Learning Spanish Online

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There are many different ways to learn Spanish:

  • Take a short course with a local Spanish school
  • Go to a Spanish speaking country and do an immersion course
  • Learn Spanish online with an online learning course
  • Take skype lessons with a Spanish teacher online

The best way, as with anything, is probably a combination of the above.

Here are a few recommendations of the different options:

1)  Short courses with a local school

Seeing as there are so many schools throughout the world, we don’t really have space to list them here.  Do a search on google.com though for a school in your area.

2) Immersion programs in Spanish speaking countries

This is probably the best way to learn Spanish, but is the most expensive and difficult.  Countries like Guatemala though offer excellent immersion courses at very cheap rates.  You can stay with a local family, take 4-5 hours of classes a day, and practice your Spanish every waking minute!  Again, there are too many to list here, so do a search online if this is what you’re interested in.

3)  Learn online with an audio/online course

There are only a few options in this market, so I’ll go through them here.

Rocket Spanish

Rocket Spanish is probably the cheapest of the online courses (US$99), and is a very good platform from which to start learning Spanish.  It’s not the best option for high level learners, but if your level is high then you probably want to consider some face to face classes or skype classes anyway.  Click here to go to the Rocket Spanish website.  They give you a 7 day free trial, so it’s worth signing up to just for that.

Rosetta Stone

The Rosetta Stone course is quite comprehensive, but it’s one of the most expensive in this market (12 month access costs around US$600).  The course has been developed over many years though and is a good way to learn Spanish online.  Click here to go to the Rosetta Stone website.

Pimsleur Spanish

The Pimsleur approach is a well known learning method, based around listening to native speakers and repeating what they say at various intervals, slowly building on vocabulary and structures learnt in previous lessons.  It is a reasonably effective method although can get a little boring at times.  Like the Rosetta Stone course, it’s not cheap at around US$450 for all levels, but is worth a look.  Click here to visit their website.

4) Learning Spanish via skype

This is actually one of the most effective ways of learning Spanish outside the classroom.  Because learning a language requires not only knowledge but practice, both listening and speaking, learning with a real teacher is far superior to online courses which don’t actually give you the chance to do speaking practice (unfortunately voice recognition software is not that good yet!)

A really great way to learn is to combine an online course like those discussed above with skype classes.  This way, you can learn all the grammar and vocabulary from the online course, and then practice it with a live teacher via skype.

One of the best skype programs on offer is by a company called The Spanish Cat.  They have actual schools in both London and Australia, but their skype classes are all taken by teachers in Latin America.  Their course includes not only classes via skype but a copy of their textbook which in itself is very comprehensive.  Click here to visit their website.

Well, that’s about it for now.  If you’re interested in learning Spanish then hopefully this information will help you!

Hasta luego

 

 

Spanish Vocabulary Practice Tips

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If you want to practice your vocabulary, here’s a really good tip.  Write down all the words you want to learn on small cards.  On the back, write the English translation.  Create about 100 of these cards.  Now, go through the cards one by one.  You can go through them either way – by looking first at the Spanish side or the English side.  Whichever side you look at, try to remember the translation.  If you get it right, turn the card over and put it back in the pack so you go the other way next time.  Once you’ve got both sides of a card right, take it out of the pack!  Eventually, all cards will be out of the pack and you’ll have memorised everything!  Good luck!

New Spanish School in London

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I was excited to see that The Spanish Cat, a Spanish school which started in Australia, now has a school located in London.  I studied at The Spanish Cat a couple of years ago when I was living in Sydney and the classes were really excellent.  The teachers I had were not only knowledgable but a lot of fun, and their curriculum was one of the best I’ve seen.  Many Spanish textbooks seem to be designed for people who want to do a university course in Spanish, rather than those who just want to learn to speak as quickly as possible.  Their textbook was very concise, while at the same time being comprehensive.  The course I did, in just 8 weeks, improved my Spanish more than almost any other course I’ve done before (and I’ve done a few).  Anyway, if you’re interested in Spanish classes London, then I’d highly recommend The Spanish Cat.  They also offer skype classes and have an online course for those who can’t get to their school.

How to find best Spanish lessons online?

