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Best System for Learning a Foreign Language?
amrust asks: "I've set a New Year's Resolution for myself. Starting next year, I want to teach myself Spanish. However, looking in local bookstores and online, there are so many different programs and systems to choose from, that I can't decide which method is best. I'd like to learn the Spanish language itself, not just a few choice phrases and words, for traveling. I have a lot of patience for serious in-depth study, at home. I would prefer an easy-to-learn (but comprehensive) system that includes audio CDs, as well as textbook material, to follow along with. Which system can you recommend for someone just starting out, assuming they currently speak English, and have never previously taken a foreign language course?"
dónde está la biblioteca?
"You can drive out Nature with a pitchfork, but It always comes roaring back again." - Tom Waits
You can't learn a foreign language from a book, especially your first foreign language!
Look up your local community college and enroll in a spanish class. Failing that look for a tutor or group learning sessions. They should be pretty easy to find as Spanish is widely taught.
Dude, it looks lik youve alraedy Learined a Foreign Language.
--
Don't like it? Respond with words, not karma.
for Learining a Foreign Language
I suggest learning your own language before attempting others.
Neopets - the best free game on the Int
I just noticed that /. user's signature, in a comment to a previous story. I think it can help.
____
nico
Nico-Live
the pimsleur series....gets you actually speaking it out loud, you can hear how it's supposed to be said...and it starts with the more useful stuff that you could actually use, and builds up from there
this in addition to working on it with ACTUAL fluent spanish speakers has really worked well for me
I have had some experience with Pimsleur language learning materials (Japanese though). I found the material started out pretty easy and got more difficult in later lessons, but was not unmanagable.
It's also a tad expensive, but if you are serious about learning then combining this with other sources reading websites or other publications in the desired language, etc) would probably be a great start.
(I personally wouldn't pay that much for it, though.)
=Smidge=
I've heard about the Rosetta Stone system of learning on the radio...but has anyone tried it out? Any good?
Just wondering.
"Leo Fender was in a 'state of grace' when he designed the Stratocaster." -- Paul Reed Smith
Get yourself a totally hot Hispanic girlfriend who doesn't speak a word of English.
Well, that's what *I'd* do.
It's the land of the brave, and the home of the free
Where the less you know, the better off you'll be.
A lover who only speaks the language you want to learn. Don't learn, don't get laid.
Talk about motivation! Nothing else can come close.
Bob-
The Ludwig von Mises Institute. The reasoning individuals economics
Get a (live-in) significant other that only speaks the language you want to learn. You'll learn fast, or die trying. Better yet, move in with her whole family.
Software sucks. Open Source sucks less.
I've heard Rosetta works fairly well. It's not cheap though.
Rosetta Stone
There is always a frontier where there is an open and willing mind
Specially if you have never taken courses in foreign languages, I would recommend conversation-based courses to go with whichever method you pick (tapes, Rosetta Stone, etc).
A good conversation course is carried only in the language to be learned. It sounds odd in theory, but it is one of the few alternatives to immersion, short of taking a trip and living abroad for a while.
Soon you learn to ask your question in $LANGUAGE. I remember in Japan I had to ask things like: "What is the opposite of far?". It works pretty well.
The process of learning a new language is sort of like a snowball effect. The more you can use it, the more you will learn it, so it's better to start using it early, instead of worrying about technical details.
Jordi Bunster http://bunster.org/contact/
I've taken 3 years of High School German and can't say I've learned the language. I've studied Japanese on my own for many more years and even bought software to help. Can't say I've learned that language either, though I watch subbed anime as well. I have mostly learned hiragana and katakana, though I sometimes get letters mixed up. The show, Bobobo's use of printed characters is helpful though.
Sleep with their women.
Here before all but 8486 of you.
Most spanish teaching CDs that I have heard teach Spanish from Spain, español. If you plan on travelling a lot in Latin America, bear in mind that not only will you be a gringo with an accent, you will be a gringo with a very silly accent.
:-)
Around here, a Spanish accent is generally heard from two sources: spaniards and people telling Gallego jokes, which would roughly correspond to Irish jokes in English.
Personally I find that Latin American spanish, castellano, is more neutral, if you pick the right national accent. Peruvians, for example, have a particularly neutral and well-pronounced one, while Chilean Spanish is practically incomprehensible. As a native Spanish speaker born in Perú, it took me several years in Chile before I could understand over 90% of what was said to me. Frankly, I don't expect you to come across a Chilean "Aprenda Español" package anytime soon, and personally, I think that's a very good thing!
p.
