Posts tagged programs

I work in a field where I have a lot of Spanish speaking parents and children. I would like to be able to speak with them myself instead of utilizing a translator (we don’t have one in the office but can call them on the phone or hire them). I did take Spanish in high school but that was about 6-7 years ago. I am weighing two different options right now which are go to a community college or use some type of software.

I already have my Bachelors degree and am enrolled in the Paralegal Program (not accepted yet, I get word on the 15th) so I may not even be able to go to a community college because the classes will conflict in scheduling. Going the community college route means I will have to go to class 4 days out of the week after work. I sometimes need to work extra hours to meet with clients and their parents or to finish up paper work so this would be difficult for me. My home is 30 minutes from work and another 30 minutes from the community college which will eat up gas and I will have to dedicate my Monday thru Thursday to school and work which might get really stressful. The community college would cost about $400 for 5 credit hours (which the Beginner class is) or $300 for the 3 credit hours which the upper level courses are. The actual college is closer to where I live by maybe 5 minutes (not that big enough of a difference) and costs $1500 for a 5 credit hour course, $900 for the 3 credit hour course.

The programs I have been looking at range in cost and I’m not sure which one is better or if they are even worth trying. Yes I would save time and money, but would I actually learn to speak the language? The programs I’ve read up on and what the general consesus is are:
Rosetta Stone – seems geared towards beginners, not great if you want to be fluent
Rocket Spanish – reviews state it is good for fluency, but most reviews seem biased and posted by the program advertisers
Tell Me More – seems to have good reviews other than it isn’t the most user friendly

Do you have experience with any of these programs? Which program would you suggest? Based on my current situation do you think a program would outweigh the community college route or is going through a college the only way to become fluent in a language?

Advice, thoughts, please respond!
I understand that “immersion” is the best way, but that isn’t possible due to the fact that I have a career here in the states that I love. I will be able to speak with Spanish speakers as 40% of the people I work with are Spanish speaking, about 20% only speak Spanish… so I will be able to practice with them.