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If you are learning Spanish online, you will need to find best Spanish lessons online for effective and correct learning of the language. No doubt, you have do extensive search over the internet to find best Spanish lessons online. There are vast numbers of websites that offer free Spanish lessons online and to select best out of them is an arduous task. Look at the sequence of the lessons given on the website. Spanish lessons should be divided into different parts from the beginners to the high level. In this way, starting from the beginner’s level and slowly moving to advanced course will help you in correct learning of the language.

You may also look in the newspaper and magazines to find a good website that offers best Spanish lessons online. Another way of finding best Spanish lessons online is to ask your friend who may have taken Spanish lesson online recently. If you have any Spanish speaking friend you may take his/her help to find out the best Spanish lesson online.

Best Spanish lessons should be provided in different audio, visual and descriptive format for complete understanding of the language. Some websites provide online instructor to explain different lessons. You may read the testimonials given on different websites by previous visitors to decide which website is best and provides excellent online coaching for learning Spanish. Once you find the right website you may not have any difficulty in learning Spanish and you will soon become proficient in the Spanish.

Pitfalls of learning Spanish online

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When you start learning Spanish online you will find different sources and large number of websites. It is the cheapest and easiest way of learning Spanish online but it has some pitfalls as well. You may not get complete information from online lessons. Information provided in online lessons is short and brief from where you cannot learn the language properly.

In learning Spanish online, you may find many things which are not explained properly and you need a human instructor to explain those things. There is no one to point you when you make mistakes while reading, speaking or writing Spanish. Your mistakes will remain uncorrected and you will keep using wrong words and phrases in the language.

Sometimes, programs and CDs with Spanish learning are not properly formatted and it may harm your computer. Online downloading of Spanish lessons poses your computer to virus threat. You have to depend greatly upon the electricity supply available in your area. If you have regular power supply, there is no problem but if it is bad such as during summers it will be difficult to carry on your regular Spanish learning from the internet. It may take time more time for learning Spanish online as you have to find out everything about the language yourself and practice it on your own. You may not get full exposure to the language as in online learning you may not find many people to interact with in Spanish.

Benefits of learning Spanish online in elementary school

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If one wants to become proficient in a second language, the best age for learning a second language is as early as possible in the childhood.  Starting learning Spanish in elementary school will help you to become master in the language. A child has clear understanding of the language in early years of life. If you start learning Spanish early in life you will easily communicate with native people of all age groups. Children whose parents have learnt Spanish in their childhood also start speaking Spanish at an early age. Even they can easily speak Spanish with Spanish speaking friends. An important benefit of learning Spanish in elementary school is that you can improve your reading and writing skills and you can do much better than your friends who start learning Spanish late in life.

Learning Spanish in elementary school also helps a child to distinguish between his/her native language and Spanish as he/she is at a learning stage of both language skills. He develops clear understanding of both languages. Children learning Spanish in elementary school become more interactive, understand culture and become creative by applying different skills. When a child becomes an adult knowledge of two languages help him/her to become proficient in work and chances of getting a fairer job increase on the basis of language skills. It also gives an opportunity to work in Spanish speaking countries without any difficulty or hesitation.

Learning Spanish in elementary school also help children to become more interactive and their minds develop faster as compare to their friends who can speak only one language. Children studying in elementary school are faster in learning a second language as compare to adults. It is easy to learn Spanish in elementary school as they can retain things due to sharpness of mind and more receptive power.  Children who learn Spanish in elementary school become can achieve laurels in their work when  they grow up and get a job in multinational company. It is because when they learn a new language at an early age they have number of years to practice new language and as time passes by they become proficient in the second language and can easily use it without any hesitation. When they become adult, they can use the language fluently with their colleagues or while travelling to another place where people speak Spanish .

Learning Spanish in elementary school can also help children to get admission in good colleges or universities on the basis of knowing more than one language. Being bilingual is an added feather to the cap of intelligent children as they get good job offers. Knowing more than one language also has a positive effect on their mental growth. Knowing two languages or any other language than their native language help children to know about different cultures and they realize how vast is this world and which other languages are spoken in different parts of the world. Their thinking become flexible and they accept all the difficulties that come in their way easily and fight against them with full strength.