyable.

My advice would be to get one of the many online Spanish courses that are available. Online Spanish courses will help you better understand how Spanish is spoken and will help you better understand the structure and pronunciation of the language. Online Spanish courses are a great place to start but, they are no replacement for actually jumping straight into the mixer and using whatever you know…you never know…you might even enjoy the experience!

If you want to learn more about the best Online Spanish courses available based on price, quality of educational material and results, the there is only one that I would wholeheartedly recommend and that is Rocket Spanish and if you check out my honest Rocket Spanish review you’ll understand why.

Visit My Rocket Spanish Review page here on Online Spanish Courses Reviewed

Hasta luego mis amigos

FILED UNDER: ONLINE SPANISH COURSES

Online Spanish Courses

Why Learn Spanish as a Second Language?

Learning Spanish using online Spanish courses can be both exciting and very daunting at the same time. Exciting because the prospect of being able to speak Spanish fluently offers the chance to learn about a different culture which will be full of new experiences, and daunting because it is such a fast sounding and flowing language to learn and it may seem like an impossible task to learn it well!

Many of us decide to use online Spanish courses to learn Spanish in later life for a number of different reasons, whether it is something we’ve always wanted to do, or we want to require a working knowledge of the language prior to a move to a Spanish speaking country, whichever it is online Spanish courses will benefit you immensely.

However, there is one common factor that many people have, and that is that they do not find learning Spanish, or anything new for that matter, as easy as they would have done when they were young kids still studying at school online Spanish courses do make it easier though!

It is well documented that as we get older our capacity for learning decreases, and this is where the saying ‘you can’t teach an old dog new tricks’ probably comes from, having said that, it doesn’t mean that you can’t learn a new language, it just means that it may take a bit longer than it would have done when we were younger.

Why Learn Spanish Never Mind With Online Spanish Courses?

Well, we’ve already covered a couple of reasons why you may want to learn Spanish, but what if neither of them apply to you? Perhaps you are just looking at learning a language to further expand your knowledge, but…why should you choose Spanish?

Quite simply, the statistics point to the fact that choosing to learn Spanish is the most sensible choice because after English, it is the second most widely spoken language in the world, although there would be a rather large number of Chinese people who would disagree with me on that!

What Are The Benefits of Learning Spanish?

Being able to speak Spanish would enable you to visit many different Spanish speaking countries with confidence, in fact there are twenty alone that use Spanish as their first language! There are also many more countries where Spanish is also widely spoken, the US being one of them. (Here’s a little known fact: The US is home to the fifth largest Spanish speaking population in the world!)

Are Online Spanish Courses the Best Way To Learn Spanish?

The question whether online Spanish courses are the best way to learn Spanish or not depends toally upon an individual’s personal circumstances.

If you are unable to afford or attend a Spanish Immersion course, would like to study at a pace that suits you, and have the maximum amount of flexibility in order to to study whenever YOU want to, or, you haven’t got a great deal of money to invest in learning materials, then yes…Online Spanish courses are certainly the way for you to go.

However, there is one method of learning Spanish that I will always urge people to take a serious look at before starting to talk about the benefits of online Spanish courses and I mentioned it in the previous paragraph and that is to use an immersion course.

Immersion courses are far better than online Spanish courses for learning Spanish quickly and accurately, so if you are able to take the time off to take one and can afford the cost of one, then I highly recommend you to do so and enjoy the experience!

A lot of people prefer the social aspect of studying and these people like to use Spanish classes, the problem with classes are that you learn Spanish at a very slow pace, often doing little for days until your next lesson, and they also tend to change into a social gathering after a while instead of a study group.

Online Spanish courses certainly tick all the boxes for the vast majority of people and are obviously a popular choice because of this, but again…it comes down to personal choice and what you feel most comfortable with.

The number of online Spanish courses currently available can leave anyone looking to invest in one a little confused, I know that to be the case because I was in the same position a few years back. (and there were far fewer online Spanish courses back then!)

