Language courses

[Aabidano]

I was wondering if anyone has tried any computer based language courses lately. I'm looking at getting a copy of Rosetta Stone to learn Spanish, I've tried a couple other courses in the past and was less than impressed. I looked into doing it at the local college, seems to be a pain in the butt to go that route.

Anyone have other suggestions? I'm doing it mainly for job reasons, money, flexibility, etc.. There's a lot of Latin America related business around town, as well as China and India. Being bi-lingual is an advantage if not a requirement for many positions.

Edit - I want to learn Chinese as well at some point, and was told to do Spanish, French or German first as it would make it easier.

[noel]

Edit - I want to learn Chinese as well at some point, and was told to do Spanish, French or German first as it would make it easier.

Rosetta Stone seems to be the best computer based stuff.

As someone that knows a bit of French and is in the process of learning Chinese, I think learning Spanish, French and/or German first is useless. Asian languages are completely different in virtually every way from languages with Latin roots. If you want to learn Chinese, focus on Chinese because the road to fluency is ridiculously long.

[Truant]

I could understand the recommendation of spanish, french, or german first strictly because it will be an easier language to learn and will help you with the process of learning and practicing a different language.

However, I agree with you Noel that none of those will be any help whatsoever with learning Chinese as a language, as a process it may or may not help. It really will vary greatly from individual to individual.

Are you interested in learning both Spanish AND Chinese? Otherwise I would personally skip the process of learning another language to prepare yourself for learning yet another language.

[Aabidano]

Are you interested in learning both Spanish AND Chinese?

Yes, Spanish would be useful immediately. Chinese too but I know it will likely take a lot longer so put it second.

Hindi, Polish and German would be useful on a weekly basis too for that matter. Not likely that I'll learn any of them though.

[Skogen]

I gots the Polish version of that...I've barely gotten into it, but so far, it looks pretty coo! I've heard very good things about Rosetta stone.

[Hoarmurath]

I'm currently studying Arabic (may be useful in an upcoming job) using Rosetta Stone and I really love the approach it takes to teaching...very natural-feeling. I would certainly recommend it above any other teaching aid short of a classroom environment.