| Since I learned Spanish after I was 30 and now | | | | means that you can offload to your iPod or other |
| am passably competent with it, many of my | | | | portable device, or even burn lessons to CD and |
| monolingual friends ask me, "What's the best way | | | | listen to them on any CD player. Means you can |
| for me to learn Spanish?" | | | | take it with you wherever you go and take |
| First I caution them to do as I say and not as I | | | | lessons whenever and wherever you want to. |
| did! I pieced my learning together out of a number | | | | 4. Speed and repetition are completely under your |
| of different programs and methods over a period | | | | control. You can go fast or slow, repeat the |
| of years. I wouldn't do it that way if I had it to | | | | words over and over as often as you need to |
| do over again! | | | | get the pronunciation down pat. And you can |
| If I did not speak Spanish and wanted to learn it | | | | refresh your learning any time you want to. |
| starting today, I would get a modern interactive | | | | |
| audio-learning course on digital media, such as | | | | 5. Advanced learning methods. The good courses |
| those offered by Rocket Spanish, Learning | | | | use advanced learning methods to teach you |
| Spanish Like Crazy or Fsi Spanish. This type of | | | | Spanish the natural way, in roughly the same way |
| learning media has several advantages: | | | | you learned English. |
| 1. It's fast. You can buy it, download it and start | | | | They start you with a few words and basic |
| your first lesson in minutes. | | | | conversation. Then they expand from that into |
| 2. Purity of accent. Practically every ordinary | | | | more words, more situations and just enough |
| Spanish speaker has the accent of his origins. A | | | | knowledge of the complexities to deal with the |
| Cuban, a Mexican a Guatemalan, all speak in a | | | | situation at hand. |
| certain way, tend to use certain regionalized | | | | You end up learning rapidly and painlessly. You |
| words and expressions and you know | | | | learn a lot more, and do it much faster and easier |
| immediately where they came from. (And many | | | | than with conventional classroom methods. |
| of those accents have negative connotations to | | | | |
| some people!) | | | | 6. Reasonable cost. You can get a first-class |
| A good audio course will use teachers with a clear | | | | learning course for under $100! That is a very |
| international, pure form of Latin American Spanish, | | | | reasonable cost, even a bargain price, for good |
| with an accent which would be roughly equivalent | | | | training in conversational Spanish. Enough to make |
| in English to that of a midwestern radio or TV | | | | you capable of ordinary conversation and |
| announcer. | | | | communication in Spanish with any native speaker. |
| So it lets you learn it right the first time! | | | | You can spend more, but, in my opinion, you can't |
| | | | find a better way for anywhere near the price, |
| 3. It's locationally convenient. The digital format | | | | convenience and speed of learning. |