My motorbike travels in Chile.
While I have yet to actually try it myself, I have read many good reviews regarding this series of audio CDs. The nice thing is, I was able to find it at my local library so there was no initial cash outlay on my part. I have listened to a few of the "Lessons" and it seems like a viable alternative to traditional spanish courses. Basically it is the teacher (Michel Thomas) sitting with two students go over conversational Spanish. I took Spanish in high-school and college and the one hurdle I never made it over was the conversational aspect. I was never in a situation where I could hear others speaking often, and in my mind this addreses that without having to go to Spain or Mexico or ask someone in class to continually repeat themselves.
Hope this helps, -peel
If you get really, really, drunk frequently enough, you'll eventually find yourself lying naked in an alley in Tiajuana. You'll learn Spanish fast...oh, believe me you'll learn!
Bill Clinton: Pimp we can believe in. - The Shirt!!!
If you want to learn and retain extensive vocabulary, you're going to have to repeatedly test yourself on it (relying on "real life" conversation will not work, as some words are far too rare), so it makes sense to optimize the scheduling of that learning according to what we know about memory formation.
The most effective software for this purpose is SuperMemo, but it is non-free, so you may instead want to use the slightly inferior, but still effective Memaid. I have found memaid very useful for teaching myself kanji. Even if you don't decide on using Supermemo or Memaid, you should definitely read the SuperMemo website, as it contains a wealth of information on effective memorization. Both these programs are most effective if you can use them every day, but it does not have to take much of your time each day.
A Ton of phrases can be created with this simple intro. It will also teach you the basic grammer ideas in the travelers dictionary (and you can always look up sentances later in the books as guidelines). After that... you can walk around on the streets, look up one single word in the translation dictionary like... post-office... and you can already as a bunch of questions relating to a post-office (like where it is!)
After that comes the hardest part of learning a language. Vocabulary. This is what kills most people. My honest best suggestion to you is to buy post-it notes, and stick them all over your house with the english / spanish translation. Literally everywhere. Even on the milk jug inside your fridge. While it is embarrasing, being exposed to all those words will help you learn them MUCH faster then just staring at note cards or words on a screen. With a good computer program (hopefully someone will suggest a good one) you can learn many other vocab words WHILE being exposed to all the common things inside the house that have post-its on it (shoes, tv, books, computer, paper, house, door... lots of things to put all over your house that can be useful in daily conversation).
Good luck with your language learning resolution!
is found on this website. I watch some movies in german with german subs. I read some books in germarn and mostly try to avoid my german-english dictionary if at all possible. I found that reading out loud is a good way to practice saying words and to start recognising the sounds of words when you hear them.
"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." [Thomas Jefferson]
The Pimsleur series of audio clips will help you with your conversational speech. Check it out on iTunes or your local book store.
I know you're looking for something comprehensive, but you may want to consider learning conversation using the Pimsleur series. It's basically an audio only method of learning language which works great on my hour-long commute each morning and evening.
a rning_system
Wikipedia has more information here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pimsleur_language_le
I find that as you learn more and more, you subconsciously start to learn grammar. For example, I'm currently learning German, and though I can't tell you the rule for where to put time and place in a sentence, I know which one "sounds right."
I rent them using my Recorded Books Unlimited subscription, but you might be able to find them at your local library.
(I personally speak Spanish and English fluently. I used the Pimsleur series to pick up quite a bit of Italian, French and German).
Hope that helps.
-Paul
P.S. The way I personally became fluent in Spanish was to grow up in Southern California to learn the accent, take French in middle school to learn some basic non-English grammar, take a freshman Spanish class in college, meet and marry a wonderful woman from Guatemala, then practice for 11 years.
The above may or may not work in your situation.
<?php while ($self != "asleep") { $sheep_count++; } ?>
I've studied four foreign languages, though I wouldn't say I "know" (am proficient in) any of them. But I have a few comments.
Immersion is the best, if you can afford the time/stress. Learning really sinks in when you need phrases to find food or a place to sleep. To this day I remember what a Vesperkarte is.
For a first foreign language, taking a class is probably next best. I think the quality of classes varies a lot so ask around. In my experience, one class (one hour) per week with no reinforcement in between is not enough; you really need to spend time on it every few days if not every day.
