Got a trip to Spain coming up for a major business meeting? Or just heading down to Cancun to party for a weekend? Maybe you want to learn Spanish and move to the Dominican Republic. Whatever your reason, Spanish is moderately easy for a non-native speaker to learn.Spanish is a Romance language, like French, which means that the language developed most of its vocabulary and syntax from Latin. Unlike French, Spanish uses very regular phonetic spellings for its words. This means that as long as you know how the individual letters are pronounced, you can figure out how to say Spanish words more or less correctly. Heck, even English can't boast about that.The quickest way to learn Spanish is to devote yourself to a program of study. Spanish language courses are offered in schools, by mail or over the Internet, so you should be able to find a Spanish language program that will allow you to learn Spanish on your own terms.

1. HOW DO PEOPLE LEARN SPANISH?

There are several ways to learn Spanish, and not all of them are in a classroom. While some people swear that the only way to learn another language is to take classes and pass tests, there are other methods that seem to work for people.

Classroom

The most common way to learn Spanish is by taking courses in the language. This includes going to class, doing homework, practicing and taking tests in the language to prove your comprehension. You can find these courses in local community colleges and in adult education centers.

Conversation Group

If a class isn't for you, try joining a conversation group. This is where you go meet with other people learning the language and a few who are fluent and learn by actually speaking the language. You can find these online at websites like Notes From Spain, where they are organized online, or in your own community, usually advertised in free local newspapers.

Complete Immersion

Another technique to try aside from a classroom is the complete immersion technique. This is where you learn the language by actually going to a Spanish speaking country, and live there while you're learning the language. You can find websites that offer such programs, like The Spanish Institute of Puebla, that give you more information on what complete immersion details.

Language Software

Another popular way to learn Spanish is to use language software. This is usually computer software that teaches lessons on the computer, centering on verbal practice and visual tests given through the software. Many types of language software also come with websites that support what you're learning with the software, and come with extra activities if you've already purchased the software. A website like this is Transparent.com, which supports the Transparent Language line of language software.

Here are some great places to learn Spanish online in the comfort of your home:

StudySpanish.com: Use this site for free to learn the basics, or pay for advanced learning.

SpanishPrograms.com: This free site offers an interactive tutorial that will get you speaking basic Spanish in no-time.

: This is the holy-grail of Spanish websites, with interactive lessons, forums and links to several tutors and online courses.

2. EIGHT THINGS TO LOOK FOR IN A SPANISH LANGUAGE COURSE

Of course, if you want to learn Spanish, you want the best instruction in Spanish. Finding the best Spanish language program that fits your skills and needs is a big step toward mastering the Spanish language.

1. Instruction from a Native Spanish Speaker

A native Spanish speaker has Spanish as a first language, learned at childhood and refined by years of practice within the native culture of the language. A Spanish language program that offers instruction from native speakers of Spanish gives you an edge in gaining competence and confidence in the language.

2. Listening Practice

You have to be able to hear real, live Spanish as used by native speakers of the language in order to develop your Spanish comprehension. It also helps to hear the language in everyday contexts rather than artificial situations.

3. Speaking Practice

Along with exercises that develop your ear for the language, a quality Spanish language program will develop your speaking skills as well. You should be drilled in pronunciation, with special attention given to stress and accent, and your performance evaluated by a qualified instructor.

4. Reading Practice

A good Spanish program does not neglect reading skills. Using reading materials found in the culture, a quality Spanish program pushes a student's comprehension of the written word and boosts reading speed.

5. Vocabulary Work

Reading is built on the foundation of vocabulary, and a Spanish program must give a student the opportunity to develop a strong vocabulary. The development of a good vocabulary requires more than just memorizing lists of words. Context and usage levels, along with shades of meaning, have to be accounted for when a student is learning Spanish vocabulary.

6. Constructive Feedback

No language program is effective in a vacuum. There has to be some way for the instructor to rate the student and provide understandable and clearly relevant feedback. Although some very self-motivated students may do well without feedback, most learners need criticism and guidance in order to reach their fullest potential.

7. Pace

How quickly does the course move along? Are you expected to keep up, like in a college-level language course, or do you have the option to move along at your own pace? If you are not comfortable being under pressure, avoid courses that are billed as accelerated. These courses pack a lot of work in each session, but are best suited to people who have a fair aptitude for learning languages.

An example of an extremely accelerated language learning program can be found at the Defense Language Institute, the school that trains America's military personnel to speak foreign languages. A basic course in Spanish at the DLI covers about 3 weeks worth of college level material in a single week. Of course, the students at the DLI are in classes several hours a day, so they can maintain that grueling pace and gain a mastery of a new language in a short time.

8. Time Commitment

Closely related to the pace of a Spanish program is time commitment. How much of your week is going to be devoted to learning Spanish? Most high-school and college level courses demand about an hour of classroom instruction time from their students every school day, with a suggested additional hour per day of self-study. That's 10 hours per week for basic level Spanish courses. The next time that you see an ad for a Spanish language program that promises fantastic results in days, keep this in mind: 10 hours a week for 15 weeks lets you count, ask directions to the bathroom and maybe order food at a restaurant with a patient waiter.

3. NICE EXTRAS

These things aren't necessary, but they make learning Spanish a lot easier. And they usually cost a little bit more, too.

One-on-one instruction

People learn better when they are given focused attention from an instructor. When you are learning Spanish, having an instructor spend the extra time just with you to get your R's exactly right or to work on your accent makes the difference between understanding a language and mastering a language. There are some tutorial websites online, such as:

NuLengua is a website where you have to pay for one on one instruction, but it is with a native speaker.

Lingua Web is another pay website, but it offers some free downloads like Spanish verb PDFs.

Study abroad

A course that offers a chance to study abroad in Mexico or Cuba or even in Andalusia offers students a chance to develop their skills in the culture that produced the language. This immersion in the rhythms of Spanish life can profoundly accelerate the development of basic language skills as well as promote the understanding of subtle linguistic features of Spanish. You might want to check out websites that offer the opportunity to study abroad. The site Studiesabroad.com offers courses in several countries that speak Spanish including Mexico and Spain.

Educational trips

Essentially a short study abroad, an educational trip is a great final exam for students who have done some work with the Spanish language. Like study abroad a short visit to Mexico City, Barcelona or Rio de Janeiro lets the student experience the Spanish language within the context of Spanish culture.

Other websites that offer studies abroad in Spanish-speaking countries are:

Spanish Abroad - Offers courses for teens, families and teachers.

Study-Spanish.org - This site has pictures and operates in its own schools in Spain.

Language Schools - Offering not only courses, this site offers degrees when studying abroad.

4. BOOKS AND SOFTWARE FOR LEARNING SPANISH

In addition to the guided instruction of a Spanish course, you can also purchase Spanish language textbooks or software that help you attain the level of mastery that you desire at your own pace. You can also pick up Spanish language programs on tape or CD. In addition to giving you examples of fluent Spanish, these resources allow you to learn anywhere, at anytime. Use your commute time to brush up on irregular verbs, or rip the files on an MP-3 player and conjugate while you jog.

If you're interested in other forms of learning Spanish, check out these resources:

Multilingual Books - An online store offering books, tapes and software for learning several languages, including Spanish.

Spanish Toys.com - While much of what they offer is for children, those who aren't as quick at learning languages might want to check out some of their products.

Musical Spanish - Offers lessons to teach Spanish through music with computer software.