What is the best way to learn spanish? immersion program where i go live in a spanish speaking country? books?

If you can afford it, by all means, do an immersion program in a Spanish speaking country. You can study Spanish in a small group, have one-to-one tutoring, and practice in a home environment. There are many programs available. (CEPE, University of Guadalajara is one of them.) If you want college credit go to one that is sponsored by a university, like the one I mentioned, rather than a for-profilt language institute (which also might be more expensive). But as others said, and if you can't afford foreign travel, you have a great opportunity to practice Spanish in Miami. Where I live, I can speak a lot of Spanish on a daily basis, in banks, supermarkets, etc. When you have a choice, like in a grocery store (the self-checkout), customer service phone line, etc., you can always choose the Spanish language option. You can also volunteer somewhere where you have the chance to practice Spanish.

I haven't tried this program, but it's one I've been looking into for a while, and seems both legit and good: http://www.donquijote.org . Probably not as cost effective as you'd like, but you get to live in the Spanish speaking country of your choice, and they offer different programs for different interests/professions. Check with the universities in your area, a lot of them have summer study abroad programs with which you can go to Mexico or various other countries. You can sometimes find programs online that send you abroad to learn the language, but be careful, because many of them cost a lot of money and just send you to tourist-y locations as an excuse for college kids to drink in a different location...

Holy moly, you live in an area with strong Spanish language use. Why don't you try to find a Spanish speaking family nearby who would be willing to have you stay with them for a month? I imagine you could get someone to help you place an ad in a Spanish language newspaper. You should expect to compensate the family and should also expect to participate in family duties and activities. If you are fortunate, you may find someone who is willing to spend a few hours a day teaching you, in which case, you should expect to compensate him for his time and efforts. One strong suggestion is that whatever you do, don't communicate in English (phone, visits, television, etc.) Call your mother because if you don't, she will go gray quickly. There is a very good translator/dictionary by Franklin which is available at Radio Shack - excellent investment. Good luck.

Your proscript probably provided your own "best" answer. The very best answer I can provide is the fact that I know others that claim the very best way to learn Spanish is by the technique of immersion, either within the foreign country or, at least, immersion withing an ethnic group as long as they will tolerate your presence and your questions. Very best of luck to you!

In miami there's a lot of people who speak spanish, perhaps you could find a way to mingle with them because the best way to learn a language is talking it. That's how I learn my english, and watch some spanish tv too.

move to mexico, or better yet move to los angles.

get a friend that speaks spanish and tell him to teach you some spanish.

You don't have to go very far to live in a Spanish speaking environment if you live in Miami. There are ALOT of areas in and around Miami that haven't heard a word of English in decades! Somethings fishy about this question.