People recommend the Pimsleur method. I've used this for Spanish (levels I and II) and French I. It's very good for spoken dialog, and you'll probably retain a fair amount, but I found that when I wanted to dig into grammar, spelling, vocabulary, etc., I just got frustrated with it. It does come with written materials but they're not very substantial.
Finally, as meta-advice, I'd recommend the book How to Learn Any Language by Barry Farber. His advice and stories are very good, and they'll get you motivated if nothing else.
First, if at *all* possible, get a partner, someone else who wants to learn the language too and will meet with you weekly to quiz each other and go over the next section of grammar. The extra motivation of being "ready" for your weekly meeting will often give you the extra shove to do the studying when otherwise you might just let it ride for another day or two. Another day or two, and then another day or two, rapidly turns into months and years. Regular deadlines help to prevent this.
Second, harness otherwise wasted time by carrying your vocabulary cards with you at all times. Really, I mean carry a pack of vocab cards everywhere you go. This is easiest to do if the cards are small, business-card size or smaller. If you're on a budget, take 3x5 cards and cut them in thirds, resulting in cards about three inches long/tall by an inch and two thirds across the short way. Write each foreign word on the top of the front, then flip the card end-over-end and write three pieces of information on the back: the meaning(s), the part of speech (if that isn't completely obvious from either the form of the word itself or from the meaning), and either the chapter number you're studying in the grammar when you added this word (if you have one main grammar book; or if you are drawing your vocab words from a vocab list book, use the chapter or page number from that book) or the current date (otherwise). Always carry with you a pack of 15-30 of these cards, mostly ones that you've either recently added or have had trouble remembering. When you have wasted time (standing in line, waiting for someone, or whatever), whip out your cards and go over vocab words for a couple of minutes. Try to get through the pack (15-30 cards) at least once or twice each day. When you are confident that you are getting any given word right most of the time, set it aside from the rest of the pack and rotate it out, adding in another card to replace it. Each week take the ones that you set aside, put a slip on them with the date, and leave them out of your regular review pack for at least a week, maybe two. Then get them back out and go through them just once, sorting them; the ones you get right immediately, set aside for longer (perhaps a month or two, then sort them again the same way); the ones you miss, put back into your regular rotation. I used this system for Greek and Hebrew, and it works well, provided you carry the cards everywhere and look at them when you have odd moments each day. Words you have trouble with naturally spend more time in your pack this way, so they get extra repetition until you eventually learn them. In my experience, short words like pronouns and conjunctions and subordinators will tend to spend a lot of time in your pack whereas most substantial words like nouns and verbs are easier, but YMMV.
Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.
Perhaps you'll find this useful. I work there as a programmer. It's a multimedia language learning system with speech recognition. Runs only on Windows. You can also have a live native-speaking tutor to guide you over the Internet.
Never send a human to do a machine's job.
Language Acquisition Made Practical is a method developed by Elizabeth and Tom Brewster. It's a great method because it allows you to combine technology with contextual learning.
In a way it's like the "girlfriend" comments, but it gives you a place to start in the conversation. Try it!
http://www2.rosettastone.com/en/?a=b
It's on the expensive side, but it is extremely fast and it works well. Instead of trying to teach you grammar and memorize conjugation rules and nouns, it immerses you in a Spanish environment so you learn in the same fashion a native spanish speaker would have at first (only sped up 100x).
To the best of my knowledge, Rosetta is even what the US military and Diplomatic Corp use for language training (although anyone with first hand experience feel free to correct me).
Thomas is an interesting guy. A Polish born Jew, he landed in a Nazi concentration camp, from which he eventually managed to escape. He speaks at least a half-dozen languages, and when he made his way to the US he started his language learning courses.
It's a bit odd, learning from a guy teaching his fourth (or so) language using his third, but he does it very well.
"Not an actor, but he plays one on TV."
Apart from some of the other good advice, if you want to build vocabulary and you are not living in the country that speaks the language - simply subscribe to a newspaper or magazine (or both). The first few weeks will take forever flipping back and forth between a translating dictionary for literally every second word, but in no time you'll be able to read articles fluently. Due to the scope of newspapers and magazines you'll get introduced to new words and concepts over time as they become newsworthy.
I built up a respectable technical/computing vocab in German simply by subscribing to the excellent c't magazine, for example; and within 3 months of being a complete novice could read practically cover-to-cover the daily broadsheet newspaper by reading it every second day or so.
?Qué?
?Dónde está la biblioteca?
I just realized that slashcode eats (ignores) the open question marks (rotated "?" sings that open question sentences in spanish)
16,777,216 comments ought to be enough for any forum!
