A study examined the learning strategies and attitudes of college language students and their relationship to success in language learning. Three research questions were asked: (1) Which self-reported language study strategies were associated with achievement as measured by classroom or other proficiency tests?; (2) Which attitude and motivational factors predicted success, and what was the relationship between these factors and study strategies?; and (3) What distinguished students who continued throughout one year of second language study from those who dropped out? Two large groups of volunteers, college students of Spanish and Japanese, completed attitude and study strategy questionnaires and took initial language skill tests, and those who persisted for one year were re-administered the proficiency tests. Exam scores and course grades were collected for each quarter. Analysis of the data indicated that certain study strategies were consistently associated with academic success, although some differences were found for Spanish and Japanese. Attitudinal and persistence factors were found to be different for students of the two languages. Implications for classroom teaching are discussed briefly. (MSE)