Spanish Learning Software

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.

There are many ways, which profess that would make you learn the language fast. Every day there are new methods coming up in the market that promises this very thing. Normally speaking, one would need about three months of concentrated effort to learn the basics of a new language and be able to make a decent (and very basic) conversation.

However, there is one method which is fail-proof and can give you full assurance that you could learn Spanish in less than that. This method is ‘living in a Spanish-speaking dominated area’ where you could self-impose an exile from the English language. If you use this method, you will find that one month is more than sufficient for anyone to pick up this language, given the fact that it is very similar to English in many ways.

There are other ways as well. As I has mentioned earlier there are a good number of programs, which advertise as being able to teach Spanish in very short periods. Those, which are self-driven need to be avoided if you are in a hurry because one tens to take it easy when you have the reigns in your hands. Rather, you should take up regular crash course classes, where the tempo and classes are demanding.

These classes could be complemented at home wither by conversing with someone who knows excellent Spanish, or through reading. Ensure that you get plenty of whichever method you choose. These two methods are the only ones that would make anyone fast-forward the learning process, if at all.

1. Conversation – because once you start talking the brain is forced to think and get the right word. This exercise would make the task of searching and matching the right word a little less difficult with time, and then you will gain the fluency you would be looking for. This is because after sometime of continuous conversation, the brain would have learnt by heart certain phrases and words and hence does not need to wait and identify the right choice of words.

2. Reading – because by reading you are exposed to the correct usage of the language and its most popular phrases. It is easy to assimilate the use of the language in this way and hence, be able to recollect and reproduce it when you converse yourself. The reading material should be such that it holds the interest of the reader, and use grammatically and politically correct language.

3. Audio-visuals – you would need to use a very good set of CD-ROMs when you learn any foreign language. Because, side by side with the written word you would also have to learn the correct pronunciation and accent, which unless you hear them spoken again and again, you would not be able to perfect.