As an immigrant who had to learn English from the scratch, that statement is almost offensive.
Learning a language is not easy. Especially if you actually NEED it, it's painful. You'll fucking hate it. You'll hate all the Spanish speaking countries. You'll hate all the fucking Mexicans. And THAT'S what it takes to learn a language "comprehensively".
You should get your mind set straight about learning a language before you do anything. There is no "easy-to-learn (but comprehensive) system" in learning a language.
If you want to learn beyond "traveller's need" level, do what the Asian kids do when they come to America:
Every damn day for minimum of 3 years is REQUIERD.
Sounds impossible? I did it. All my immigrant friends did it. All your fellow Chinese Ph.Ds did it.
Sounds hard? YOU BET!!
The languages page of my website is about my experiences in learning a few languages. I moved to a French-speaking country 18 months ago, and for my job it's useful for me to have a grasp of a few other languages. (I'm a lobbyist - working for free software and against software patents.)
Please help publicise swpat.org - the software patents wiki
Yep, nothing'll teach you a foreign language like being immersed in it and finding a girlfriend. I learn ASL (American Sign Language) this way, and paid a large chunk of my college tuition being an interpreter.
meh
You're an ass.
Education need not be a painful, racism-inciting, grueling process. I speak three almost entirely disparate languages, each fluently, and I thoroughly enjoyed the education process each time. Far from hating the cultures at hand, I gained a real appreciation for each that I studied through language, and none of them took either three years, nor such ridiculous efforts at pure memorization (which may be the root of your apparent frustrastions).
Everybody has their intellectual strengths and weaknesses... For some of us, learning physics is the most embarrassing, excrutiating experience. For others, it was learning Engrish that was a framing bitch. Just because you have a weakness with languages doesn't make it so for the rest of us.
Love,
AC
P.S. Actually, most of my fellow immigrant PhD's haven't gone to the level of effort that you did, which is why they're so damn hard to work with sometimes. ("I'm so ronry!!!" is dancing through my head right now...)
Others in this discussion have suggested ways you can acquire basic fluency in a language (courses, making friends with speakers of the language, TV, radio, etc.)
For those who are not within broadcast range of TV or radio stations in the foreign language, audio and video streams over the internet are a great alternative. News broadcasts are especially useful: the language is spoken well, and the context of current events helps with comprehension.
Of course, one really needs to practice in all four areas (reading, writing, speaking and listening.)
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
Since you're asking this question on Slashdot, it's assumed that you're at least moderately well-immersed in technology. Why not use technology to your advantage? If you're like me, a large amount of English that you come across in your daily activities (discounting conversation) is through a computer or other similar technology.
Only AFTER learning the basics of your target language, you might make an effort to force yourself to use technology tailored to that language. A few examples:
It bears repeating that these are never going to replace actual instruction or conversation in your target language, but with an honest effort, it seems to me that everyday exposure to it would probably do more good than harm.
best way to learn a foreign language is to be dropped hot turkey into a place that only speak that language.
So have a friend drop you off smack dab in the middle of Mexico with 20 bucks and your passport
you'll learn fast when you need to ask for the nearest restrooms.
-tazz
I'm Spanish from Catalonia, so my mother tongues are Spanish and Catalan. I can also speak English and Japanese, and now I'm learning Chinese (Mandarin). I also understand Galician/Portuguese (my grandparents were from Galicia and spoke it at home), but that doesn't count because I cannot speak it.
I don't know what are the best methods for learning a language, but at least I can tell you what works for me.
Vocabulary:
Read books in the language they were written (the one you're trying to learn). Underline with a red pen every single word that you don't understand and look it up in a dictionary. Each time you find the same word again and still don't remember its meaning, underline it again and look it up in the dictionary once more. Continue reading until you finish the book.
What I like about this method is that I get visual feedback of how my vocabulary is growing. The first chapters of my books are a mess of underlined words, and they progressively get cleaner as you look the pages further into the book.
Hearing:
In my opinion, DVDs are the best tool for training your listening and pronounciation. They get bonus points because you have fun while you learn. The keyword here is "subtitles".
When I was still working on improving my English listening some years ago, I used to buy lots of American/English films on DVD and watch them in their original version, with English subtitles. Since I could read what the actors were saying, I was able to learn the pronounciation of many words. Back then I was still living in Spain, so this was the only way I had to listen to real English.
