Study Spanish Language

Updated 12 Mar 2012
Best Spanish Courses (Download or CD)
by Gordon McConnell, Editor, Study Spanish Language

See also Top 5 Spanish Courses


Below is a side-by-side comparison of four of the most popular Spanish courses available online. All these Spanish courses are available for immediate download or on CD, and cost $99 or less.

Over the last few years my wife Kim and I have tested more than 20 Spanish courses with our students. Below is a tabular form summary of the four Spanish courses our students like best in the under $100 category. Of these courses, Learning Spanish Like Crazy consistently receives the best feedback (probably because it is the most fun course of the bunch). Synergy Spanish is the simplest course and offers the most direct route to achieving basic Spanish communication in the shortest possible time.

Note: If your budget allows you to spend more than $100 my recommendation is Transparent Spanish Complete Edition, which costs $179. It's a highly regarded, comprehensive program for Windows Vista/XP, but unfortunately NOT compatible with Mac.


  **EDITOR'S PICK**

Learning Spanish Like Crazy
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Transparent Spanish Premium Edition
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Rocket Spanish
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"How To Get By In Spanish With Just 138 Words."


Synergy Spanish
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Editor's Comments Consistently receives best feedback from our students. Makes learning Spanish easy and fun. Popular course used in thousands of schools and universities. Suitable for new beginners right up to intermediate learners. Lots of course material. Full review Good choice if your goal is to speak basic Spanish in the shortest possible time. Full review
Level Beginner to intermediate Beginner to intermediate Beginner to intermediate Beginner
Description Learning Spanish Like Crazy is a fun, easy audio course for beginners. There is no boring text book and there are no grammar exercises to do. It teaches practical Latin American Spanish like you hear in the US, Mexico and throughout South America. Transparent Spanish Premium Edition is a serious, well-structured course that you do on your computer. PC and Mac compatible. Rocket Spanish is a comprehensive language course that includes interactive audio lessons, grammar lessons, hundreds of exercises, and MegaSpanish learning software. Over the years it has earned a positive reputation as a fun and effective course. Full review Synergy Spanish is a unique course that works off the principle that you can learn 138 basic words then use those words to form 88,000 phrases and sentences. Students work through 68 structured audio lessons with the aid of a guidebook. Full review
Details • 30 audio lessons, about 16 hours in total
• Bonus: Spanish sayings and insults (vulgar and non-vulgar)
• An intuitive “book interface” format
• Lessons covering over 15,000 Spanish words and phrases
• Full-motion immersion video
• Native speaker audio
• Interactive conversation practice with play-back
• MP3 audio for iPods and other players
• Interactive games
• Online proficiency tests
• Personal progress tracking
• 31 audio lessons of conversational Spanish, each 15 to 25 minutes long, plus transcripts
• 210 pages of illustrated grammar lessons with over 400 exercises and 180 minutes of audio tracks
• 160 pages of advanced grammar lessons
• MegaVocab software game with over 1000 words and 20 topics
• MegaAudio software game with over 1000 audio tracks
• Learning guide
• 68 audio lessons, each about 10 minutes long
• Step by step action guide
Pros/Cons Very positive feedback from users. Fun, easy, effective. Lacks speech recognition capability found in more expensive software. Excellent language software and the course is widely used in schools and colleges throughout North America. Not all Tranparent products are Mac compatible. Lots of course material, well-presented, includes access to online forum. It's a long course and not all of our students seem to complete it. Easy, structured system for people who want to learn basic conversational Spanish. No software component. Not suitable for intermediate or advanced students.
Help/ Support Support via email Support via email Support via email and online forum 90-day email support
Download/ Shipping Instant download with option to order CDs Instant download with option to order CDs Instant download with option to order 20 CD pack Instant download with option to order 14 CD pack
Guarantee 8 weeks 6 months 60 days 56 days
Free Trial? No No Free mini-course Free "test drive"
Best Price $99.95 $89.95 $99.95 $59.95
Official Site Go to Learning Spanish Like Crazy Official Site Go to Transparent Languages Official Site Go to Rocket Spanish Official Site Go to Synergy Spanish Official Site
 
Best (and most fun) course with highest success rate, particularly among beginners

Best choice for serious students who take a scholarly approach to learning

Good option for beginners to intermediates

Good choice if your goal is to speak basic Spanish in the shortest possible time



More Information

See also Top 5 Spanish Courses: Review of Popular Spanish Courses (Download or CD)





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