Have any of you learned at least a rudimentary version of Spanish by audio CD or self-taught measures? If so, do you recommend a particular company? I'd really like to do this - there are no classes available locally, but a friend says I'd be wasting my time. What do you think?

I tried for years without much success; you have to be insanely motivated to really gain much conversational ability. Eventually I took Spanish classes at my local community college but the main thing I learned was that's not the best way, either; I learned thousands of little data bits but struggled to pull them together. Then I attended Spanish school in CA and - YES - it started to fall into place. Now I go back every year to CA for a few weeks to study and tack on some time to explore. My school district even kicks in money because they need more Spanish speakers.

My advice is to get the program mentioned above plus books and flashcards, then try to spring loose for an immersion program now and then. Spanish for Dummies (there's a beginning book and a verbs book which is a little more advanced) is great, too, and will fill in the grammar that Crazy doesn't cover. Also consider finding a native speaker locally who would be willing to meet with you and get you started; local schools might be able to connect you with someone who would like to earn a few bucks tutoring you.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Rosetta Stone is about as good as it gets, this is a software for your computer. With a lot of work, you can make some progress conversationally. I agree with the above that classes are always best, but an interactive software as above is a big improvment over the tapes back in the day.

While classes ARE the most effective method in my experience, *nothing* you do to learn more will be a waste of time imo.

Besides various classes... I've used all kinds of tapes in the car, 'Spanish in 10 minutes a day' exercise book, watching TV in Spanish, etc. If you want to go the CD route, Rosetta Stone does seem to get the best marks.

For a small investment, as Suze mentioned, the "10 minutes a day" books are good. The community college classes are great because you get more interaction with conversation, and practicing that with another person really helps. But, since you said you don't have any classes where you live, Rosetta Stone could be an option for you. Ebay often has CD's for sale, RS offers specials and you can either buy the CD's or do the on-line version. If you have a microphone/headphone set they use voice recognition so you even get feedback on your pronounciation.

I think we all have different experiences and ways of learning. Some people can just hear sentences and get it. I have always been the kind of person that needed to know the how and why of everything. Just to know that certain words can go together to make a sentence didn't do anything for me. I had to pull it apart and understand each individual word.

I tried the audio tapes in the car and even Destinos which is used in many colleges. The tapes helped me learn a few phrases. Learned a good bit from Destinos but not enough to understand the structure of sentences. I went to school in CR for 3 weeks. Got a good base in verbs but not much else. Then I took 3 semesters at my local University. That was great. I finally had some adjectives, nouns, etc to go with all those verbs I had learned in CR. We used the book Hola Amigos. It pulled it all together for me. It starts at a slow pace and each chapter builds on the previous one and has a good mix of different types of words. There are exams to take at the end of each chapter and I found it to be the best study guide of all. I still go through it to refresh myself. I copied the exams rather than wrote in the book so I could take them over and over again.

I now also have Rosetta Stone and am having fun with it. Like most people I understand more than I feel comfortable saying. Rosetta Stone is helping with that. Destinos is fun because of the story line but I found that using that, using Hola Amigos and now Rosetta Stone have all complimented each other to really help me understand and feel more comfortable with the language. I am an old dog learning a new trick so it has been slow but steady.

I have only just gotten Rosetta Stone and can't say how it will help in the long run. There have been great reviews on it. My father in law used it to refresh his memory after a stroke and can speak beautiful spanish again. He lived in Argentina several months out of the year working and was self taught over the 40-50 years that he traveled down there. After seeing how well he did we decided to buy it ourselves. My husband spent a good bit of time in SA growing up and speaks pretty good Spanish already but Rosetta Stone is helping him too.

Thank you very much for the replies. We all learn differently; that is for sure. I guess I'll never know until I try. If I get started on my own with some of the methods suggested here, is there a specific immersion course for beginners that any of you would suggest? I'd be attending on my own, so safety of location would be important.

What is CA? I get so frustrated at all the abbreviations everyone uses on these boards with the assumption that everyone knows what they're talking about! Maybe I'm just slow, but how about making it easy for us neophytes by spelling things out?
(I've just returned from a week in Nicaragua and am very interested in going back to Latin America - haven't decided where - for some Spanish classes.)

Sorry! CA = Central America.

I've attended 5 schools so far, 3 in Honduras and 2 in Guatemala. Below are links to the schools with a few notes and a link to my travelogues and photos. Let me know if you have questions. Happy trails!

www.ixbalanque.com - Wonderful school in lovely Copán Ruinas, Honduras; I attended for 2 weeks in 2005 and am heading back with a group in tow this July, highly recommended.

www.ca-spanish.com - I attended their bases in La Ceiba (great school, staff, homestays, area adventures but HOT) and on Utila (poor immersion environment since English is widely spoken but a great SUBmersion environment if you're a diver). They also offer more expensive classes on Roatán, also a poor immersion environment.

www.nebaj.com - Way off the beaten path in Guatemala; I had a fabulous teacher but my friend's teacher was not so great, homestays a bit rough, great experience for me but not for everyone.

www.cooperativeschoolsanpedro.com - Fabulous school, gardens, staff, homestays, views of Lake Atitlán, Guatemala, highly recommended. I think I'll take a group there in 2009.

http://flickr.com/photos/staceyholeman/collections

I have been using "Learn in Your Car - Spanish" for a couple of years. Have read that most people must hear a word 16 times before committing it to memory. I guess I'm slower than most because it seems to be taking me longer and I really have to be in the mood to listen. Have transferred the CD's to my iPod so sometimes I listen to Spanish sentences (boring) when I work out.

