Your Learn Spanish Online Questions and Answers
Frequently Asked ‘Learn Spanish’ Questions (and the Answers)
“I want to learn Spanish online” you say – but maybe you’re not quite so sure how to go about it. You’ll be glad to know that this site you’ve just stumbled on – Learn Spanish FAQs – has a ton of information and ideas you can use to help you on your way.
On this site we’ll be taking a look at the many different ways you can go about learning Spanish online. We’ll be answering many of your ‘Learn Spanish Online’ questions and also taking a look at some other important considerations that you may not have thought about yet.
If you have been searching the internet looking for “How to Learn Spanish Online” information you’ve probably found that there’s loads of advice on how and where to learn the Spanish Language. You might not have noticed but most of this advice is driven by commercial intent of one kind or another (ie. somebody trying to sell you a course or something).
It can be quite difficult to know which advice to follow. On this site, although we do recommend some Spanish language education products and services, you will still find lots of advice, tips and ideas you can put to use right away to help you with your Spanish learning – without having to spend a single dime.
Studying Spanish Online? – Frequently Asked Questions
- Is learning Spanish Online much different to learning Spanish at school?
- What’s all this about different types of Spanish Learner?
- What are the different ways to learn Spanish?
- Are there any disadvantages associated with learning Spanish Online?
- What are the costs involved with studying Spanish online?
- Can you learn Spanish online for free?
- What are the best online Spanish courses?
- How long does it take to learn Spanish using the internet?
- Is it easy to learn Spanish online?
- How do I learn Spanish Fast?
- Is Spanish for kids the same as Spanish for adults?
- Is online learning a good way for beginners to learn Spanish?
Learning Spanish Online Is A Little Bit Different!
Most people’s first encounter with learning a foreign language is usually the lessons they receive as a kid in school. Way back in your school days you had no choice but to follow your teachers lesson plans. You had to do your language learning on their terms.
This would have been fine if your teachers methods of teaching were well matched to the way that you liked to learn. For most of us unfortunately, this was rarely the case. This often made learning Spanish (or any other language for that matter) a fairly un-enjoyable experience.
When studying Spanish online however, you can if you wish, become your own Spanish teacher of sorts. You have the total freedom to choose the method of learning (and there’s more than one) that best suits your needs. You can make your own lesson plans and learn entirely at your own pace. Using online methods allows you to do your Spanish learning on your own terms.
It is therefore no surprise that online language learning has become so popular in recent times. The freedom and flexibility offered by some of the modern online methods of learning languages makes learning Spanish an enjoyable experience for many people.
To learn more about the freedom and flexibility you can experience by chosing to Learn the Spanish language by online methods go here => Why Choose an Online Spanish Program.
The Important First Step – Know your Spanish Learner Type
A very important fact that many people fail to consider before they begin to learn Spanish (or any language) is that we don’t all learn in the same way. If we choose a method of learning that is not compatible with our own individual learner type (there are three main types) then we could be fighting an uphill battle with our language learning from the very start!
Investing some time into figuring out which type of learner we are could greatly help us in our efforts to learn Spanish. Once we know our learner type then our Spanish learning will be a whole lot easier since we will be able to choose the best lesson types or courses for us to learn.
To read about the different learner types, find out which type of learner you are and see how important it is to your Spanish learning go and read this article here => Know Your Spanish Learner Type.
The Different Ways To Learn Spanish Online
There are many different ways you can study Spanish using the internet – Spanish learning blogs, online Spanish courses, downloadable language learning pdf.s, Spanish lesson podcasts and Spanish learning youtube videos are just a few of the many different channels through which you can get to grips with some of the Spanish Language online.
Although there are many ways to learn some Spanish online, broadly speaking there are two ways to go about it. You can either try to teach yourself or you can enroll in an online Spanish Course.
Trying to teach yourself Spanish online has two main advantages. One is that it will almost certainly cost you very little money. In fact it can be done entirely for free (more on that later). The second advantage is that you have the total freedom to do your learning on exactly your own terms. Be warned though, you will need to be extremely well organised and very motivated to learn Spanish in this way!
Enrolling into an online Spanish class or course of some kind has been a successful method of learning the Spanish language for many people. An online course will offer the huge advantage of being well structured. This is great for beginners in particular as lessons will usually start off with the very simple basics and gradually progress into more challenging lessons over time.
To find out more about the different ways to learn Spanish (both online and offline) and in particular the pros and cons associated with each method you might like to check out this article – The Different Ways to Learn Spanish.
The Disadvantage of Online Spanish Learning – You Should Consider this First!
How can you be sure that learning Spanish online is right for you? By taking a look at the disadvantages associated with studying Spanish online we can quickly evaluate whether or not using the internet is likely to result in us being successful in our efforts.
So, what are the disadvantages associated with learning Spanish by online methods. In fact there are very few disadvantages at all with online learning. There is one however worth consideration and that is the fact that you don’t have a teacher or classmates to give you instant feedback or support should you need it.
Many online Spanish courses have forums where you can chat to other learners and some even have Spanish tutors that you can gain access to via email or Skype but that’s just not the same thing as a real-world classroom environment.
