My Favorite Place to Learn Spanish Online - For Free

If you are familiar with BBC, you may think of them as a news source. That's true, but it's not all. BBC also offers language learning for several languages. One of those languages is Spanish.

They have the best online resource of learning Spanish for free. On many websites you can get a few lessons in Spanish (or other languages), and each of those lessons comes with it's own sales pitch to buy the full product included. Not at BBC. The BBC offers you a complete language learning system with videos, audio, and games to help remember what you learn. Once you've got the basics down, you can switch over to BBC Mundo where you can read and listen to world news in Spanish to improve your skills even more.

For beginners, BBC has some traditional offerings, like common phrases and the alphabet. They have added mp3 tracks so you can hear how the phrases and letters sound as well as learn how to read them.

You can also take the Spanish Steps that will teach you the basics of survival Spanish in about... 12 weeks. There are 24 lessons in the course, so you have plenty of time to learn them. They will even give you a certificate for completing the course.

What I find really exciting about the BBC website though is the video. Mi Vida Loca is an interactive mystery with 22 episodes. Each episode will teach you some Spanish vocabulary and let you practice by interacting with the video. The episodes are about 10 minutes long.

"Talk Spanish" is another set of 10 lessons, also with video...but without the mystery and drama.

With all of these resources at your fingertips, you can get started learning Spanish online at BBC without having to buy or even listen to someone trying to sell you anything. I've noticed a consistent "12 weeks" in all these courses. You could take them one after another, or with only one or two lessons a week, you could try to do all of them at once.

Sueños is another video series. It is aimed at a more advanced student and includes worksheets and transcripts that you can study along with watching the videos.

With Reportajes you can read or listen to intermediate level Spanish broadcasts with transcripts.

You can also improve your skills with Spanish Crosswords.

Finally, on BBC Mundo you can immerse yourself in Spanish with world reports and opinons. With text, audio, and video on most categories of news you can practice your Spanish by exploring your interested in the world: news, technology, society, or celebrities.