While the best way to learn a foreign language is to live in the country where it's spoken, not all of us have the time and money to do so. In fact, many of us can't even squeeze in regular classes. But with the right materials and some hard work, you can give yourself a good grounding in a foreign language.
Let's face facts: learning a language from word one is difficult, time consuming and boring. It can also be quite expensive, up to $60 an hour at a commercial language school! And if you're not willing to put a considerable amount of time and effort into the process, you shouldn't bother trying. There really is no way around this.
But it is possible to learn a language without setting foot in a classroom. It can be done though self teaching. And it can be done anywhere: at home, on the train or bus to and from work, any place you have some free time.
Collecting Your Tools
But what will you need an how much will it cost? Well, you'll need a textbook and a set of tapes or CDs. If you're serious about learning a language, don't pick up the $15.99 "tourist kit;" that all-but-useless one cassette and phrase booklet set. Look for a text with dialogues, example sentences and drill exercises, both on tape or CD and in the book. The cost of a good text and tape/CD set shouldn't exceed $180. You'll also need a dictionary, a grammar book and a verb guide (about $15 each). Finally, a 10 minute blank cassette ($2). All told, your materials should cost no more than $250.
You don't have to buy your materials new. You can find language courses in used bookstores, at online auctions sites (like eBay), and can even find low-cost or free courses posted at your city's Craigslist.org or Freecycle.org site.
There are a lot of courses out there. Some people I know swear by the generally excellent Pimsleur CDs, which concentrate on listening and speaking. Other like the Living Language courses from publisher Random House. If you're in doubt, ask friends who are studying languages, or read the reviews of language courses at Amazon.com.