Are you wanting to teach yourself Spanish or looking to improve your Spanish skills without the hefty costs? Below is a comprehensive list of websites, apps, podcast, music, book and video suggestions to help improve your Spanish language level for free (or almost!). All tried and tested by a Spanish student… Me! Find your level (beginners, intermediate, advanced) then the skill you would like to improve underneath.
TOP PICKS
BEGINNERS SPEAKING
Website/app: Busuu Spanish – Game layout to learn grammar, vocab, and sentence structure
INTERMEDIATE LISTENING
Podcast: Language Transfer – Incredible free course using ‘the thinking method’
ADVANCED SPEAKING
Language exchange: Language.Exchange – a free language exchange website
BEGINNERS
LISTENING
Podcast: Live Lingua – Complete ‘survival course’ in Spanish
PROS: Entirely free; short episodes; in-depth explanations; lots of ‘tests’ – pauses allowing for you to fill in the gap; available on several platforms
CONS: Quite quick for beginners
READING
Website: Kwiziq Spanish – Short stories for improving reading comprehension
PROS: Audio available for pronunciation; click on the sentence for translation; loads of free content; choose your level
CONS: None!
WRITING
Website: Ella Verbs – Conjugation lists of 762 of the most popular verbs in Spanish
PROS: Full lists of all tenses; especially useful for the indicative tenses; practice conjugating online for free
CONS: website format – see their app for a more interactive experience (subscription required)
SPEAKING
App: DuoLingo – Incentivised game
PROS: Great for learning vocab; fun light-hearted learning
CONS: Limited attempts; annoying reminders; teaches playful but unusable sentences
VOCABULARY
Website: Todo-Clara.com– Entirely free website to expand on vocab, and ensure you have mastered verb tenses
PROS: Entirely free; immediate feedback; easy-to-use; clear structure
CONS: Ads
LISTENING
Podcast: Coffee Break Spanish – Learn Spanish from scratch
PROS: Slow pace; pauses allowing for you to fill in the gap; presenters have a lovely Scottish accent; available on several platforms; great for mastering pronunciation
CONS: Sound quality not always the best
READING
App: Learn Spanish – Read Spanish – Listen and read to improve your reading skills
PROS: Can choose CEFR level; audio with each story; can download for offline use; comprehension questions at the end;
CONS: Only one accent for all stories; ads
WRITING
Website: Spanish Dictionary – Interactive grammar lessons
PROS: In-depth grammar lessons with interactive activities for each lesson; not too many ads; clear structure; great videos
CONS: I can’t find any, it’s a really great free tool!
SPEAKING
Website: iTalki – Paid online 1-to-1 lessons
PROS: Selection of different teachers from different parts of the world; different price ranges; suits your schedule
CONS: Investment required
VOCABULARY
App/website: WordReference – Your go-to dictionary for translations from 16 different languages
PROS: Available in several languages; forums for discussions
CONS: Doesn’t work offline
INTERMEDIATE
LISTENING
Podcast: Language Transfer Spanish – Incredible free course using ‘the thinking method’
PROS: Great technique; especially useful if you have already learnt a latin-based language; great length; probably best for someone who has some basic Spanish
CONS: I honestly can’t find any… perhaps not knowing which episode you’re on?
READING
Website: Storyweaver – A digital library of children’s books in many languages – all free with an account
PROS: Several levels available; various stories; entirely free
CONS: No side-by-side translation HINT! open the story in both Spanish and your native language for any unknown vocabulary
WRITING
App: Conjugato – Practise conjugation for up to 250 verbs for free
PROS: Present and preterite tenses available on free version; Spain and Latin America accents; ability to select whether it is memorised or not
CONS: Not able to type the answer yourself; subscription required for all verb tenses
SPEAKING
App: Tandem – Language exchange
PROS: Free language exchange app; translation capacity; allows voice notes; can find local members for in-person language exchanges
CONS: Be prepared to be hounded! HINT: Toggle off the ‘Show in the community’ button to avoid having too many language partners – this is key to keeping the discussions alive!
VOCABULARY
App: Learn Spanish Vocabulary Words – games to increase vocabulary
PROS: Different games; great layout; vocabulary shown in its context
CONS: Ads as per usual; only works online
LISTENING
Website: Dreaming Spanish – Interesting topics using entirely immersive method
PROS: Immersive method; great speed; interesting topics; different levels; transcript can be activated; no ads;
CONS: None that I can find!
READING
Your local library! –
The cheapest way to improve your reading skills is to read authentic content. There is nothing quite as satisfying as reading a book from start to finish in a foreign language. Your local library will have an array of Spanish books for all levels. HINT: Find a topic you actually enjoy and don’t worry if you don’t know every word – try to grasp the general meaning.
WRITING
Website/App: Busuu – Interactive Spanish lessons with an extra focus on grammar and useful vocabulary
PROS: Each language level covers particular topics; relevant content; interactive style; choose between European or Latin American Spanish; feedback from the community
CONS: Free access requires you to start from scratch however the paid subscription is really reasonable!
SPEAKING
Read out loud!
As awkward as it may feel, a great way to practise your speaking skills and to improve pronunciation is by reading out loud. Find free written Spanish content (under the ‘Reading’ column for example) and practise speaking speaking speaking. HINT: If you’re not sure of the meaning, copy and paste the text into a translator. You can also click on the speaker to hear the correct pronunciation.
VOCABULARY
App: VoCat – My Own Vocabulary – Vocabulary builder app
PROS: Free app for building own vocabulary; compatible with Google sheets for importing long lists of vocabulary; automatic translation; pronunciation provided; can create flashcards;
CONS: Not all languages are available
ADVANCED
LISTENING
Website: Radio Ambulante – tells all types of stories from all over Latin America
PROS: Variety of interesting topics; independent journalism; native Spanish speakers with several accents; available on several platforms
CONS: Transcript only available on apps
READING
Website/app: El País – News articles from around the world
PROS: Improve your Spanish whilst learning about the world; all types of categories
CONS: The world is very depressing at the moment
WRITING
Website: Kwiziq Writing – Test and review your writing skills using the Kwizbot
PROS: Different levels; several topics; instant feedback; audio available
CONS: Limited free use
SPEAKING
Language exchange: Language.Exchange – a free language exchange website
PROS: A free website; language partners from around the world; great for learning the latin American accent
CONS: A few ads on the website
VOCABULARY
Website/App: Netflix – Watching your favourite TV show can also be a great way to improve your vocabulary.
PROS: Lots of native language shows/films; audio available in many languages; can add subtitles
CONS: Subscription required
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