NEW YORK -- You've probably seen endless ads for instructional videos promising to teach you everything from playing a musical instrument to learning another language. But how well do they work?

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Get Fluent In Spanish For $30?

Many of these videos promise a quick fix to the language barrier problem. But NewsChannel 4 wanted to find out how well they deliver

Lisa Orlando is in the wholesale travel business, and she says she frequently faces language challenges. She doesn't know Spanish, but want to learn in time for her next trip later this month.

NewsChannel 4 gave her a language CD from Unforgettablelanguages.com to try. The CD was priced at $29.95.

The course promises to teach participants to remember what you learn by making an association with a visual image.

"The Spanish word for cow is baca, and they ask you to remember a cow with a vacuum cleaner in a field and that will help you remember cow," Orlando said.

Unforgettable languages claims you can learn up to 100 words per hour using its association method. Orlando said she practiced with the CD three hours a night for two nights.

But did she learn 600 Spanish words? Orlando said she did learn quite a bit, but she would be reluctant to try to carry on a conversation with the Spanish words she learned. However, she did think the instruction was useful.

"If you learn five words and take that away with you it's something to gain," she said. "I don't think you will be fluent you would need a week or two -- at least a week or two."

Unforgetablelanguages.com tells NewsChannel 4 that they don't claim to teach to a level of true fluency. Rather, their goal is to equip their customers to communicate in foreign languages in a rapid and almost effortless way.