Want to learn Spanish?  If you go into a bookstore or even online you will find many different Spanish language courses.  From audio to software and everything inbetween, it can get confusing if you don’t know what you’re looking for.

Our goal is to review several different Spanish language courses so that you can find the one that best suits your needs.  Maybe you commute several hours a day and want to have an audio course so that you can learn while driving or commuting.  Maybe you like to learn while sitting in front of your computer.  Maybe you learn better by being able to see the words and you would like books included with your course.

Whatever your needs, we will try to outline the different Spanish courses so that you can easily choose the one that best fits your needs?  Are you traveling for fun?  For business?  Do you want to learn a lot of Spanish or just a little?  Read on and we’ll help you decide what course is the best for you.

Pimsleur Method Spanish

Advantages:  Top rated in learning to speak Spanish in an all audio CD course.  Repetition helps you remember what you are learning.  Pimsleur is easy to use and the immediate gratification of being able to carry on a conversation helps you continue on learning.  Pimsleur Spanish is all audio  so you don’t have to read a manual.

Disadvantages:  It is a great basic course but does not teach you to read or write the Spanish language.  There are no manuals, only a small reading booklet that will teach you the basics of learning to read the Spanish language.  With Pimsleur you will learn to speak the language, but you will need books on grammar, verbs and many flashcards to increase your vocabulary and a workbook on writing to really expand your language skills.

Comments:  Pimsleur Method offers 38 different language courses in audio CD and Instant Download format.  The Instant Download give you immediate access to the course.  You can also burn CDs or put the files on your MP3 player.  The cost is on the expensive end but the results are impressive. Pimsleur Method is perhaps the best course on the market to take a beginning language student to a proficient conversational speaker. Pimsleur Spanish is ideal for a person on the move and can be listened to in the car, train, bus or plane.  You will certainly learn how to speak and converse with the Pimsleur Spanish courses.  All of the Pimsleur Spanish courses are Latin American Spanish.

Linguaphone Spanish

Advantages:  A top rated course that gives you all of the things that you will need to speak, read and write the language.  Linguaphone has been in the language business for over 100 years and base their courses on “listen, understand and speak.”  The Linguaphone Spanish courses have very nice manuals that contain the dialog so that you can refer back to make sure you have understanding.  Some people feel that they are the “best ever course” they have used.

Disadvantages:  Some of the dialog needs to be listened to very carefully and a little hard to hear.  In some cases, having a basic knowledge of the Spanish language would make the Linguaphone Spanish courses more effective.  The reason why is because the Linguaphone Spanish courses move quite rapidly and sometimes without adequate repetition.  Listening to a Pimsleur Spanish course first could be of help and then use the Linguaphone Spanish courses to expand your language skills, vocabulary, listening comprehension, etc.  Linguaphone prices range from fairly inexpensive to expensive but are well worth the investment.

Comments:  Linguaphone has 15 languages in the CD format.  Most of the reviews on Linguaphone are positive.  It covers all language core skills, oral, aural, writing and reading.  There are a minority of people who don’t like the Linguaphone courses but they are few.  It is a very thorough course and worth the money.  People who like written transcripts of the audio will like Linguaphone.  The narrators on the Linguaphone courses are British speakers and the Spanish learned is Castillian.