by Michael Porter

There are tons of opportunities to learn Spanish online these days, and it’s a great way to get started with any language. With so many different courses now available, it can be a fairly confusing task to decide which system to go with. How do you decide?

Answer a couple of simple questions, to begin with:

Why am I learning Spanish?

Are you learning Spanish to use when you travel, to help you communicate with Spanish speakers, or to aid your academic Spanish studies? Spanish courses tend to be aimed at either conversational Spanish, which is great for those wanting to travel and communicate in Spanish. Others are more academically based, and are better for people wanting to compliment their school Spanish studies. There are lots of options, at varying prices, which takes us to our other question…

How much should I spend on an online Spanish course?

This will depend largely on where you are in your studies, and how comfortable you are with knowing what works for you. If you’re still unsure about what type of language learning system works for you, try one of the free courses that are out there first – if you like it, find a more in-depth course that uses the same style. If not, simply go ahead and try a different one.

Many online Spanish courses now offer a free trial, and there are even a few totally free ones around. Take full advantage of these freebies when you’re figuring out which system is most suited to your own learning style, and try a few before you buy anything.

That said, you also need to watch out for the “information overload” that often accompanies this process. When you’re try several different courses at once, you don’t tend to get anywhere fast, as you’re attention isn’t focussed enough on each one. Pick one, try it for a while, then move on and try the next one – never try to do more than one at a time.

Once you’ve decided, the trick is to stick with it and not overwhelm yourself. Little and often is the key here – if you try to fit too much in every day, you’ll get sick of it and give up, and if you do long sessions sporadically, you won’t progress very quickly. So I’ll repeat: Little and often! Make a time each and every day, even if it’s just 15 minutes, to take the time for your Spanish studies.

About the Author:
I like to recommend a great free Spanish course available over at Spanish Lessons For Free (watch out for that Pinata though – he looks at you kinda funny!).

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