Spanish is usually considered a simple language to learn by people in the US. We think because words and phrases like “Adios, amigo” and “pronto” have entered our consciousness that the rest of the language would be easy to pick up as well. Not necessarily. I think a learn French CD would prove that French perhaps has even more in common with English. While Spanish is a a mix of Latin and Arabic, French, like English is a mix of Latin and German. Only that English is a bit heavier on the German. I think you’ll find French to be far more useful in the long run.