7 Amazing Apps To Learn Spanish Online
The Spanish Constitution of 1978 uses the term Castellano to define the official language of the whole Spanish State in contrast to las demás lenguas españolas (lit. “the other Spanish languages”). 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. 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. 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. Spanish is one of the six official languages of the United Nations, and it is also used as an official language by the European Union, the Organization of American States, the Union of South American Nations, the Community of Latin American and the Caribbean States, the African Union and many other international organizations.
Let's now get to know of a few apps that are a blessing or learning Spanish
1. FluentU
Website | iOS | Android
This app is for serious language learners looking to take their Spanish to the next level. After months of book learning, the FluentU app was like a breath of fresh air to my study routine. Many of the components I had struggled with such as communicating with native speakers and listening finally improved thanks to the native input from the app.
2. Duolingo
Website | iOS | Android
Among all the apps here, Duolingo probably has the highest ratings of all—it won the Best App Award in 2013 in both the AppStore and the Google Play Store. It’s very unique in the fact that it’s not grammar intensive—as a matter of fact, apart from about 10 of the most commonly used tenses, you won’t see any grammar lessons throughout the app.
3. Rosetta Stone
Website | iOS | Android
Among the 15 apps here, Rosetta Stone is undoubtedly the most famous learning methodology and sits as the oldest language learning app. Rosetta Stone is designed very differently than most language apps that are on the marketplace today. Instead of learning Spanish through English, it is designed for us to learn Spanish through Spanish. Overall, I have to say that this is a pretty intensive method.
4. MindSnacksMindSnacks-Spanish
iOS
Among these apps, MindSnacks is probably an app that’s most suitable for Spanish learners studying Spanish in school. MindSnacks is often a widely praised iOS Spanish app that treats learning Spanish as a game rather than being taught entire phrases and grammar points. One thing I’ll comment about MindSnacks is that the graphics are tailored for young children. If you don’t mind this, then it can still be a fun way to learn Spanish, and an effective one too.
5. Memrise
iOS | Android
Memrise is a very unique language learning app. Unlike other apps, its sole purpose is to help you memorize Spanish words, hence the name “Memrise”. And in my opinion, it’s also one of the most creative iOS Spanish apps for learning Spanish words around. It’s the methodology that really got me interested. Instead of just rote repetition, it helps you learn through funny ways of thinking about a word.
In similar examples, you get ridiculously funny sentences that contain both the Spanish word and its meaning. And because it’s usually hilarious (sometimes it comes with a picture too), it’s that much more memorable than, if you had stared at the word on a piece of paper.
6. Fluencia
No app, but the site is mobile-friendly
Fluencia is an online-based platform that teaches Spanish through a highly visual method. So instead of a lot of text, there are a lot of visual aids to guide the learning process. It’s really a mix of how the lessons are presented. At times, there are conversations you can hear and follow along, there are also places where you have to type the translation of an English phrase, and there are places where you match the picture with the correct Spanish phrase.
7. MosaLingua
iOS | Android
MosaLingua is a platform that is designed to teach Spanish using several efficient methodologies, such as SRS (which helps calculate review dates based on how difficult you find words as you learn them), focusing on 20% of the most important vocabulary, as well as ingraining words into long term memory.
As with most language learning apps, there are distinct sub-categories of words and phrases, so it’s very well organized. Also, you’ll find that for all Spanish words and phrases, there are native speaker recordings, so you won’t go astray in pronunciation.
Bonus App:
Multibhashi
Android
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,
There are many great language learning platforms online. But, in my opinion, the above-mentioned seven are undoubtedly the best and most reasonable in the market. They provide quality content at reasonable and affordable prices and through the guidance of these apps, you can definitely achieve your fluency goals.
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