The good thing about having worked through so many online Spanish courses is that I am suitably placed to pass judgement on many of them.  The vast majority of Online spanish courses, if I was being brutally honest, are not really up to scratch. This is why why I always recommend Rocket Spanish to anyone who asks me which online Spanish courses are the best.

 Visit My Rocket Spanish Review page here on Online Spanish Courses Reviewed

Hasta luego mis Amigos

FILED UNDER: ONLINE SPANISH COURSES

Online Spanish Courses

Are Online Spanish Courses the Fastest Way to Learn Spanish

Online Spanish Courses have certainly become very popular over the last few years with more and more people choosing to use them to learn Spanish than any other method of doing so. There are a number of reasons why online Spanish courses have jumped ahead of more traditional learning methods and we shall look into them in this post, including whether or not online Spanish courses are actually the fastest way to learn Spanish.

1. Online Spanish Courses offer flexibility!

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that life as we know it has become 24/7, flexible working hours now mean that we can no longer rely upon having the same hours free on a consistent basis this means that whenever we want to do something it has to be worked around our available time, online Spanish courses offer this much needed flexibility to anyone who wants or needs to learn Spanish whereas many of the older methods of study do not.

One ‘old school’ method of learning Spanish is still very popular and that is the use of self study courses in book and audio format, although even this way of studying is fast becoming outdated and is struggling to keep up with the benefits that online Spanish courses offer and, of course, as with so many other things, the internet is becoming the preferred choice for most people needing to resource any information instead of the former stalwarts the local library or book store…it is a shame but, never-the-less it is a fact.

To add to this, the expansive use of the internet for educational purposes and the rapid improvement of online Spanish courses has relegated the home study Spanish book and audio course to such a degree that they are only really used by people without computers or, by people who still like to have a physical product to work with.

However, many online Spanish courses do provide printable course work that you use to work with and most also provide their courses as physical products also, albeit at a higher cost.

2. Online Spanish Courses Provide Everything You Need!

Online Spanish courses can be altered very quickly and easily to cater for the individual needs of students, hence why they quickly developed into an all-in-one solution for learning Spanish. The best online Spanish courses provide conversational interaction, audio and video lessons, entertaining games to assist in study, vocabulary training with the use of electronic flashcards to name but a few beneficial attributes.

Apart from the actual studying material, online Spanish courses are also able to provide, in most cases, a support network, study forums and regularly updated course material thus ensuring learning material is always fresh and up-to-date. When you consider all the points just mentioned it is understandable why online Spanish courses have become increasingly popular.

3.Online Spanish Courses Provide Quality at an Affordable Price

This is one of the biggest reasons why online Spanish courses have become so successful. If you were to purchase a Spanish course of equivalent quality in a physical format it would be far more expensive. This isn’t to say that expensive online Spanish courses do not exist, but there are certainly far more that are very well priced without allowing the quality of their product to slip.

4. So…Are Online Spanish Courses Popular Because They Are the Fastest Way to Learn Spanish?

In a word no! Surprised aren’t you! As good as online Spanish courses are they cannot be compared to an immersion course in terms of the speed at which Spanish can be learnt.

A Spanish immersion course is by far the fastest way to learn Spanish the problem is that they are generally quite expensive and require a certain period of time away from home to allow total immersion into the language and culture of a Spanish speaking country.

If cost and time are not an issue for you then you would give yourself the best opportunity of learning Spanish quickly by taking an immersion course.

Online Spanish courses may not be the fastest way to learn Spanish but they are still very proficient in helping students learn Spanish at speed when compared with other learning methods and as the other points show, they are the most flexible and cost effective way of learning Spanish today.

There are so many Online Spanish Courses that choosing a good one can be confusing that is why I tell my students that they should always look at Rocket Spanish first and foremost, and if it doesn’t suit them look elsewhere. However, I have tested many online Spanish Courses and Rocket Spanish would always be my first recommendation!

Go Here to Check Out My Rocket Spanish Review

Hasta luego mis Amigos

FILED UNDER: ONLINE SPANISH COURSES