What is the best way to learn or teach yourself Spanish?

[TheNinja]

I figure I got time during lunch breaks and while in driving in my car. Is this at all effective in learning Spanish? I'm mainly interested in understanding and speaking, not so much writing.

 

[Heisenberg]

You know what they say, necessity is the mother of invention - have someone drop you blindfolded, buck naked, with nothing but a compass somewhere in Mexico.

 

[Jeeebus]

Originally posted by: Heisenberg
You know what they say, necessity is the mother of invention - have someone drop you blindfolded, buck naked, with nothing but a compass somewhere in Mexico.

awww memories of bachelor parties long since passed.

 

[49erinnc]

Just move to Mexico where you'll be forced to learn the native language, unlike here where we change our systems to adapt to a new one.

 

[Lonyo]

I'm using Rosetta Stone atm for German, and they do a large variety of languages (although it's expensive), which is quite nice, but I already had basics down (learnt for a few years in HS, which was a few years ago now), so it might not be for everyone.

 

[ryan256]

Immerse yourself in the language .... or just move to south Florida.

 

[blackdogdeek]

the pimsleur series (which is audio only; 30 minutes per lesson) exists on the intarwebs in mp3

 

[astrosfan90]

Immersion>all. I try to speak Spanish with people who "know Spanish" because they've learned it in school or through self-taught methods, and they look at me in utter bewilderment when I start talking to them. You'd think I was speaking Greek. Learning it was easy for me--I moved to Argentina and had no choice. Within a month or two I had enough to get around with, and by a year or so I was relatively fluent.

 

[ggnl]

Do you have someone to practice with? Books/audio courses will teach you the basics, but you need to immerse yourself in the language if you want to become even semi-fluent.

Have you considered a community college course?

 

[Chiropteran]

Just eat lunch at Chipotle every day.

 

[TheNinja]

Originally posted by: ggnl
Do you have someone to practice with? Books/audio courses will teach you the basics, but you need to immerse yourself in the language if you want to become even semi-fluent.

Have you considered a community college course?

I don't really have anyone to "practice" with per se. I know some bilingual people, and my lawn care people and the janitors at my work are mexican, but I doubt they want to practice with me. I think a community college course would be the best bet. I'm thinking the CDs might be the easiest for now though.