5 Best Websites to Learn Spanish Online
Spanish is a Romance language that originated in the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Today, it is a global language with nearly 500 million native speakers, mainly in Spain and the Americas. It is the world’s second-most spoken native language after Mandarin Chinese, and the world’s fourth-most spoken language overall after English, Mandarin Chinese, and Hindi. Spanish is a part of the Ibero-Romance group of languages of the Indo-European language family, which evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin in Iberia after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. The oldest Latin texts with traces of Spanish come from mid-northern Iberia in the 9th century, and the first systematic written use of the language happened in Toledo, a prominent city of the Kingdom of Castile, in the 13th century. Modern Spanish was then taken to the viceroyalties of the Spanish Empire beginning in 1492, most notably to the Americas, as well as territories in Africa and the Philippines. As a Romance language, Spanish is a descendant of Latin and has one of the smaller degrees of difference from it (about 20%) alongside Sardinian and Italian. Around 75% of modern Spanish vocabulary is derived from Latin, including Latin borrowings from Ancient Greek. Its vocabulary has also been influenced by Arabic, having developed during the Al-Andalus era in the Iberian Peninsula, with around 8% of its vocabulary having Arabic lexical roots.] It has also been influenced by Basque, Iberian, Celtiberian, Visigothic, and other neighbouring Ibero-Romance languages. Additionally, it has absorbed vocabulary from other languages, particularly other Romance languages such as French, Italian, Mozarabic, Portuguese, Galician, Catalan, Occitan, and Sardinian, as well as from Quechua, Nahuatl, and other indigenous languages of the Americas.
Let's now get introduced to some great websites to learn Spanish.
Speaking Latino
Speaking Latino is an excellent resource site centred on authentic Spanish learning. Organized by country, this site has a plethora of tools for learning both general vocabulary and slang from a wide variety of regions. It features articles, books, videos, websites, podcasts, and more from 13 countries including Mexico, Spain, Peru, Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Chile, Cuba and Colombia.
University of Texas
This page is full of links to activities organized by task, organized by level. UT’s Spanish Proficiency Exercises include videos, grammar, vocabulary, phrases and a podcast for each activity. The tasks are either descriptive or grammar-based. There are also functional language tasks, such as how to book a reservation or file a complaint. Although the website layout is plain and text-only, the material is high-quality and well structured.
Duolingo
Duolingo is a popular language-learning website that offers engaging reading, writing, and speaking lessons for all types of learners. The lessons are brief and simple, and you advance to the next level once you are done, like in a game. On Duolingo, you have to set goals and commit to a certain amount of time per day to practice (between 5 and 20 minutes). If you don’t meet your daily goal, your tally resets to zero.
Forvo
Forvo offers users the ability to listen to words pronounced by native speakers. Search for any word in Spanish by typing it into the search bar. You can then choose what type of native speaker you would like to hear pronounce the word based on their name, gender, and country of origin. If you are learning Spanish on your own and don’t hear a lot of Spanish spoken around you, this is an ideal resource for you. Forvo allows you to hear how words are pronounced in the dialect that suits your needs. You can tailor your learning to where you are traveling to or the Spanish dialect you want to learn. You can also download the speakers’ voices as audio files and practice your pronunciation repeatedly at your own pace.
Memrise
This is a marvellous website for those starting out learning Spanish. It provides a base of vocabulary words to use as you move on to grammar concepts. Repeatedly hearing, seeing, and writing the vocabulary words makes them become solid concepts in your mind that can later be applied to forming sentences and holding your own in conversations. Memrise encourages you to connect your memories and life experiences to learning Spanish. Using various tests, the site creates a tailored “workout” for your brain. According to Memrise’s research-based theory, the more your brain works to recall a memory, the more likely you will remember it long term. Memrise uses memory cards called “mems” created by site users to associate with the new vocabulary you are learning. If none of the mems available for your vocabulary suit your fancy, you can always create your own. The audio files feature native speakers with different dialects. All the courses integrate both old and new vocabulary so that you can commit them to long-term memory.
Here’s also a bonus website pocket friendly with credibility that aims to provide you customised lessons.
Multibhashi is a Technology platform that imparts impactful content designed by its empanelled Linguist experts across major Indian languages imparted via Cloud LMS, Cloud telephony, Streaming Video, Realtime Chat, Experiential Learning, Gamification & Interactive evaluation leading to Adaptive Learning by the user. In November 2020, HolonIQ – an authority when it comes to performing and buddying EdTechs, announced its first annual India and South Asia EdTech 100 — a list of the 100 most promising education technology startups across the region from approximately 3000 EdTech teams based in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. And Multibhashi bagged a position in the top 100 Edtech companies in Asia and ONLY ONE FROM INDIA in the Language learning category to be part of HOLONIQ. Multibhashi offers pocket-friendly courses via customized online learning, that’s flexible and allows you to take classes at the convenience of your home, with qualified trainers that are certified Level B2 and above, with diverse experience, having helped thousands of learners who help you improve in the subject by consistently monitoring your progress through pre-assessment, mid-assessment and post-assessment.
Finally,
Spanish is an extremely beneficial language. It is one of the most spoken languages around the world. According to FSI [Foreign Service Institute], Spanish is also one of the easiest languages to master for a native English speaker. Therefore, learning Spanish can be pretty attractive, but finding the right online class can be tough. In my opinion, the above mentioned five are currently, some of the best in the market.
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