I thought a title like this would grab your attention. First of all, it depends on the language your child wants to learn. Secondly, it depends on how old your child is - the best curriculum for a 6 year old is not the best for a 16 year old. Thirdly, it depends on what type of learner your child is - visual, auditory, etc.

In general, software is better than any book, audio or video/DVD method. With a book - it is strictly visual, you have to be able to hear the language (from native speakers) to learn a foreign language. With an audio CD, unless you are following along word for word in a book, it is strictly auditory. It will ALWAYS be more effective to be auditory and visual - you will remember it better (of course if you are at an intermediate level and need to work on oral comprehension - that is a whole different matter). However, even with audio and video methods, you are still just a passive listener/watcher. With software - you see it, hear it, and should have a program that asks for your input - whether you are typing it in, clicking on the right answer or giving it verbally (YES, there are great CD-ROMs out there for less than $50.00 that have speech recognition) - you are getting immediate feedback as to whether or not you have learned correctly. The best programs such as "Learn to Speak Spanish" and "Learn to Speak French" (our price - $20.00) even have videos of real people on the CD-ROM so you can see the actual person speaking and with speech recognition "talk back" to them - the next best thing to having a real person with whom you can practice talking.