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?"

Comments

Classes

[Gulthek]

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.

Re:Classes

[mmaddox]

The BEST way? Easy:

Go somewhere Spanish is spoken. Live without English for some time, and you'll quickly pick up the basics as a matter of survival. This is the essence of the exchange programs--immersion. Immersion is the best way to learn a language, bar none.

Re:Classes

[Otter]

(Wow, that site is as addictive as this one is...)

I also like the debates between the advocates of "Diseño Inteligente" and "religion del monstruo de espaguetis".

Re:Classes

[drsquare]

The BEST way? Easy:

Yeah, what could be easier than quitting your job, selling your house, abandoning your family and going to live abroad in a Spanish-speaking country?

Suggestion: Define your target listeners

[durandal61]

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.