DD's have transferred some Spanish songs for me and I now I sing along (in my head). I love Ana Gabriel (Cuanto Daria, Quien Como Tu) And Vanessa Williams (Rufugio d'Ámor).

Spanish Now is a good practical workbook, but maybe not the best for a real beginner - try Spanish (10 min a day), which is available at Costco occasionally. Also recommend Breaking Out of Beginner Spanish, for an enjoyable humorous resource. I also use the 501 Spanish Verbs far more than ever I thought.

Agree that a Spanish tutor, friend or in my case work colleague is invaluable, but my own committment to learning, spending some time a couple of days a week has made a difference. Since I work with the public I have a few "phrases" that I "practice"on people and they have always been receptive and helpful in correcting me.

Next step is immersion school in Copan....leaving in one week! Hopefulist has been a great resource!

Thanks, tripinink -
Please tell Kathy and the others at Ixbalanque "hi" from Stacey from Oregon. I'll be taking a group down in July so have been emailing back and forth a bit. We're waiting to see how much help my school district is willing to give employees this year; the last 2 years they've paid full price for trips of interested people but it's only been a few of us a year. This year nearly 40 are interested so I'm sure we'll get less help and therefore not everyone will be able to go. That's a good thing, since I can't take that many and can't stand to choose, but I wish all of them could have the opportunity. And I already have 10 on my list for the following summer to Guatemala which is no more than a whisper of a thought at this point!

Have a wonderful, productive trip and be sure to tell us all about it. Happy trails!

Hi hopefulist,

Did I understand your post correctly that your school district pays for you to go to CA? How do you get them to do that?

We are taking a group of 8th graders to Costa Rica in June to work at two elementary schools and we are fundraising like crazy, as our students are not 'wealthy'. We have five teachers going also and we are all paying our own way too.

My husband used the Pimsleur tapes and used them in the car to and from work for about 10 months. I was really surprised at how well he did when we visited Mexico!

What's even better...he was able to download them from the local library..free!!

Nearly a 3rd of our students are native Spanish speakers and it's embarrassing how few staff members have any Spanish language background. Our certified contract allows for reimbursement for approved workshops and classes up to the cost of 6 hours of graduate credit at a state school which is about $1900. The last few years my trip costs have been covered because I'm studying Spanish really hardcore, then coming home and establishing Spanish learning libraries with grant money, setting up teacher/parent buddies so 1 can practice Spanish and the other English, translating at conferences, etc. The cultural piece is icing on the cake but it's the 4-6 hours/day I spend in 1-on-1 tutoring and staying in an immersion environment that convince the district to pony up.

Would love to hear more about your trip - happy trails!

That's great, you have an awesome contract. We have to pay for all of our continuing education.

While we don't have as many Spanish students as you, our numbers are growing. Every year I have at least one student whose parents do not speak English, even though their child has been in our school system since kindergarten. I have taken two conversational Spanish classes at our local community college in an effort to be able to communicate with the parents, and I've had to pay for it.

Even with the classes my espanol is muy mal. I am not good with verbs, so I am hoping this class in April will help. If not it will be very interesting in June.

For those of you trying to teach themselves and learn on your own, one tip... you need to SPEAK out loud, to get the best results. Both using tapes, or reading in books, say the words as if you are in conversation with another person.

You're right Suze about saying the words out loud. I remember in the very beginning when "nosotros" seemed liked a mouthful.

The verbs tenses are tricky. I have to write them over and over and over.

Hopefulist,
Wow Stacey, that's a nice little perk! The grant money, I mean. You are doing a great service to the community and it's nice to see some recognition.

I was surprised to hear of your school demographics - don't you live in Oregon? I guess we must have lots of Spanish speakers, but I don't personally know many, so sometimes I find myself lurking in store aisles trying to eavesdrop if I catch a few Spanish phrases.

Looking forward to the trip, but nervous just the same. Kathy has been great with emails, keeps telling me, No Te Preoccupes. Estaremos esperando por tí....Don't worry , we're waiting for you.

After 2 weeks in language school, I'll have a further 2 weeks to practice my new skills in Costa Rica as I meet up with my husband and our friends. Hasta luego!

Our little community, The Dalles, is on the Columbia River in north central Oregon. We're just east of the Cascade Range and sit on the imaginary line dividing the western (rainy and temperate) and eastern (dry with 4 distinct seasons) sides of Oregon. Because of the rain shadow effect caused by the Cascades, we only get 10-12 inches of precipitation annually but area farmers and orchardists irrigate from the Columbia and the climate is great for fruit: peaches, pears, nectarines, apricots, apples, and especially cherries. We have high migrant and resident populations of farm laborers, many of Mexican descent, hence the large percentage of native Spanish speakers, especially at the school where I teach. Ironically we also have a fairly high population of Samoans here, so an interesting cultural mix. I'll have to check out Samoa some day, too!

Happy trails!

hopefulist -- I'm in Seattle now (moved here when I was 28), but grew up in Eugene. We were practically neighbors! It's beautiful down there.

I recently signed up for a Spanish for Traveller's class, but there were only 2 of us who signed up, so it's looks like it will be more like tutoring. Starts tomorrow so we'll see how it goes! I took this type of class when I went to Italy and found that just getting pronounciation down can be really helpful.

hipvirgochick~ May I ask where you're taking the class? I'm in Seattle too.