You may be tempted to invest in some language-learning software that you have seen advertised. Dont be fooled by the advertisers claims. All that glitters is not gold so it may have lots of fancy colours and use all the latest technology, but is it actually more effective than other, more simple methods? In my opinion, no. Heres why the humble flash card out-performs software every time:

1. Theyre cheap
Go to any stationers and buy some blank cards, the size of a business card. They cost next to nothing. A language learning CD-ROM will cost you at least 20 dollars, perhaps as much as two hundred!

2. You can use them anywhere
I started learning French when I was living in London and travelling to work by bus. Even if you do have a laptop computer, try getting it out when youre the last one the bus or train and theres only standing room left! With a small pile of flash cards in my pocket, I could be learning French anywhere, anytime even while walking down the street.

3. You wont get eyestrain
Even while writing this article, my eyes are starting to hurt. I dont know many people who can honestly say they like reading off a computer screen. With your flash cards you can create the right learning environment for you, whether its at your desk, on the sofa, or out in the garden.

4. They dont break down, and they never go out of date.
I still use mine to remind me of things that Ive forgotten, even after several years. They have an unconditional lifetime guarantee just dont lose them! And youll never have any down time because your computers being repaired.

5. They work!
The first set of flash cards you make should be single words. So you write the word on one side and the translation on the other. Test yourself until you have a good vocabulary of about a hundred words. Then you are ready to use your flash cards to learn complete sentences. Use the words that you have already learned to make sentences to remember. Be sure to ask someone who speaks the language you want to learn to check your flash cards for errors you dont want to practise mistakes!

Start learning those words with flash cards and youll soon be ready to join a real language class. Once youve got a few words and sentences, youll really benefit from making conversation with native speakers its up to you to start speaking!

Jonathan Lewis has lived and worked in the south of France for four years. As a language teacher, he offers invaluable advice to anyone wishing to learn a new language. Visit his site on learning languages and on his blog, learning English