The good thing about Babbel is that it works hard to make sure you really learn the vocabulary in each lesson.
It focuses on 7 or 8 new words in each lesson. You hear, say, read, and spell each of those words. Multiple times in multiple ways.
However, I really did not enjoy Babbel.
I took lessons in 2 different Spanish courses: Shopping and Music.
Each lesson has a certain number of steps you need to take to complete it. While you can skip any one screen, you cannot skip around, and you never see a lesson overview.
I felt trapped in the lessons.
It was not dynamic, interactive (in the way I like) or engaging. It felt much more like learning from a book. I was almost immediately dismayed and bored.
Here are what the lessons look like. Click on any to see it larger.
Also, I never got the sense of where the lessons were taking me. Did I really need to know the words they were choosing to teach me?
I did learn how to read and write some words in both categories. But I wasn't learning how to construct sentences. It was unsatisfying.
Also, after using Rocket Language's excellent speaking component, I was very frustrated with Babbel's.
The microphone image in the 1st image above, is your opportunity to speak Spanish. Unfortunately, the method neither works well or is effective.
Babbel's voice-recognition system has issues.
The microphone turns into a green check when you say the word correctly. Or at least when the computer thinks you did. But you never hear the recording yourself. So you never know how you actually said the word.
I found Babbel's voice system of zero value, except as a way for me to practice patience.
It made me value Rocket Language's voice system even more. Rocket Language's excellent pronunciation feedback loop has been invaluable to me.
You can see my Spanish Rocket Language review here.
Check out the screenshots below to see the various Spanish courses that Babbel offers. When you sign up you can choose to do any or all of them. (click on images below to make larger)
You can check out the first lesson in each course for free. And you can do that for any of Babbel's 14 languages. You don't have to limit yourself to Spanish.
The price ranges from $7 - $13 a month. The longer you sign up for, the cheaper it is. $7 a month for 12 months, and $13 for one month.
If you buy the course, you have 20 days to get a full refund.
Yet another reason I like Rocket Language. You pay once, and you get a lifetime membership. Of course, you do have to pay more. But less than a year's membership with Babbel.
Once I review a few more Spanish programs, I will have to do a comparison of them.
If you only need to read or write Spanish, then Babbel could be a good choice for you.
You would have to check it out yourself at this link.
I am still very much liking Rocket Language (as you can tell by my comments).
To check out Rocket Language for free, go to their site here.
He had overheard my most recent session with Rocket Language, Spanish.
I wasn't sure what to expect from Rocket Language. My biggest surprise was that it records your attempts at speaking Spanish.
This is huge for me.
I am terrible at pronunciation.
Often, I think I am saying a Spanish word correctly, but my family assures me that I am not!
Rocket Language encourages me to speak Spanish out loud. And it's feedback system helps me to improve my spoken Spanish.
With Rocket Language, I feel comfortable saying a hard word over and over until I am saying it correctly. It is radically different from my past study techniques.
In a class, your teacher usually won't keep after you for too long. It can be discouraging for both of you. Or they are happy with, good enough. In a book, or even with CDs or videos, you have no way of knowing if you are saying the words correctly or not.
Rocket language has a microphone that records your attempts at speaking Spanish. (Check out the image of how that looks.)
The recording system (Rocket Record) records, rates, and transcribes what you say (in green).
The rating and transcription system does not always work well. But really the most useful feature is the recording. That is, the ability to hear yourself speak, and to immediately hear the "teacher" say it correctly.
With those 2 tools you can immediately discover how well you are speaking, and what you need to do to correctly say the Spanish words.
I have found the recording system invaluable.
One of my biggest stumbling blocks to surging toward fluency, is consistency. It is difficult to even remember to study every day.
Here in Panama, I do speak Spanish everyday. But that doesn't mean I speak Spanish better each day.
If I don't actively try to improve my Spanish, I simply repeat the same poor Spanish every day. In this way, Rocket Language does try to help you. It keeps track of how often and how long you use the course. (See the image above for the tracking system.)
I am finding it so useful that I actually bought the program. If you know me, you know that is a big deal. I don't purchase things lightly.
I had been using the free trial version of Rocket Language. The free trial allows you to delve into a few lessons at each of its 3 levels. I particulary like that even with the free trial you get lifetime access. It took me a week after I signed up, to start taking one of the classes.
In the free trial, you only have access to a few classes in each level of Spanish classes. But it is enough to get you started and to find out if you like Rocket Language.
It was enough for me to decide to buy into Rocket Language.
Of course, for someone like me, it is also reassuring to know that I have 60 days to ask for a full refund. So if I find that I don't actually use it, I will ask for a refund. But I hope that I do use it - and consistently. I really want to improve my Spanish.
