No, I’m not going to knock you for your zest to learn.  Instead, I’ll point you towards the unnecessarily messy start you’re getting yourself into.  Say, you bought two language software, a membership to a web-based program and two books.  Do you realistically believe you can cover them all and still have time to practice?

Instead of trying to consume everything, we actually suggest focusing on one (at most two) of your materials.  Why?  Because they can end up confusing you.  Since these are separate programs, they like come with different lesson structures and learning plans, so it’s possible that one will just end up messing with what you’re learning from the other.

Additionally, most language learning software tend to progress by what it assumes is your advancement using their learning program.  If, since you’re using three or four materials, you’re actually learning differently, you might up either getting bored or confused the next time you jump from one to another.

If you go this route, you’ll likely end up getting overloaded by vocabulary, since different programs tend to introduce different things.  While nothing’s wrong with a larger stock of words, it could be the last thing you need, especially since language learning requires more than memorizing vocabulary.

Not all information you will find on the internet is accurate.  Literally anyone can put up a website at minimal cost, not to mention practically anyone can register to post reviews on Amazon.   Chances are, some reviews you find will be honest and real, while others will fall either as marketing fodder, affiliates trying to make a buck, jokers with nothing better than do, or severely misinformed individuals.

If you really want to know if a language software is what you want, your best shot is to field test it.  That’s why we appreciate language programs that offer trial and “freemium” versions — being able to work with the software will give you a better idea than any amount of reviews would.

To save you time when choosing which software to field-test, you can use the reviews as guide by filtering them with these three questions:

1. Is the website trustworthy? If it isn’t (or it’s unclear), you might want to look for reviews somewhere else.
2. Does the review sound fair?  We all have a good sense of when a review is legit — it sounds objective, professional and fair.   Fake ones tend to show their true colors by being too focused on one side of the scale or being so poorly written  you’re wondering whether some dude put it together while in a drunken stupor.
3. Can you find information that backs it up?  Look at multiple reviews and see whether they say the same thing.  If they line up, there’s a good chance the reviews are legit.  If they don’t, then something shady is likely going on.

For rote memorization, there are few tools that offer better convenience/effectiveness ratio than a simple flashcard.  Whether in physical or software forms, you can rely on it to commit many elements of language to memory.

The basic modus operandi for using flashcards to learn a language is:

1. One side of the flash card has a question (e.g. an English phrase), the other side has the answer (e.g. the French equivalent).
2. You read the question side.
3. You recall the answer from memory.
4. You check the answer side to verify if your recollection is correct.

If you can manage it, we highly recommend going with software-based flashcards for a variety of reasons:

1. They’re more convenient.  Unlike physical cards, you can’t lose question and answer pairs you’ve made once.  Unless you wipe them off the database, they’ll simply sit there for future use.
2. They offer a better scoring system.  Some flashcard software I’ve seen can rate your guesses from a range of 1 to 5, with “1″ being totally off-mark and “5″ being perfectly on-point.  Your recollection can be almost perfect (“4″) or barely missed (“2″), after all.
3. They can track your progress.  A software program can easily monitor how well you’re memorizing specific flash cards.  That allows you to invest more time working with the phrases you’re struggling with.

Different software titles have different ways of injecting interactivity into their  process.  That’s why it’s important to survey the field a little before committing to a specific title.   What works for one of your friends may not work the same way for you, after all.  If you want to get an overview of what to expect, here are some ways modern language software are integrating interactive elements:

Interactive practice.  Traditional lessons involve sitting through lectures.  Practice-based software, on the other hand, put practice sessions as the single core priority.  You learn a phrase, then the software drills you on it multiple times; then you move on to a new related one and so on.   This approach actually recreates the feeling of interacting with a speaker, which makes it effective for a lot of people.

Engagement-based.  In this approach, the software engages multiple senses using a variety of media to teach the language, such as live video, animation, sound and more.  I’m, personally, not that big on it (I find the amount of things going on confusing), but a lot of people I know have found it very effective.

Games and modular approaches.  While these types of language software can cause linear thinkers to zone out, non-linear types tend to gravitate to it.  With clever games and unorthodox teaching styles, it can be a fun experience if you’re the type to appreciate those.

1. Expect to work.  You won’t magically learn the language just because you’re using the best learning software money can buy — you’ll have to work to develop your abilities, just like when learning martial arts or calculus or some other new skill.
2. Expect to practice.  Sitting through hours of lessons will help you absorb the knowledge.  Fluency, however, comes with practice, so you’ll have to use the language if you want to really internalize the skill.
3. Expect to reap what you sow.  The more effort you put in, the more skills you’ll acquire.  While the amount of time you devote to learning will matter, so do other things like planning, using tools (e.g. journals and flashcards) and sustained practice.
4. Expect gradual improvement.  No matter what anyone promises, you’re not going to gain fluency in 10 hours of lessons.    Stay realistic — expect gradual improvement and you won’t be disappointed.  As long as you’re better now than you were yesterday, you’re doing fine.

