I've chosen to learn Spanish, what is the best method besides living in a Spanish speaking country?

Answer 1

You'll have to apply yourself and work to learn your target language!

But... "work' doesn't mean "suffer"! There are tons of fun and very productive ways to learna new language:

Flash Cards
Children's Books (Dr. Seuss in the target Language is great)
DVDs (lots of popular movies have multiple language tracks)

You get the idea. Remember! Learning a new language doesn't have to Suck!! Forget about grammar and that stuff until you have the alphabet and a good vocabulary.

In America, we use a list of the 220 most commonly used wrods to start children reading and writting. It's called the "Dolch Sight Word List". The words are divided into pre-school to 3rd grade levels. Here is an example: http://www.english-zone.com/reading/dolch.html

Translate the Dolch list into your target language to start yourself off with a good vocabulary.

Personally I am a big fan of The "Immersion Method", but whatever time you spend learning your language is time well spent.
http://www.k12.hi.us/~kaiapuni/HLIP/immersion.htm

Answer 2

Well, a good class with a great teacher would be sufficient... but to properly retain the information, it would be ideal if you could speak conversationally with somebody on a regular basis. Especially since that person can help you learn 'normal' conversational Spanish instead of stuffy 'classroom' Spanish. Of course, depending on which country the person is from, you will find pronunciation and slang to be vastly different from place to place.

Listen to music. Watch latin television shows. Check out movies: watch English movies with Spanish subtitles and Latin movies with English subtitles. Check out books from your library.

And, of course, instead of moving to a Spanish speaking COUNTRY... you could always move to a state with a prominent latino community: California, Texas, New York, Arizona, New Mexico, Washington D.C....... and the list goes on.

Good luck.

Answer 3

Try entering into an online language room. Choose one with spanish speaking natives who are interested in learing English. That way the two of you can learn from each other. Feel free to use the microphones on your computer or even exchange numbers because a language is first and foremost spoken and you have to get the phonetics right.

Answer 4

All of the other responses are great ones, and would do wonders in addition to a real course of study. However, if you want a fast and proven method, I would advise you to look at the Rosetta Stone software (google for their website). You can experience their full emmersion software online. It is simply the best language learning program of any form (book, computer, classes) that I have ever found.
Best of luck!

Answer 5

Find the closest Salsa dance club and you'll find many Latin women and men who speak Spanish. You have to be immersed in a Spanish culture in order to learn it well. You may also learn how to dance Salsa!

Answer 6

Move to Texas. No seriously watch spanish tv alot you'd be surprised how quick you catch on.

Answer 7

Find yourself a Spanish boyfriend !
:-))
Incidentally, the BBC is offering free on-line audio-visual courses - for both beginners and middle-level learners, to learn the many nuances of spoken and written Spanish. This interactive site lets you learn at your pace.
[You can conduct a Yahoo! Search for details of their website.]

Answer 8

Use the spanish sub-titles on your DVD's.

Answer 9

Get a Hispanic friend.

Answer 10

get a job at the car wash