Resources for learning Spanish

[firecat]

I seem to be learning Spanish. I got sucked into it via an iThing app called DuoLingo, which I found pretty addictive.

DuoLingo is also a web site and you can also learn other languages there. They currently only have languages that use the Roman alphabet.

I'm not sure if it is the best way for me to learn a language, because it does not teach about grammar at all; it just tests you on phrases and sentences in various ways. Which does work for me to some extent, but eventually I began to seek out other sources.

Anyway, I went through the whole mini-course on the iThing app and now I want to branch out. Have you learned or practiced or brushed up on Spanish using any particular web sites or apps that you recommend?

I'm willing to spend money. I don't actually want to interact with anybody, though, so I am not up for taking in-person classes or doing chats over the Internet or anything like that.

Comments

[lexicalcrow]

I've never learnt Spanish, so I can't speak to that, but I'm using babbel.com to learn German, and found it really helpful. They offer Spanish, as well as a bunch of other languages. You can try the first lesson in any language they offer for free, just to see if it works for you, and after that, you pay a subscription to get access to the full course. Subscriptions are per language, which, to be honest, I find really handy, because it makes me focus on one language at a time, rather than give me all 13 languages to procrastinate on. Though, ngl, I am tempted to add Italian, just to brush up on that, but we'll see.

The lessons are short, but there are so many of them spread into several sections. For example, there are nine sections of German, each with subsections of courses in them, including grammar, listening, and reading/writing, as well as beginners and intermediate courses. It's incredibly comprehensive. They cover grammar and vocab, and you can do the lessons with voice recognition or without. I find them well-structured, and feel like I'm actually learning things. There's also a section to review words you get wrong, and they keep appearing there until you get them right, which I find helps me learn them better.

There is a forum and a community aspect to it, but it's not essential to the courses themselves. I've never bothered looking into them. I'm sure they're fine, if you're into that sort of thing, but it's not useful to me at the moment. Maybe when I can actually write German and string sentences together.

[meganbmoore]

If you have Hulu, I recommend watching a telenovela. If you have the words and mechanics down, then the relentless stream of soapyness will drill the grammar into you.

[libskrat]

Thumbs up. Also, music! Ruben Blades always went over well with my intro students back in the day; he's fairly easy to understand.

The day you're up for a serious challenge, Ojos de Brujo (because they are my favorite ever).

[snippy]

I downloaded a bunch of Spanish lessons on Audible when they were having a 2-for-1 sale. But I haven't listened to them yet.

[firecat]

Which ones did you download? If you decide to start listening to them, let me know. It might be fun to do them together.

[snippy]

Pimsleur -- all the Phase 1 lessons. That could be fun.

[firecat]

I saved them in my Audible wishlist.

[rhivolution]

I'm using Duolingo to refresh my German--I definitely don't know if I'd use it for a new language though, because as you said, it's mostly vocab.

A friend of mine has a blog about language learning that might provide some interesting info.