i have the opportunity to get work to pay for the spanish rosetta stone since i practically live in mexico and being able to speak spanish would create some value

im interested in how progress is tracked/tested. of course if my boss is going to give me part of the budget to do this, he's going to want to have some metrics to see if it was worth it

i can make a consistent time commitment and took spanish in high school & college so i'm not starting completely from scratch

anyone else out there learning a language for work and have some sort of progress/tracking ideas? simply completing the modules isn't enough "proof" and while i have coworkers i can practice with, he wants to know more about how we can track my progress.

2/9/2010 11:46:22 PM

Is there some sort of Spanish Proficiency Exam out there? That's what most Japanese businesses use as a metric (the JLPT: http://www.jlpt.jp/e/ ), but they're also obsessed with tests here

2/9/2010 11:57:17 PM

ive been googling and the best thing i can come up with is the homeschool version

i'd be my own teacher and take tests and shit but that seems like overkill... i dont know. its the same price as the regular version so i suppose i could only take the "exams" as the testing method

also like i said i know people at work who are fluent so i could practice with them and they could vouch for my ability which would be enough

we're obsessed with metrics but very often have nothing to measure with. weird right?

2/10/2010 12:05:03 AM

If you practically live in Mexico, your best best would just be to go there for a few weeks

I learned more Spanish in 6 weeks in Spain than I did during 6 years of classes

2/10/2010 12:06:51 AM

i dont have that option as i have actual job responsibilities

2/10/2010 12:17:07 AM

^^ Yeah total immersion is the way to go if you can. Maybe convince your boss to let you telecommute from a hotel in Cancun

Or you could look into the Middlebury College Language Schools. They're pretty amazing and if you can get your company to pay for you I say go for it!

2/10/2010 12:19:51 AM

I was just trying to help out

Don't get cunty

2/10/2010 12:20:26 AM

this isn't chit chat

i said i was doing this for work

i can just off and go to another country for a couple of weeks to learn the language

i will look into the middlebury thing but i dont think there is thousands of dollars to do this so im trying to get a yes with an attractive price and way to track progress. i think i need to hit up a mall kiosk and ask more about that part of it and see if the homeschool edition is overkill or what im actually looking for

2/10/2010 12:33:47 AM

You don't need middlebury for spanish. Spanish is fucking easy and there is easy access to native speakers. Community college classes or private tutor. Downside of community college is that the students there are fucking dumbasses, and you will probably feel held back by them (maybe there are advanced sections you can take).

rosetta stone is probably better if you don't have access to people who speak the language, but it's not really that good.

or get hooked up with some language exchange shit where you teach someone english then they teach you spanish. The process of teaching someone a language also helps you to learn how to learn a language.

or you could use those gazongas to trick spanish-speakers into going on dates with you so you could practice your spanish skills for free



[Edited on February 10, 2010 at 12:50 AM. Reason : .]

2/10/2010 12:44:27 AM

I don't care for your tone

You seem to have a sense of entitlement

2/10/2010 12:45:13 AM

Check out http://www.livemocha.com

2/10/2010 2:29:50 AM

i have been looking for some way to practice my spanish with native-speakers, and it hasnt been easy to find opportunities. I lived abroad for a few years, and my spanish was near perfect, however over the past year i've been struggling to use it here state side and its def suffering.
Yaw have any ideas of places where I could practice it? I've looked into volunteering at wake med, but are there any more ideas?

2/10/2010 2:56:38 AM

Find your local mexican market/bakery. Seriously, not only is the food awesome, but you can sit in there and shoot the shit with people for hours if you like.

2/10/2010 3:08:15 AM

Quote :

"i said i was doing this for work"

I've known people who have had their company pay for them to learn a language in another country while also doing work for said company. It's not that unheard of

^ Truth. Hell, just working in a lab for two summers brought back long forgotten Spanish from high school.

[Edited on February 10, 2010 at 3:32 AM. Reason : d]

2/10/2010 3:31:14 AM

You could take the Spanish SAT II or the Spanish GRE as a metric.

2/10/2010 7:40:30 AM

If you already have a foundation in Spanish, Rosetta stone will get very boring very quickly. That said, I've used both Rosetta Stone and Pimsleur in the past to pick up languages where I was being sent to work and I had a lot of success with each.

You may want to check out http://fsi-language-courses.org/Content.php
They have a ton of language courses used by the Foreign Service Institute to train our diplomats and best of all, it is free.

I agree with what others have said, you will pick up the language much faster and have a lot more fun if you put yourself in real world situations where you have to use the language. Spanish markets and bakeries are a great suggestion

2/10/2010 7:41:01 AM

I've been meeting with a guy from craigslist for the past couple of weeks, but $25 a hour is kinda steep just to sit in a coffee shop and converse. It is only an hour a week, but still. I'm thinking I'm going to drop him and join http://spanish.meetup.com/337/

Una buena idea es que todos respuestas en este foro son en Español.

[Edited on February 10, 2010 at 9:27 AM. Reason : Español]

2/10/2010 9:20:16 AM

You could download a torrent of it and not worry about your boss and his budget. Though, if you wanted to spend time at work doing it then it would be easier to do that if they were involved.

2/10/2010 4:45:52 PM

Btw, there is a Latin American version of Spanish for Rosetta Stone. I've been meaning to work on it but I don't have any dedication.

2/10/2010 6:55:53 PM

i think it's funny when people start crying about how this isn't chit chat b/c you're not taking their thread seriously enough or don't give them the answer they want

2/10/2010 10:06:45 PM

i have a couple friends that go to that spanish meetup thing.

2/10/2010 11:24:18 PM