Is there a specific website or podcast series that you would recommend for beginner Spanish learners seeking to expand their vocabulary and practice grammar?
Generate according to: Using a variety of internet resources, you can learn Spanish online free. This web page will guide you to all the best online resources to learn Spanish for free. They are not all at one site, and they were not all designed to work together, but with some ingenuity and perseverance, you can get started learning Spanish today at no cost to yourself.
Tutorial/Grammar First, you will need a basic grammar or tutorial. This will give you basic pronunciation, an introduction to the grammar, initial vocabulary and some basic phrases to begin working with. Before long you'll be able to read simple passages and stories. Fortunately, there are lots of these sites to learn Spanish online free.
Learn Spanish Online This is an excellent resource for learning Spanish. There is an extensive tutorial with vocabulary, exercises and audio. The best part is that not only is it free, but it is even downloadable.
Spanish at About.com For the beginner there is a short e-mail course and there is also a year-long course coordinated with a text book (purchased separately) that you can follow, or you can just browse the lessons in any order you want. There are lots of other resources, many with audio files to help with pronunciation.
BBC Spanish There is a tutorial here, but it's all the other Spanish learning goodies that they have available to supplement that tutorial that make this site so great. Most definitely worth a look around.
Audio You will also need to hear the language as much as possible. The tutorial you go with may have audio, but then again, you can never have enough audio when learning a language. You also want to hear some complete sentences and phrases as 'model sentences' to help learn vocabulary, grammar and word order in a real context. As you absorb the language, you will begin to notice that some things are phrased a certain way, or in a certain order. Things will just start to 'sound right' when you get them right and 'sound wrong' when you don't. The more you hear, the more it will sink in.
Listen and Learn.org A great site with texts and accompanying audio for beginner, intermediate and advanced.
Here are some excellent free audio and Spanish podcast sites, each with text and explanations to various degrees.
Notes In Spanish I think this is the best podcast for learning Spanish. They have extensive episodes for beginner, intermediate and advanced learners. They also offer worksheets and complete transcriptions of their podcasts which can be very helpful.
BBC Spanish Has lots of audio, interviews, a monthly audio magazine and even video. Even if you don't use their tutorial, use all these other features they offer for free.
I also recommend listening to music in Spanish and watching TV or movies if possible on a regular basis, but don't expect to get a whole lot out of it at first. Just get the rhythm of it and pick out what you can. Use it as background music or ambience, and just let it sink in.
Online Tests/Quizzes You may want to test yourself and see how you are doing. The tutorial you are using may have quizzes or questions, but you can never really have enough of those either.
Spanish Resources at ELEaston This is probably the best collection of links for learning Spanish that you could find online. Click on Tests and Quizzes to see a large collection of links to sites with free tests.
Reading Material It's a good idea to have lots of reading material. Preferably very basic text aimed at the beginner, but also some more realistic everyday stuff.
Spanish Resources at ELEaston Again, here is the best collection. Click on Read to find links to texts in Spanish. While you're there, check out many of the other links. Click on Listen to find lots of links to sites or pages with Spanish audio.
Don't forget to look for websites and online newspapers and magazines in Spanish as well. These are a great source of everyday vocabulary and phrases.
Video Destinos is a 52 episode video course entirely in Spanish but designed for beginners. You need to have some foundation in Spanish to begin, but not that much to get something from it. The best part is that this great program is offered for free in a video-on-demand format if you have a broadband connection. If not, you still can borrow this from your local library, as well as many other courses and programs, for free. Read my more in-depth review of Destinos.
http://langmedia.fivecolleges.edu/lm_collection.html This is a collection of video interviews with text transcripts of some everyday vocabulary and situations.
Use your tutorial. Study a little everyday. Listen to some audio and try to match the pronunciation and accent of the speaker. Read a little everyday. Listen to music and watch some TV or video. Even if you watched one half-hour episode of Destinos every day, it would take you nearly two months to exhaust that resource. You could even go through it a second time. The learning Spanish podcasts are free and updated with new material often. There is a tremendous wealth of resources available for free on the internet and at your local library that could give you an outstanding foundation in Spanish. If you are reading this right now, then you have at your fingertips all the resources you need to begin to learn Spanish online free.
"Learn something new every single day. You will never get old if you do."
This prompt doesn't seem malicious.