With Japanese the situation it's a bit different. The problem with Japanese is reading, so I did it in two steps: before coming to Japan, I watched Japanese movies in Japanese with Spanish (or English) subtitles in order to learn vocabulary.
Now I've been living in Japan for almost four years and my vocabulary is (relatively) good, so I'm working on my reading/writing skills. What I do is watching these same Japanese films, but with Japanese subtitles. That allows me to link words with their written kanji form. Japanese TV is very good for this, as they like to subtitle everything.
Please note that I was using this book to study Japanese at the same time.
Also, remember that the more languages you know, the easier it will be to learn new ones.
My site
I learned survival French in a couple of weeks with EuroTalk. It's an instant immersion, CD-ROM based program. Words and phrases are picked up visually. You don't want to be memorizing words and their English meanings. You will pick up Spanish a lot faster if you don't have to translate in your head.
I know a guy that learned my language this way (he's really smart and he's from India):
1. Buy some comics. Read them. Look at pictures, you know how this was when you were a child - the comics are still readable even if you don't know the language. After some time, you will learn some of the words..
2. Read some literature for a little older children. I don't know any spanish famous literature for children, but I guess it won't be that hard to find using some googling..
Finally, you should have some kind of language-fundation!
Nothing beats immersion. In order to succeed you need to be surrounded by people speaking the language and use it to communicate with them. Stop using English altogether while you are immersed. if there is something too difficult to explain in the new language use paraphrases, hand waving or body moves but do not give in to the convenience of switching back to english. When you need explanations about a new word, get them in the new language. When you take notes about that you word, take them using the words that you already know. It is very much a bootstrapping problem : the beginning is hard, but once the basics are in place progress is fast. There is another major hurdle once you want to get beyond the most basic grammar, and this is where many people are discouraged. Much later there is a plateau once you begin to realize all the subtlety that actually speaking like a native requires, but once you are there it is just a matter of years of practice and that can be done by just reading and hanging out with the natives. And speaking about the natives, a local girlfriend will do wonders to your learning curve...
I have my own technique for languages - not sure if it will work for anyone else. Just watch films with the audio in your native language, and read the subtitles that are in the new language. It's a fun way to learn - it helps you learn grammar, vocabulary, and also the way that they say things differently from the English. Once you've done that, learn the pronounciation for the language, and attempt to speak as much like they do as possible. I've learnt Spanish and Dutch like this, but the bloody Russians dub foreign films - badly - which is ironic as they're a very literate educated bunch. Shakes fistskis at Russia. Even if they didn't though, you'd have to learn their alphabet first.
Get your own free personal location tracker
I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the translating pen scanner from WizcomTech: QuicktionaryII.
Dictionaries are too slow when you are trying to read a language that is new to you.
Pimsleur sells a few different bundles for each language ... roughly 10/20/30 lessons each.
... I think they set me back about $70 each. It's the 'Comprehensive' set (30 lessons), that run for $200+ (US$350 MSRP) that are expensive. You can introductory lines for the $50 range, which gives you enough of a basis to get some basic concepts and be able to muddle through a conversation.
... as others have said .. try your local library, and see if it's worth the money. You can also try getting the smaller packs of disks (or try looking for it used), so you're not shelling out all of they money to see if it'll work for you or not.
I've done parts of the 18 lesson packs for Italian and German
But
Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
Get a spanish-speaking girl/boyfriend.
Conformity is the jailer of freedom and enemy of growth. -JFK
I have taken a few different languages, and have to say Immersion is the way to go. Now, short of actually going to the country for an expanded time, there are usually ways to do that locally.
For French, the French In Action series is great. Starting on day 1, we were not allowed to speak any English in class. In addition to the classroom, we also did a French Conversation class (usually at a cafeteria or pub) on our own. One year of French via immersion was much more useful than 3 years of High School Spanish where we started with conjugations.
I know there are similar programs for other languages, but would not want to guess incorrectly. I would contact the makers of French in Action (PBS? Annenberg?) and get their opinion; or possibly the bookstore/library staff.
Malachi
http://www.google.com/profiles/malachid
This is what worked for me when learning English as a foreign language ten years ago. At that point, I had already been learning basic written English at school for a few years, but never considered myself to actually "know" English. So this is what I did when I found out that I could actually use my then meagre languages skills for real:
Obviously, I had to have some basic knowledge before starting any of that. When starting from scratch, you'll need some kind of structured course to get you there.
