What is the best way to Learn Spanish?

As an online language teacher, I often get asked "Howat my site Second, you need a language buddy. In the
should I go about studying?". People are oftenold days, you would send off for a penpal, but these
confused because of all the different learning methodsdays, you can logon to somewhere like Myspace and
out there. While obviously, immersing yourself in afind hundreds of people willing to help you learn their
Spanish speaking country will help you more thanlanguage.
anything else, this article is aimed at the majority ofThirdly, you will need a few handy books. A dictionary
language learners. Those of you who want to learn ato help you identify any words you do not recognise. A
language as more of a hobby, rather than lifestyle.phrase book to help you build up phrases for all kinds
When people ask me how to study Spanish, I mentionof scenarios. And last, but not least, some childrens
two main points. First, you must adopt a multi-prongbooks. These are great because they will help you
attack. There are lots of different ways to study andlearn the basics, just as a child would.
each have pros and cons. Secondly you must beNow, just because you have these tools at your
consistent. Find something that works and keepdisposal, doesn't mean you'll automatically learn the
working at it. Changing how you go about learninglanguage. It now takes committment. Not a whole lot,
Spanish will not do you any good at all.but 30 minutes a day, minimum. If you have an audio
So what is this "multi-prong" attack? I like to use asprogram with 20 minute lessons, listen to at least one
many useful resources as I can. The first weapon inper day. Flick through some of your books, look up any
your arsenal should be an audio/software program.strange words in your dictionary. Continue to chat to
This will be the foundation of your learning andyour online pen pal. Just keep at it and you'll be
products these days are both of excellent quality andamazed at how quickly your skills will increase.
reasonable in price. I've reviewed the top few products