Some Links for Learning Basic Spanish

[Anniesantiago]

There are several FREE places online to learn Spanish.

Two of my favorites are

1) Coffee Break Spanish. This is a podcast that begins from the beginning. It is a nice little 15 minute lesson each morning, and it is free. Download it from the iTunes store.

2) Notes in Spanish. These are also FREE podcasts that you can download at iTunes. If you like them, you can order (and pay for) the set(s) of printed material that go with them.They have beginner, intermediate, and advanced courses. If you are inventive, you can run down a lot of EXTRA videos on their blog link. These can be very helpful, as the lady speaking is from Madrid, and her accent is beautiful! Her husband is British.

If you listen to these podcasts and practice, you will learn more than any paid course you can buy, in my opinion, except maybe for Rosetta Stone, which I also love!

You can also look for Beginner Spanish Lessons online at YouTube. There are a LOT of them!

So go practice!
It will make your Camino much more enjoyable and the locals will be delighted!

 

[anniethenurse]

Hi all!

I´m using The Coffee Break Spanish, too http://radiolingua.com/shows/spanish/co ... k-spanish/ and am satisfied with it. There are also several other ones like Show time Spanish http://radiolingua.com/shows/spanish/show-time-spanish/ and The Cafe Cortado http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the- ... d259687279 . Using ITunes and Ipod.
Plus I am taking evening lessons.

PS: The Radio Lingua Network has Coffee Break French, too http://radiolingua.com/shows/french/cof ... ak-french/
and several other languages.
buen camino

 

[Anniesantiago]

Thanks for the extra links. It's nice to move around so as not to get bored!

I also just ran across this website, which is good for building vocabulary:

http://www.spanishspanish.com/

 

[crackmrmac]

I've just started with this http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/lj/ and this http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/mividaloca/

Hope I persevere, although walking the camino might be easier!

 

[Tia Valeria]

Another help for hearing Spanish is to listen to the weather forecast.
On the news site http://www.rtve.es/noticias/ scroll down to 'El Tiempo', 3/4 of the way down on the right approx. and watch the video. The symbols help and you get used to hearing the words as the locals say them. You need some basic Spanish to use this but we found it helped to 'tune in' our ears.
This is the TV programme that is often on in bars/cafes, and understanding the weather forecast is very useful.

 

[WanderingChristian]

I had forgotten that mainland Spanish has us speaking with a wee lisp.

 

[Kitsambler]

An excellent site for Spanish (and French, and quite a few others ...)

http://www.LiveMocha.com

 

[davidorr]

Another tip for anyone who is starting to get the basics down...

Check the back of the boxes on your DVD collection. Lots of them allow you to change the audio to Spanish. You can then put English subtitles on and boom, learning made fun. I watched Diehard last week with no subtitles (I know all the words) Turns out (Yippee Kay-Yay) Is the same in Spanish.

 

[Stellere]

I'm going to give a plug for Duolingo, if you like gamified learning. It's not going to be as useful as Coffee Break Spanish, but it's still fun! Oh, I LOVE Destinos, which is a cheesy telenovela Spanish course that you watch for free online. You can also find free language exchange partners to practice with over Skype (half in Spanish, half in English or your native language) at sites like italki or Conversation Exchange.

(I write a blog about self-studying Spanish, and I put up reviews of different free online resources every week. If you're interested, click the link in my signature.)

 

[renegadepilgrim]

If anyone is using DuoLingo and wants to be "friends", my username is the same as here. I'm just starting and am on level 2 right now I think. They have an app for the iPhone now and it makes it very easy to study when I have free time at work or when I am off work during the day. I am really enjoying this program and how it uses different aspects of learning the language...converting from Spanish to English and English to Spanish and pronunciation and more. Eventually I want to learn basic Italian and Portuguese too.

 

[Houlet]

l also use "Notes in Spanish" especially their "Inspired Beginners, The BBC's "My Vida Loco" and am currently working through "Destinos" which was recommended on an earlier CdS posting.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/
http://www.notesinspanish.com/2007/06/07/inspired-beginners-podcast-1-¡hola/
http://www.learner.org/series/destinos/

I've got a long way to go but hopefully the month on the Camino will greatly improve my skills.

 

[piogaw]

Google translate, asides from translation, also will helped you pronounce the word or the sentence properly.

 

[renegadepilgrim]

Google translate worked very well when I was a hospitalera...we would type in "No, we are not the tourism office, they are next door" and then the speaker would pronounce it. I also liked using the phrase "We are volunteers. Please don't yell at us for not speaking Spanish." Ah yes, the joys of being in an albergue next to the tourism office that was never open...

Duolingo is amazing if you have the time. My pronunciation and accent is fine according to my Spanish speaking patients at the hospital. I just need to be able to say more than "Tienes allergias?" and "Respiro profundo por favor"....that kind of Spanish is not useful on the Camino!