Another disadvantage with online learning is the fact that you must have a good level of self discipline to succeed. There will be nobody to make sure that you actually do some Spanish learning on a regular basis. If however you pay for and join a Spanish class at your local college you will most likely attend every class since you will probably have paid for it up front! The structure of the course will ensure you are learning some Spanish on a regular basis.
If you are someone who likes being sociable and learns well in a classroom environment be sure to take the time to ‘weigh up’ your Spanish learning options carefully. You might find that a Spanish class or course at your local school or college might better suit your needs.
The ‘pros and cons’ of the different methods of learning Spanish are fully discussed in another article – you can follow this link here to read all about them => The ‘Pros and Cons’ of the Different Methods of Studying Spanish.
How Much Does it Cost to Learn Spanish Online?
I’ll bet many of you skipped quickly ahead to this section to see what the required investment to learn the Spanish language might look like. Of course that is a perfectly normal thing for anyone to do since many of the decisions we make in life are based around our available funds.
As I mentioned earlier there are basically two main ways to go about learning Spanish using online methods – you can pay for a course or lessons of some sort or you can go it alone and try to learn for free. We’ll be talking about the free methods in the next section.
The table below gives you a good idea of how much it costs to buy the first level of each of four of the more popular Online Spanish Courses (most courses have several levels – beginner through to advanced).
For some more detailed information about the popular Spanish courses listed in the chart above you can follow this link – some of the more popular online Spanish courses.
Can You Learn Spanish Online Free?
Is it possible to learn the Spanish language using online methods entirely for free? Well the answer to that question is of course yes! In order to learn Spanish free online you’ll have to do a fair bit of searching around the internet to gather up all the material you’ll need to do your learning. Google and Youtube will be your best friends here!
A good way to start learning Spanish for free would be to first consider how some of the popular online Spanish courses are structured and laid out. Then try to copy their structure as best you can. For example an online Spanish course that you research might have audio lessons, interactive video lessons and some reading material based on different topics.
Let’s say the topic you want to learn about is how to meet and greet someone in Spanish. You would then do a google search for Spanish audio lessons, youtube videos and maybe a downloadable PDF that covers the topic completely. Once you have that topic covered you would move on to the next area or topic you want to learn. By gathering the Spanish learning material based around different topics in this way you will form a good structure to your learning and will find it easier to make progress.
Another good way to begin getting free Spanish lessons is to use some of the free trials that are available. Most of the popular online Spanish courses offer some form of a free trial so you can try out their course before you buy it. Of course you don’t have to buy any of the courses but you can still learn quite a bit of Spanish by simply using the various free trials.
The free trial of the Rocket Spanish Premium course for example is one of the better ones online. They give you six days of free access to their online Spanish learning centre. You can achieve two things by using a free trial like this one. Firstly you’ll get to learn some very useful basic Spanish (for free). Secondly you’ll find out how some online Spanish courses are structured which will give you some good ideas about how to structure your own learning using whatever free online Spanish lessons you can find.
In truth there are many ways to go about learning Spanish online free. There are Spanish Learning Blogs, downloadable e-books and PDFs, Youtube videos and many more resources that can be sought out and used to learn Spanish entirely for free. To succeed in your mission to learn Spanish for free you will need to be well organised and fairly disciplined in your approach to language learning. We’ll be putting together a more detailed article in the near future about exactly how to learn Spanish for free. We’ll be covering where to get the best free Spanish lessons, how to properly structure your learning and some neat ways to get help with learning Spanish for free!
Aside from Spanish language learning websites and blogs another great place to start your search for free Spanish lessons is at Youtube.com. There are many free Spanish lessons from all kinds of youtube users and it should not take too long to find a series of lessons you can put together and make some meaningful progress with. The video posted below is an example of one such youtube video.
A Few Online Spanish Courses Worth Checking Out
In this modern age of technology there are many more online courses available on more subjects than ever before. This is certainly true of online Spanish courses. There are more Spanish courses to choose from now than ever before. With so many courses to choose from it can be hard to know which one will best suit our needs.
So how do we find out what the best Online Spanish course for us might be? One way is to find out what other people think and have to say about the courses they have used. If you go and do a bit of searching around the internet you will find that the Spanish courses Rocket Spanish, Rosetta Stone, Primsleur and Fluenz are quite well known and popular with many people.
I won’t go into too much detail about these individual courses here since I have written about them before. In my review of the Rocket Spanish Premium Course I have covered the features of these popular online Spanish courses and made comparisons between them. You can read all about these courses at this link – Online Spanish Courses Compared.
Learning Spanish Online – How Long Does it Take
How long does it take to learn Spanish? If you have skipped down to this section looking for a definitive answer I’m afraid you won’t get one. The reason for this is that the answer to this question will be different for every person who asks it! Some people can pick up a language in just a few months others may take a few years.
The length of time it takes any individual to learn Spanish (or any language) depends on a huge number of variables. The first question you need to ask yourself is what exactly you mean by having the language learned? Are we talking about complete fluency or simply enough to converse comfortably with native speakers on occasion.
