Learn Spanish Online

If you are a beginner then this is great for you. An audio course is a great way to start learning Spanish as it will give you the foundation on which to build your learning. These courses focus on listening and speaking, making sure that you use the correct correct pronunciation. A lot of traditional language courses don't spend enough time doing what most people set out to learn a language for: listening and speaking to people. Starting your learning with an audio course means that you will learn basic and complex structures in a relaxed way, while at the same time learning lots of key phrases and vocabulary.

Two very popular courses to learn Spanish are: Learning Spanish Like Crazy (LSLC) and Pimsleur Spanish. LPLC offers free lessons to try before you download the course, which is a great way to know if it is the course for you. Both these courses offer more advanced lessons which can be bought separately.

Spanish learning software has become very popular with those who prefer to learn Spanish online. The software, or interactive course, has many different features, including: audio lessons, visual and audio drilling, grammar lessons, exercises, games, voice recording, VIP forums and much more. Each topic or grammar point is repeated through all these different learning methods, making the process effective, rememberable and fun. Most software comes with a free trial.

Another fantastic piece of software is the Verbarrator, which is a Spanish verb conjugator. This conjugator allows you to set your own verb drills so that you can practice conjugating Spanish verbs. It may sound a little boring but I assure you it's not. Not only that but it is probably the best way to improve your ability to conjugating Spanish verbs when speaking! It is highly customizable and comes with audio and a common phrase for each verb. There are so many different options and like most software you can try it for free.

Another way to learn Spanish online, complementing your learning, is to use online resources to learn and practice some more. There are hundreds if not thousands of different websites that offer grammar lessons, exercises, vocabulary lessons, Spanish verb conjugations, Spanish articles and much more. Here is a list of the best sites so that you don't have to spend your time searching and trying these different resources:

Grammar, Exercises and Translation

Bowdoin.edu - All round grammar guide with lots of exercises.
Wordreference.com - Online translation with a great forum.
Colby.edu - A multitude of exercises for all levles.

Audio and Video

SpanishDict on Youtube - Video grammar presentations.
Uiowa.edu - Learn the different Spanish sounds with audio and diagrams.
Listen Live - Listen to radio stations from Spain.

General Learning Sites

BBC Spanish - Lots of things to do at this site.

If you are an intermediate or advanced student then podcasts are a fantastic way to keep improving. Podcasts are quite similar to the audio courses listed above but are more informal in nature and don't usually spend a long time looking at grammar. The best podcasts usually make most of the audio downloads available for free, but then charge a small fee for the added material which is usually very good. The lessons are usually broken up into different Spanish levels so that the audio isn't too easy or too difficult.

Here are a couple of the best Spanish podcasts:

1. SpanishPod101
2. Notes in Spanish

Taking one to one lessons is the most specialized way to learn Spanish, as the tutor is focused specifically on your learning and your needs. Learning with a tutor isn't something that is strictly done face to face anymore. Many students are now taking lessons with their own online Spanish tutor and this number is growing all the time. Faster connections and improved software has made it possible and easy to find a Spanish tutor from anywhere in the world. You could be in the USA, the UK or anywhere and take lessons with native tutors from Spain or South America. Most tutors offer a free lesson, so you can take a lesson and see how you like it.