Types of Programs
Very few people have sufficient resources of time and money to live for a period of months overseas where they can study Spanish daily in a truly immersive environment. For the rest of us, a self-study language learning program that you can engage-in daily should be the primary means by which you pursue your goal of learning Spanish if you are truly serious about developing fluency. The best self-study programs I've found for learning Spanish use one of two major formats: I generally prefer audio programs, despite the fact that I am a computer programmer who develops software for a living, and I am very comfortable using the computer for just about anything.
Audio Programs
Why I Prefer Audio Programs
Audio programs have a significant advantage in that you can do them almost anytime, anywhere:
- While excercising
- In the car on the way to work
- On your lunch break
- Lying on the couch or in bed
- On a road trip
The best language learning audio programs are available for all the popular portable audio devices, including MP3 players like the iPod and smart phones like iPhone and Android. These devices enable you to engage in language learning almost anywhere at anytime. That means you can use otherwise wasted time (i.e. your commute to work) to learn Spanish. They also enable multitasking by allowing you to learn Spanish while accomplishing something else, like jogging through your neighborhood. You can also listen to these audio programs on CD, but a set of CDs is much less portable (you can't as easily play them anywhere, anytime), and the typical CD player lacks valuable features that are specific to audio books, such as bookmarks, chapter selection, and instant replay.
Most Recommended
More than any other method, I benefited from the approach to language learning program, that is employed by Learning Spanish Like Crazy and Pimsleur. Both programs use a very similar format. I believe Pimsleur came first, and their product is a bit more polished (they have programs for several languages). However, I feel that I learned more from Learning Spanish Like Crazy, and it did a better job of keeping my attention. Both products cost money.
Recommend for Supplemental Study (Free)
- Coffee Break Spanish (For Beginners)
- Show Time Spanish (Intermediate Level)
There are also free programs available as Podcasts. Checkout Coffee Break Spanish for beginners, or ShowTime Spanish (from the same people) for intermediate-level. These free programs are helpful, but they offer much more limited material. I would consider them only as a supplement to a serious language learning program like those mentioned in the previous paragraph. Taken alone, they can offer you only a very casual familiarity with the language.
Computer Software Programs
The most well-known computer software program for learning languages is Rosetta Stone. I have all three levels of Latin American Spanish from Rosetta Stone. My wife and I have both used Rosetta Stone to study Spanish. Rosetta Stone claims to teach you by immersion. This means it teaches you using only the language that you are trying to learn (Spanish), without relying on even a single word from your first language (English). It attempts to do this through pictures. I liken it to a game of Charades. It works fine when it's trying to teach you the Spanish word for apple, and it presents you with a pretty picture of that juicy red fruit with its brown stem. However, for teaching you the important and complex rules of using verbs, pronouns, and gender in Spanish, I find its method sometimes confusing, and feeling contrived. The approach simply isn't the best fit for learning certain aspects of the language, and so they've had to try and force it to work in order to remain consitent with the format of their program and their philosophy.
