jbowers78

I have personally tried Rosetta Stone, but I have never purchase it myself. I think that this has to do with the majority of the reviews I've heard being negative. I have heard from so many serious language learners that it is way overpriced for what the software offers. Like some of you have said, it does not seem to work on its own as a language learning app. You need to combine it with some other form of learning, such as a personal tutor, or previous experience with the language. I feel that this should not be the case if you invested your time and money into a software program like this one, but sadly it seems to be the truth in most cases. I regularly use an app that many of you have mentioned to practice Spanish: Duolingo. It also does not work the best on its own, but it's free, and it does not hand out lavish promises like Rosetta Stone does. Duolingo is an app that requires you to also use another form of learning with it to understand the language because most of the learning done in-app is out of context. Still, I find this a better alternative to Rosetta Stone by far. Does anyone know of any other free software programs that would help, at least at the beginner level, at learning a language like Spanish?

One of the big downsides to Duolingo is you can really only use it if your native tongue is English, or you have more than a basic understanding of English and how it works. I personally use it to learn Spanish and to keep up on memorizing the vocabulary. As for your concern about some of the translations, "raining cats and dogs" is an English idiom. It basically means that it is raining really, really hard outside. A few others that you have probably encountered like that are "it cost an arm and a leg," which means something is very expensive, or something like "It's time to go hit the hay/sack/sheets," which means it is time to go to sleep. Duolingo isn't usually the best source to learn another language from because, like many of you have said, you are learning words and phrases out of context. I think that the out of context part might eventually be Duolingo's downfall in the language learning market.