The last 10 years created two additional technologies which can assist in learning foreign languages:
All these methods don't involve any personal contact, so they should be ideally suited to the stereotypical slashdotters ;-)
...get a job in the construction business. You will be fluent in Spanish and Russian in no time.
"Consistency is contrary to nature, contrary to life. The only completely consistent people are the dead." A. Huxley
Get a lover that speaks Spanish... or get a job in a restaurant-that's where I polished the two years of Spanish I had in high school. There is no better teacher than speaking it with someone.
Sig Hansen?
I lived half of my life in a different country than I was born in and I learned it easily because I already learned some English and German so a Scandinavian language was something in between.
:-> but I'm sure it is a good solution theoretically. In the study circle I learned Swedish there was a guy who lived with a Swedish girl. She corrected his homework still there was less spelling errors in my work than his/hers. On the other side I always made and still makes more grammatical errors.
:) And she really sounded like a Brittish lady to me :-) This feature may be almos as good as a Spanish Girlfriend.
I made tapes with ca. 40 words each day and let it roll when cleaning, cooking etc.
I played them all over except those early lessons that I could by heart already.
I went to the library and borrowed some books for children or with easy stile - librarians can be helpful.
I was already married so I could not test learning fron a native
Lately I found Rosetta Stone a very advanced program with a graphical presentation of pronounciation. I never made it into the green field in Brittish English or American English but my wife could make it in ca. 10 minutes
There's both Hispanic Spanish and Castellano Spanish to choose.
I suggest buying or borrowing it in the library. It is really worth to use.
Congratulations to learning an other aspect of life!
Have you considered learning Esperanto? There are many online
free courses to learn this language. It's much easier than French English,
Spanish etc. It's grammar is regular and logic. It's a very expressive
language thanks to its aglutinative nature the the way one can create new
works with a set of rules.
Read an intro, give it a try, see if you like it.
www.lernu.net is an excellent web site to learn the language.
If i tell you that you have a beautifull body.. will you hold it against me?
I don't speak Spanish but I have a very good friend who lives there and I often visit him. I know enough words to eat, drink and chat to the women folk. I understand quite a bit and I think if I spent say three weeks I'd be able to talk to people.
It took me three weeks picking strawberries to learn French.
realkiwi
This is a very good point. Spanish varies as much as English, if not more so, and it sounds like Chileans are the spanish equivalent to the Welsh!
:) The dialect is different, and they speak very fast, and seemingly drop ends of words at random.
I took four years of Spain-Spanish in highschool, and haven't used it practically in 6 years (since I last visited spain) because everyone who speaks spanish around here are mostly hard to understand Mexicans--no offense to anyone who is Mexican, or hard to understand.
I was recently on a tour through Venezuela, and I found that not only are people pretty friendly in general, they speak much slower and with better pronounciation than I'm used to hearing. It was suprisingly easy to communicate despite having forgot much of what I previously learned. I'm sure I sound like a 5 year old with a gringo accent, but they still put up with me, and that was nice. It renewed my interest in the language, so hopefully I can visit Peru in the future--and not sound like a moron.
Chévere, amigo!
Constitutional rights may be respected, repealed, or modified; but they must never be ignored.
Si, pe, estaba en la pollada eñorita Laura...
Avoid peruvian spanish. Horrible accent and even uglier women...
Pimsleur -> It will make you feel like you're making progress and doesn't require a lot of motivation (just do it in the car).
Platiquemos -> I didn't see that anyone mentioned this one. It is an upgrade of the FSI course. I've done the FSI for French and it is fabulous and much much more complete than any other courses I have seen. I haven't done Platiquemos but I have every confidence it's even better than the original. See the site for comparisons with Pimsleur and Rosetta Stone (they're a little snide but pretty accurate). It's even cheaper than Pimsleur and R.S. yet is better. See http://language.bin.org/FXM/ for more language-learning tips and a testimonial of the FSI course.
Spanish for Reading -> Again, I have not done this for Spanish but there is a French version by the same author and it changed my language-learning life! You must try this book! I thought I didn't care about reading before, but it helps with speaking too.
Then, use SuperMemo for memorizing vocabulary and maybe read Barry Farber's How to Learn any Language for some inspiration and tips. And do what everyone else said. :) (TV, talking to people, etc.) If you can watch DVDs in Spanish (not dubbed--originally Spanish audio) with Spanish subtitles that is also very helpful.
I have a lot more to say about this but these would be what I would start with. :)
-MB (sd.t.mkb@spamgourmet.com)