My Spanish is improving by my actively using Rocket Language. I recommend you check it out and see if it works for you too. Read over this Rocket Language review and see if you agree.
You can get the free trial here.
If you want to jump right in and become a full-fledged member, you can join Rocket Language here.
There are a number of membership options depending upon your goals and current level of Spanish. Right now there is a discount on membership. If it is over when you click, there is likely to be another discount again in a few months.
Remember you have 60 days to cancel and get a full refund. I'll update this review if I decide to get a refund. Right now it seems highly unlikely.
If you are looking for tips on how to learn any language, you should download the free pdf. You can do it here, or click on the image at the top of this page.
I will also be testing out other online Spanish classes and programs in the future. I want to know what is out there and how they compare to Rocket Language. So stayed tuned for future reviews.
In the meantime, I created a short summary of the online Spanish classes or programs. Programs that use technology to make it more fun & easier to learn Spanish. If you are interested in exploring other options, you may want to start with those online Spanish programs.
I also highly recommend you check out Rocket Language. At least their free trial.
The last time I studied Spanish seriously there were a few software language programs, but almost no online options.
In those days, I tried to learn Spanish the way people have been doing it forever:
That way still works. But it didn't work that well for me. I found that you must be very self-motivated to move beyond basic Spanish using the old methods.
I have now reviewed a number of online language courses out there. Not all, but some are different from traditional methods. And some have integrated ways to boost your motivation.
The programs I liked:
So far, I have been much more excited and motivated to learn using the more innovative online programs than I ever was using the more traditional book and classroom approach.
One of the biggest difference between the programs is if you are asked to actually speak Spanish.
For me this is critical. I can write, read, and understand Spanish pretty well. Speaking it is much harder for me.
I have pronunciation issues in English. After a lifetime of work, I have overcome many of those issues. When I try to speak Spanish it all comes back. Spanish not only uses more words to say the same thing as in English but many of those words are dismayingly long. I literally feel like I get lost in the middle of those many long multisyllabic words in Spanish.
Even if you have no speech issues, making yourself understood in a foreign language is the biggest hurdle.
4 of these 6 online programs require that you speak Spanish.
I was surprised at the differences in the various online programs.
For instance, Rocket Language, Fluent-in-3-months, Duolingo, and especially Fluentu use very different approaches. But all 4 use online technology to make learning Spanish more fun.
So which program is best for you? To find out you should ask yourself at least 2 questions:
Keep your answers to those questions in mind when evaluating each program. You will choose different programs if your goal is to learn medical terminology vs chatting up a senorita.
I will be reviewing many of these online Spanish programs. Check those out to help you decide which is best for you. You can also use the links above to start reviewing those programs yourself.
1st up for review is Rocket Language. Here is the link to my Rocket Language review.
2nd up, I will review the Fluent-in-3 months program, and others to follow.
My Spanish ability is particularly maddening because my husband picks up languages so easily.
My husband Reyn's ease of learning Spanish compared to mine was clear early on in our relationship.
Long ago, when we were first dating, we went to Mexico and Guatemala together.
At that time, my husband had never spoken Spanish. I had had plenty of opportunities to speak Spanish prior to our trip.
Before taking our trip to Mexico and Guatemala, I had tried to learn Spanish.
I must admit, I took the class in Spain so I could hang out at the beach and still "be productive." Unfortunately, I did not feel compelled to study. I was satisfied with the appearance of being productive. That was back when I thought being productive was important.
You would think I could speak Spanish by this point, if only alittle bit. And I could. But I was so afraid of getting it wrong that I rarely spoke.
Reyn read a Spanish phrase book on the airplane ride from Seattle to Mexico City.
That was his total Spanish language preparation. He had never taken a class or traveled in a Spanish-speaking country before.
When we arrived in Mexico City, Reyn knew maybe 15 words in Spanish.
But it didn't stop him from immediately chatting with people.
Me? I took so long to carefully construct my perfect Spanish sentence that the person I was going to "chat" with had left before I'd even opened my mouth.
Reyn's Spanish just kept getting better as we traveled.
He continually butchered the Spanish language with everyone he met. We ended up having many wonderful experiences because of his fearless approach to speaking Spanish.
About 6 weeks later, I went back to Seattle. I had to go back to my job.
Reyn stayed in Antiqua, Guatemala. Reyn had decided he loved Spanish and wanted to really learn how to speak it.
Reyn wouldn't take classes at the many Spanish language schools in Antiqua. He said everyone who took those classes spoke English all the time with their classmates. He doubted they learned how to speak Spanish well. Having attended one of those schools in Spain, I would have to agree.
