I am seriously considering moving to spain in the next 1 to 2 years. I am thinking somewhere around Alicante. I dont know the language and would like to try and learn some before going (picked up the basics on numerous Spanish holidays but by no means confident). I would like to try one of these PC based packages. Rosetta Stone etc.. Has anyone tried to successfully learn Spanish using these types of packages and if so, which ones?

Thanks!

I've been using the Michel Thomas CD's and certainly when I have managed to make the time to use them regularly they have made a difference. I think though they only take you to a certain stage, and maybe you need proper lessons also

Michel Thomas is excellent, even though he makes up the occasional word or two e.g reservación (reserva). Also, it's made for the US market so there a few Latin American words rather than Castilian e.g carro for coche (car), manejar for conducir (to drive). Also, C followed by vowel is pronounced 's' rather than 'th'.

I don't like Rosetta Stone. Not very conversational, too much 'the cat is on the mat'.

I used linkword and it certainly helped a lot. If you can easily motivate yourself into sitting down and doing it, go for it. Also check out your local college. They do full and part time courses. When I looked at the part time course (2 hours a week, during the evening) it was £150 for 30 weeks. That's probably the same amount you would pay for audio CDs.

We are using the Visual Link CD set. A little like Rosetta Stone but seems much easier to use.

We took the college course route - although they normally start in September you may find a course which starts in January.

If you want basic conversational Spanish we found it a lot easier to practise with a room full of other people, and also great fun! We even got to go out to a Spanish restaurant in Manchester one evening and practice.

Every CD course I tried, I'd get to CD 3 of 96 and basically gave up...

Marcus Santamaria's Synergy Spanish did it for me, although I was not a complete beginner, have a look at his courses I think he does a beginner one. Dollars converted to pounds, price was not expensive and I am really chuffed with what I have learned.

Familiarity with Spanish meant I spotted the odd South Americanism but it should not be a problem, Im sure the Spanish would forgive us!

Have a look and try the sample lessons http://www.spanish-is-easy.com/

Also coffee break spanish is a good podcast, if you can bear the silly jingles.

Good luck

Does anyone else recognize the problem my father says he faces of not being able to find anyone to practice Spanish with! He does have Spanish neighbours but he says that the shops, restaurants and the vast majority of people around him don't try to speak Spanish at all. He's not been there long so maybe that accounts for it, doesn't know where to go I guess. What seems to happen is that people start out wanting to learn and then give up because it's difficult (age here perhaps?) and he seems to suggest that he can be ridiculed a bit for trying.

I say well done him for giving it a go!! At least he's making an effort and it is really difficult at times.

i'm afraid I'm in the opposite situation. Everybody I know is Spanish and yes I now think in Spanish..but sometimes would like to have a good old chat in English, one of my main reasons for joining the site. Anyone British round Jaen way??

I dont really expect a cdrom is going to get me speaking fluent, this will take years (if ever!) but I would like to go knowing the basics. Basic names of things, how to ask for things etc.. Pretty basic stuff. I feel that if I plan on living there then its only right to make the effort to try and learn the language instead of just thinking I speak English so everyone else must do the same