To my mind, the best way to learn to speak Spanish is to live in a place where you can chat in Spanish, get out and visit with people, and then combine that with some study and practice at home. I do have the advantage of living much of the time in Mexico, but really wherever you are, you can likely find some native Spanish speakers who would like to do a language exchange with you.

There are quite a few programs that you can use if you choose to follow this approach. Rocket Spanish is one of the best known, hence the title of this hub. (The link takes you to my review of the program on my site about how to learn Spanish.) Others that I am familiar with include Pimsleur Spanish, Rosetta Stone Spanish, Tell Me More Spanish, and a newer multimedia one that I also like a lot, Fluenz Spanish. I review all of them on that site, and will summarize my opinions here.

Rocket Spanish

This program consists of 31 sound files, in mp3 format or on CDs, that consist of conversations betwen two people. They explain the words and give you plenty of chances to repeat them yourself. Easy to use while on the go, and with a bunch of add-ons. I already had a fair amount of Spanish when I went through most of the lessons and I still picked up quite a few details. They have added a more advanced module that I haven't seen.

Pimsleur Spanish

I list Pimsleur next because they are the most like Rocket, in being primarily sound files that you work with. Pimsleur has been around a long time and is well regarded. One advantage for frugal people is that you might find these at yard sales or on eBay, possibly in cassette format. I have a couple of friends who have used Pimsleur and both were quite happy with the results.

The Multi-Media Programs

Rosetta Stone is another old timer. I personally found it rather boring, and I didn't feel that it started out with basic conversational phrases as much as I would have liked. I didn't stick with it. It uses a lot of pictures, and a friend of mine who loved it said that was why, as she is a very visual person.

I couldn't get the online version of Tell Me More to work on my computer, so I don't really know about it.

I am quite a fan of a little-known multimedia program called Fluenz Spanish. It comes on DVDs (for windows and Macs) and takes you through beginning steps of learning to converse. It and Rocket Spanish are the ones I recommend the most, because I find them to be most focused on teaching you words and phrases you can use as soon as you arrive in a Spanish-speaking country.

Of course, all of these programs do take work, but it's so much fun to learn to speak Spanish!

Of course you have your own reasons for wanting to learn Spanish, but I included these photos from my blog on learning Spanish fast, hoping that the diversity of conversation we have had with these people would help motivate you!

The captions are bit small because I included them in the image files with the pictures, for my site. Hope you can read them! You can also view these pictures as a slide show.

And if you are curious about Rocket Spanish, this link goes to another article I wrote about it. Also, see my hubpage on whether you can learn Spanish fast.