Best apps and software for self-teaching a new language?

Greetings!

I’ve been chewing on a bit of a dilemma lately—does anyone here have any actual, lived experiences—good or bad—with multimedia "learning kits" for picking up a new language? It seems to me that grabbing a handful of software discs at a 40% discount during those January sales at Best Buy might be a much more budget-friendly move than dropping $333 or more on a formal course...
Has anyone actually found success using standalone language software, and honestly, how much worse is it compared to sitting down in a "real" classroom with actual professionals?

So I took a little detour to see how the Spanish actually teach on this site . You can grab some CDs later if you feel like it, but no pressure!

Honestly, I think you should just go give it a listen. Once you hear it, you'll realize pretty quickly if their method feels like an uphill battle or not. They let you check out the first few lessons for free 🙂

A buddy of mine pulled together a massive list of useful language learning links last summer. He was trying to help me pick up some French 🙂
I accidentally wiped my entire Gmail inbox, so those links are gone. I'll hit him up on Messenger once he's free, but he’s got finals right now and so do I. Should have them by the end of the week if you can hang tight.

I mean, honestly, it all just comes down to how much effort you're actually willing to put in. There's really no point signing up for an online course from $333 if you aren't going to bother with the homework, and it’s the same deal with software—it’s useless unless you’re actually serious about mastering it. If you’ve got the drive to learn, though, my best advice would be to grab a dictionary and just dive into translating random texts. That’s basically how I leveled up my English back in the day; it wasn't because of any fancy lectures, but just because I was forced to plow through massive amounts of reading material. I have this nagging suspicion my teacher was a total sadist, but that’s probably a whole different story 🙂 >>

Hey everyone,

Has anyone here actually used the "Tell me more" program to work on their English? I'm trying to figure out if it's actually worth the hype. Also, does anyone know how to get my hands on it? If you happen to be selling copies, shoot me a DM. 🙂