There are quite a few self study language programs on offer at the moment. Some seem to be reasonable in price whilst others tend to look expensive. However they should really be judged on how easy they made it to learn to speak Spanish. Can you learn to speak Spanish using an MP3 or CD audio course ? This article will detail the benefits of using an audio language course to learn Spanish and some things that are not so good. To begin, I think if you only have an audio course then you are learning the language the way you learned your native language. Babies and children learn their mother tongue by listening and repeating what their mother (and other people) say to them.
This is usually the method adopted with a Spanish MP3 or CD. Words and sentences are spoken and you listen and repeat. Although it is not exactly the same as learning as a child (as you may have your native language on the course too) it is an approximation of this and can be useful. This is opposed to the standard method of learning a second language, where you learn to read, write and understand grammar at the same time as learning to comprehend and speak.
This method is not instinctive but I think people want fast results and by jumping in at the deep end they feel that this is the way to go. Some people get the language but many people languish because they are lost in the grammar or overwhelmed by the information they have to take in. Secondly, learning from an audio CD can help your pronunciation. In many ways pronunciation is more important than grammar when you first start learning a language. If you want to speak to people to practice what you have learned (and you should), they will forgive your grammatical mistakes and get the meaning of your words.
However if your pronunciation is bad they will simply not understand you no matter how sympathetic they are to you. This can really dent your confidence when first starting out. Believe me, talking to Spanish speaking people is the key to improving your skills so you don't want to shy away from this because of poor pronunciation or a bruised ego. Lastly, a great benefit of a learn Spanish CD or MP3 is that it is easy to use.
The classic example of this is listening to the course as you drive to work each morning. You could also listen to it in the gym or when cooking a meal. This is largely true. However I would say that when you are first listening to the audio you need to focus all your attention on the course and what is being said. Thus I don't think you could use it in the car or at the gym initially. If you have listened to the audios half a dozen times then it gets easier to multi task but initially I would say it is a no no.
So can you learn Spanish from a CD or MP3 ? I think they can give you a grasp of the language but you have to learn a lot more before you will be considered fluent. Being fluent requires a fair degree of confidence too. And you can only have this confidence if you use the language regularly and have made a few mistakes along the way. Even so an audio course is a good starting point and is convenient for many people that have busy lives.
Interested in getting a Spanish course, then visit http://rocketspanishreviewed.com . The site has reviews on three popular Spanish courses, including a comprehensive Rocket Spanish level 2 course review.
