Gregory Newell asked:


How fast is it possible to learn a foreign language? You see products that claim to teach you to speak in weeks or even days. I am trying to learn Spanish fast, but as with any other language it is a long and tiring process that take months and even years to become proficient. It is possible to learn some Spanish very fast, but you will find that will mostly be swear words and slang terms that wont really get you anywhere when it comes to actual conversation.

Sometimes I have dreams with a few of the Spanish words I know in them but they unfortunately normally revolve around how dumb I am and how I don’t know any other words. Of course some people are able to learn Spanish very fast, or any other language for that matter, simply because they have what is frequently called an “ear or languages”. I wish I was one of those people.

Not matter how well you learn languages I have to say that I agree with the school of though that says the best way is through immersion. Living in a country that speaks the language is by far the best way to truly learn a language. You can also read books, listen to tapes, and use interactive software. Or there is another more novel method I found that involves learning through music. While this sounds interesting and kind of fun I have to say the words used in the lyrics to the Latin songs I have encountered here are not the words I would want to be learning.

To truly learn Spanish fast and well a nice combination of all the above mentioned methods would be nice. To live in the country, listen to tapes and music, read books, use software, and speak nothing but the language would be ideal and probably very successful. Unfortunately no one really has the time this would entail so we must instead settle for a long, drawn out, frustrating process.

Daniel Major asked:


If I had a dollar for every person that asked me how to learn Spanish or, more to the point, what is the best way to learn Spanish, I would be an extremely wealthy man right now, unfortunately for me though I don’t so I guess I think I better give up on that one right now.

Many different people have different opinions on the best way to learn Spanish ranging from classroom courses and Spanish immersion courses to self teaching books and CD course programs. In all fairness it all depends on an individuals situation; my personal opinion is that the best way to learn Spanish without a shadow of a doubt are Spanish immersion courses and classroom courses. The benefits of these types of learning are that they allow for intensive interaction, speaking the language constantly with Spanish speakers and fellow students, Spanish immersion courses, specifically, are definitely the best way to learn Spanish as the student not only has the benefit of the classroom interaction but also benefits from the cultural exchanges as these courses very often take place in a Spanish speaking country.

The down sides to learning Spanish in this way are that they are expensive and also require the student to devote a large amount of time to the course, especially in the case of Spanish immersion courses where the student can expect to be away from home for many weeks; hence the reason that this method is preferred by the younger student body, but I have to reiterate that this is definitely the best way to learn Spanish and achieves the best results on a regular and consistent basis.

However, not all of us can afford the luxury of these types of courses so what is the next best way to learn Spanish?

Without a shadow of doubt the fastest growing and most popular method utilized for the studying of Spanish today is the interactive Spanish online course. There are a lot of free websites that offer you tuition in the basics of Spanish but if you really want to get good at Spanish as quickly as possible I would have to recommend that you buy a good Spanish language product that incorporates both listening and conversational exercises as this is definitely the best way to learn Spanish conversation.

Regardless of whichever way you decide to learn Spanish you should always ensure that you put enough time aside for your studies and make sure that you practice whenever possible, watch Spanish speaking TV whenever you can and shop in Spanish speaking districts, when you get to the point where you are starting to think in Spanish you will find your steps will become easier and quicker to take.