Reyn lived with a local family and hired not one, but two tutors. He studied there for four months. When he came back to the States he listened to Spanish radio, and ordered the El Pais newspaper from Spain.
His Spanish is now excellent. He would say that he still needs to work on it, but everyone compliments his Spanish.
At the end of our trip, I still didn't speak Spanish well.
Since then Reyn and I have traveled in Spain. We even hired Spanish tutors for a few weeks while we were in Granada, Spain.
I had a Spanish breakthrough in Spain. It was not from my tutor, but from a book, Instant Spanish. I write about it here.
I stopped carefully constructing my sentences before I spoke. I just started speaking. Not correctly but I was speaking. And my Spanish finally started to improve more quickly.
I had developed a more fearless approach to speaking Spanish.
Perhaps if I had kept speaking Spanish I would have progressed to speaking well. Instead I didn't speak any significant amount of Spanish for 8 years.
That is when we moved to Panama. One of the reasons we chose Panama is because it is a Spanish speaking country. We both wanted our daughter to learn to speak Spanish well. Also, I didn't want to start fresh learning a whole new language. It had taken me seemingly forever to get a grasp on Spanish.
After living in Panama for 8 years, my Spanish is better, but it is still not good. While we were traveling in Panama and setting up our life in Puerto Armuelles, my Spanish improved alot.
But these days, I spend most of my days immersed in English. I write posts like this one. I talk with my kids and husband, all in English. When I am in Panama I do speak Spanish everyday, but the proportion is low compared to English.
My husband still speaks more Spanish everyday than I do. I mostly stay at home. He has a local crew he works with on various projects, plus he is simply a more social person than I. He always chats with the grocery store cashier and the people he encounters in his day.
I know life will be richer and more fun, if I can speak Spanish better.
The question is how to learn. The method must be fairly easy and not boring. I know I won't do it if it takes too much time or is too hard.
Recently, technology has allowed an explosion of new & effective language tools. Everything from interactive recordings to being able to talk with a native speaker from any country you want.
But which one will make it relatively painless and easy for me? I have no idea.
I have heard good things about many of these new programs and options.
My plan is to test these programs myself. Then I will tell you want I think of them.
That way, maybe you too will find one that works for you.
If you want to check 'em out at the same time, they each have a free version of their program.
For a free trial of Rocket Language in Spanish, click here.
Fluent in 3 months is by Benny the Irish polygot. Click here to get his free "Speak in a Week" Spanish program.
July 10, 2013
"35 minutes a day for 6 weeks and you will speak Spanish" - the author asserts.
I am deeply fond of this book. I am not good at languages. I took Spanish in Spain - twice - and once in Oaxaca, Mexico. I studied both in groups and with an individual tutor.
I just could not fathom how to speak Spanish with anything approaching ease.
Then one day a man working at a hotel in Granada Spain gave me this book. Someone must have left it behind. The receptionist also must have been tired of hearing me and my pathetic attempts to speak Spanish to him.
I don't know why, but something in this book clicked with me.
Suddenly I was creating sentences in Spanish. Real sentences with nouns, adjectives and most importantly verbs!
If you don't have any ambition to speak fluently, or to use many verb tenses, you could just have this book. It is pretty basic. But it has a very effective and doable learning style - for me, at least.
I don't know if you will have the same experience as I did with this book. But since Amazon has it for only 1 cent, plus shipping, it might be worth a try. Click to see it on Amazon.
This book has many rave reviews.
At first this book seems very simplistic. Its approach is to let you know all the Spanish you already "know". That is, by adding specific ending to amazing number of English words they become Spanish words.
Some people criticize the book for this seemingly simplistic approach to learning Spanish. I think it is its strength. Also, it goes into more grammar and verb tenses, in a very helpful way, later on in the book.
You might want to see check it out. It is usually $10 or less.
You can see it on Amazon, here.
You may be able to speak Spanish well enough. That is, you can have a "small talky" conversation and negotiate daily life in Spanish.
But maybe you find yourself tired of not being able to express and discuss more complex thoughts and ideas with native Spanish speakers. Maybe you hanker to have real adult conversations in the Spanish language.
Then it is time for this book. It is not a dry textbook. It really is a fun way to explore the next level of competence. Go read the reviews on Amazon to see what other's think, click here.
I wrote a more recent post about my and my husband's experiences learning to speak Spanish. Click here to read that post.
I also explain my plan to improve my Spanish. As part of that goal I am exploring various Spanish language programs. I am starting with the 2 listed below.
You can explore the free versions of these programs by clicking the links below.
- Fluent in 3 months (aka Benny the polygot)
You can check them out yourself as well.
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