Make no mistake about it, the best way to learn Spanish is to sell your belongings and move to Spain. If this is not a practical solution, the next best thing is using high quality language learning software. “Real” language learning software is software that takes advantage of the power of the computer to help you learn a language effectively and enjoyably. Unfortunately, many so-called “Learn Spanish” software packages do nothing more than just turn your computer into an audio system, using language teaching methods that haven’t changed since the invention of the phonograph.

Learning Spanish involves many different skills. Of course, the ear must be trained to hear the sounds of Spanish and the tongue must be trained to reproduce those sounds. But if all you did was practice a few phrases, as many software systems have you do, you would not be able to formulate your own sentences, and you would not be able to understand a real Spanish conversation.

Good language learning software must provide the same sort of variety of experience that language provides in the real world. And, like language itself, the software must not have built-in limitations. Furthermore, the software must be extensible. As your skills increase, so must the capabilities of the software permit expansion to challenge you at new levels.

If learning Spanish is to be truly simple, it must also be fun. This hard-to-measure but critical aspect of learning is often overlooked. Children growing up in Buenos Aires do not regard learning language as a task; it’s just part of life. Repeating canned phrases from a recorded program, well, that is work.

Good language learning software combines sound and sight, written words and pictures in a way that makes learning Spanish not one of the tasks you have to attend to each day, but rather one of the day’s moments of relaxation and enjoyment, a time each day you will end up looking forward to.