Plenty of interactive instruction.  One of the strengths of many modern language software is their interactive nature — something you just can’t get from books and audio instruction.  Of course, interactive also means you can’t just sleep through a lesson.  But that’s a good thing.

Some lessons just won’t stick.  Even if you paid attention, some of the lessons will probably be difficult for you to understand.   Don’t get frustrated.  The good thing about software-based learning is that you can always re-do lessons until it sticks.

There’ll be plenty of exercises and practice instructions.  Don’t ignore them.  Language mastery, for the most part, requires plenty of practice.  Skipping them to get to the next lesson isn’t going to do you any good.

Always check the extra features.  Many language software title come with value-added features on top of the lessons and exercises.  Make sure you explore them — you might end up finding some of them valuable.   Some useful extras I’ve seen include memberships to exclusive online language communities, journaling tools and flashcard creators.

1. Find out how it approaches the learning process.  Hit the publisher’s website for information or look over the help feature to find out what kind of strategy the software employs in teaching the target language.  Read up a little on that type of approach and how it contrasts with other strategies.  That way, you can form a good idea of how your sessions will go.
2. Learn what kinds of materials are involved.  Will you be working primarily with text?  Or will there be pictures, audio, video or even interactive games?
3. Learn what kinds of exercises are involved.  With some software, all the exercises you need to perform will be right on the computer.  Others, however, will leave you with homework you can do on your own.  It’s an important distinction that can make a difference when preparing your schedule.
4. Added features.  Aside from lectures, find out all the other extras that the language learning software comes with.  For many titles, you will get a note-taking function, a flash card maker and other features that you can find useful to your language efforts.

Language Software

We’ve made huge strides in learning software.  So much so, in fact, that you can dependably rely on it as your primary instruction source for language learning.  While software-based language programs admittedly weren’t up to par 15 years ago, the strides in the space make a whole lot of difference now.

Many old language software relied on ineffective teaching styles, like rote memorization (repeating new phrases randomly) and strict grammar study.   In contrast, most new software take a more strategic route, integrating both vocabulary memorizing and grammar into a far more natural approach that involves learning the language the way it is used.  As a result, it feels more like an active speaking practice than a tired lesson.

Mobile Technology

With mobile technology now a ubiquitous part of everyday life, it’s a good idea to utilize them in your language studies, too.    Use your iPod to listen to songs and monologues in the target language.  Download electronic flashcards, dictionaries and other educational apps into your smartphone, so you can use them during downtime on the road.  Keep your lesson notes on a computer, instead of an old-school ledger — that way, you can access the files from your phone, laptop and other electronic gadgets.

For many learners, the bulk of the time they devote to learning a language is spent working with their materials.   Staring at a screen and interacting with software may not be the worst thing in the world, but it is a pretty isolating activity.   The further you go into your lessons, the more you are likely to feel this.

That’s one of the distinct advantages of learning in a classroom setting.  You get people to socialize with on a regular basis, even while getting your language training.  Of course, the same medium does have its own limitations, but we’ll get to that another time.

Suffice to say, keeping yourself from burning out as a result of all the “alone time” you spend is part of the balancing act for students who use a language teaching software.  The pressure to keep that from happening is on you, so you have to find ways to reach out beyond the confines of your computer — seek out practice opportunities, find learning buddies and do things that add an element of socializing to your language learning efforts.

Vocabulary trainers use a variety of methods to teach words.  Finding out which ones your specific software uses will go a long way towards ensuring it fully meets your learning requirements.  Some of these methods include:

1. Self-documentation.  Here, the software makes you actively participate in your learning by having you record words you know, then randomly testing you for them.
2. Flashcards.  I’m a huge fan of flashcards for any type of memorizing, as they’re both simple and effective.  Software-based flashcards add convenience to the mix, so it’s definitely one we recommend.
3. Multiple-choice and fill in the blank tests.  The default resort for a lot of vocabulary software, these straightforward testing techniques are easy to perform, yet manage to effectively gauge a user’s actual vocabulary level.
4. Targeted testing.  Many new vocabulary trainers use targeted testing, based on your level of abilities and current test results.   Provided their targeting algorithm is sound, this type of feature can be very useful for seeing gradual but consistent improvements.