Once your definition of what it is to have the language learned has been established the next thing to consider is the method by which the language is being learned. If you have for example enrolled in a Spanish course or class at your local college or university then the pace at which you learn will be dictated by the content and duration of that course.
As a generalisation a person who already has an aptitude for languages, is highly motivated, and has lots of free time available to put into learning Spanish will learn more quickly than someone who is learning their first foreign language, is not particularly motivated and has limited time to spend on their Spanish lessons.
It is quite understandable that someone would want to know how long it might take them to learn a language before they begin learning that language. Unfortunately the answer to the question “how long does it take to learn Spanish” can really only be answered by any individual after they have actually learned the language.
Is it Easy to Study Spanish Online
Is it easy to learn Spanish online? Like our previous question above regarding the length of time it takes to learn Spanish this question is also a tricky one to answer. Since we are all very different it can often be the case that something one person finds difficult to do will in fact be no problem at all for someone else.
However with regard to learning Spanish online we can draw some comparisons with the other methods of learning Spanish that will help us in some way to answer the question. The pros and cons of studying Spanish online are listed below.
Pros:
Cons:
Although there are some other pros and cons associated with learning Spanish online just the main ones are listed above. You can quickly see that the pros outweigh the cons by quite a bit. Does this mean that learning Spanish using online methods is easy when compared to other methods? Well that’s for you to decide! One thing is certain though, learning Spanish online offers flexibility and convenience that other ways of learning can’t compete with.
Can You Learn Spanish Fast Online
Whether you’d like to hear it or not, the truth is that if you want to learn Spanish quickly you will need to put a fair amount of time and effort into your learning. There are however steps you can take to speed up your language learning. So, to answer the question posed by the title of this section – YES it is possible to learn Spanish fast.
Some of the things you can do to fast track your Spanish Language education include:
- Immersing yourself in Spanish during your daily life as much as possible.
- Focusing on the Spanish you need to know the most, first.
- Taking your Spanish lessons with you everywhere as much as possible.
- Introducing some fun and interest into your lessons.
- Finding a well structured course or program to work with.
Whether you need to learn Spanish quickly for career, family or personal reasons you’ll find information on how to implement the ideas listed above in another article on this site “Tips For Learning Spanish Fast”. Follow the link to check it out and find out which steps you can take to reduce the time it takes you to learn Spanish.
Learning Spanish Online For Kids
If you’re looking for the best way to learn Spanish for your kids there’s a few things you need to think about before you invest in some Spanish lessons. Children generally learn from a different mindset to adults.
Adults will be learning the Spanish language because they want to or need to for some reason. Kids however will very rarely ‘want to’ or ‘need to’ learn Spanish. They will usually be studying the language because their parents think it is a good idea!
This key difference between adults and children with regard to learning Spanish is important. To get your kids learning Spanish successfully you will need to motivate them in some way and make their learning experience as enjoyable as possible.
There are a number of things you can do to motivate your children and help them to enjoy their experience with the Spanish language. We talk in more detail about some of the ways you can motivate your child to learn Spanish and suggest some Spanish learning programs that are particularly good for kids in another article – Spanish For Kids.
Spanish Online for Beginners
With this modern age of the internet we live in it has never been easier for a complete beginner to learn the Spanish language. Spanish lessons for beginners come in all shapes and sizes, so to speak, with many companies in the market all claiming that their course or program is better than the next. With so many online Spanish courses to choose from it can be difficult for the Spanish beginner to choose the right course – one they will learn comfortably and easily with.
The best online programs are feature packed. They contain interactive audio/visual lessons, downloadable pdfs, beginner worksheets, Spanish flashcards and many other features. Most courses follow the structure of having very basic lessons for beginners all the way up to more advanced levels for learners who already have the basics of the language learned.
It would seem that just about every course available claims it will have the Spanish beginner speaking fluent Spanish in no time at all. If only this was the case! There are however a few things a newcomer to Spanish needs to consider and watch out for.
If Spanish is your very first foreign language to take on you will be learning from a different starting point than someone who has already learned another foreign language before – even though you are both complete Spanish novices. Some Spanish programs are better for people who have never learned another language before and for the same reason some courses are to be avoided.
There are also specific types of lessons that new students to the Spanish language will fare better with. Short repetitive lessons, lessons that fully explain/translate everything into English and lessons that get you speaking Spanish as quickly as possible are some of the best kinds of lessons for beginners. Unfortunately not all courses contain all of these kinds of lessons.
We take a more in-depth look at Spanish for beginners in another article where we talk more about the different types of Spanish beginner, the types of lessons newcomers should look for (and ones to avoid) and we look at some of the Spanish courses for beginners worth checking out.
Want to Know More About Learning Spanish Online?
Hopefully the article above and some of the links provided have given you some useful ideas about how you yourself might go about learning Spanish Online. Of course the best way to find out what will best suit your Spanish learning style or needs is to try out a few different lessons or courses. To read a review of one course in particular that we highly recommend click the link below. One of the great things about this program in particular is that there is a decent free trial available – you can learn a lot about the different types of Spanish lessons available to you without having to spend a single dollar!
Award Winning Online Spanish Course – Click Here For Your FREE Trial!