10 Online Spanish Courses You Can Take for Free (2023)

FAQs

Is there a free Spanish learning program? ›

The best app to learn Spanish for free is Duolingo. Other apps offer free content, but Duolingo offers its entire Spanish course for free. You learn all the main communication skills as well as vocabulary and basic grammar. While it's the best free app, Duolingo does have its limitations.

If you start out as a beginner and spend an average of 1 hour per day working on your Spanish, you should able to reach conversational fluency within 8 – 12 months. That translates to roughly 250 – 350 hours of time spent.

It is possible to learn Spanish in 3 months, but it is true that to fully master the language to a native level, you will need more time. An intensive Spanish course covering all levels (from A1 to C2) consists of 62 weeks (about 15 months in total).

Learning a language on Duolingo is completely free, but you can remove ads and support free education with Super.

Registration with Babbel is completely free of charge and the first lesson in every course is free to try. (Depending on the language you choose, that's 30-80 free lessons!)

If you can manage to combine being surrounded by native Spanish speakers and by the Spanish language itself, you will be able to become fluent in 6 months (given that you will put efforts into study).

Well, it does, and the certificate is valid for two years. It takes around 48 hours to generate this certificate, and it contains the student's scores. Last but not least, the Duolingo exam can be attempted as many times as you want.

How many hours of Spanish do you need to become fluent? ›

According to an FSI study, i.e. the Foreign Service Institute, it should take a new learner approximately 600 classroom hours to achieve conversational fluency in Spanish. They also suggest an approximate 1:1 ratio between the time spent independently studying Spanish and the time spent in a classroom.

But research shows that learning a second language offers proven benefits for intelligence, memory, and concentration, plus lowered risks of dementia and Alzheimer's. So what if you are over 40 and want to learn a second language? The good news is, it can be done.

To become completely fluent, however, learning should start before the age of 10. There are three main ideas as to why language-learning ability declines at 18: social changes, interference from one's primary language and continuing brain development.

Across multiple sources, Mandarin Chinese is the number one language listed as the most challenging to learn. The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center puts Mandarin in Category IV, which is the list of the most difficult languages to learn for English speakers.

Are you ever too old to learn a new language? Well, the good news is that experts say you are never too old. Studies show that anyone at any age can learn a new language. In fact, it is even easier to start speaking in a foreign language now with all the advanced technology available on the market.

Listening to some Spanish every morning (or better yet if you're in your car, singing along) will do wonders for your Spanish comprehension. Studies have shown that listening to a language—even if you don't understand every word—can be a huge help in language learning.

Duolingo offers the freemium model to its user base. Initially, the Duolingo plus gives a 14-day free trial, and then the cost is $6.99 per month. The Plus subscription offers some added benefits: First, the plus subscription is totally ad-free.

What is better than Duolingo for free? ›

Is Babbel better than Duolingo? After thoroughly testing out and reviewing each language learning program, we feel that Babbel is better than Duolingo for multiple reasons. Based on the strength of their curriculum, teaching style and delivery, we rate Babbel as the superior app over Duolingo.

Best Overall: Duolingo and Memrise

Two apps took the Editors' Choice in the category of best free language apps: Duolingo and Memrise. Duolingo has been a fan favorite ever since it first debuted. It offers a full program of language learning material in more than 35 languages.

This is also a fundamental difference between Babbel and Duolingo. While Babbel has a simple monthly subscription model, where users pay a flat fee to gain access to its language courses, Duolingo is 100% free.

Learning Spanish by Yourself is Entirely up to You

You need that level of persistence to learn Spanish by yourself. It's not impossible by any means. With the right tools at your disposal and a little extra motivation, you can learn in no time.

Although there is no set order to learning a language, it does make sense to learn verb conjugations as a priority. These help you to communicate quickly, and give you the tools to create phrases of your own. The good news is that if you are learning phrases, you will have already met many of the verb conjugations.

If you think about native-level fluency, you'll need to master between 20,000 and 40,000 words, and as you can see the margin is quite large. If you want to have a basic conversation, experts say that you'll just need around 3,000 words.

The more time you dedicate to studying and practicing Spanish each day, the faster you will get through those learning hours. If you're wondering how much time I think you should spend learning Spanish, I suggest you set aside at least 60-90 minutes each day for dedicated Spanish learning.

So let's say you're spending 2-3 hours per day studying Spanish, that would mean you could reach conversational fluency in about 5-8 months. This definitely sounds like a reasonable expectation based on the amount of time invested.

How many hours of Duolingo is equal to a college course? ›

We have a team of PhDs dedicated to this. According to an independent study conducted by the City University of New York and the University of South Carolina, an average of 34 hours of Duolingo are equivalent to a full university semester of language education. You can see a full report of the study here.

The Duolingo English Test is a convenient, fast, and affordable way to get an accurate, certified English proficiency score that can be easily added to your LinkedIn or CV!

Duolingo score validity will be the same as that for any other exam, 2 years from when you appear for it.

Can Duolingo make me fluent? Research shows that Duolingo is an effective way to learn a language! But the truth is that no single course, app, method, or book can help you reach all your language goals.

But more than 2,000 hours of learning can be necessary before knowing how to speak the most difficult languages. If English is your target language, we usually estimate the number of training hours between 1000 and 1300 to reach a C2 level (perfect or almost perfect bilingualism).

Learn a Language in Your Fifties: It's Never Too Late to Get Started. There's some truth to what the naysayers are telling you. Neuroplasticity does decrease with age, and learning a language in your fifties might prove to be more challenging than learning it in elementary school.

Four months of total immersion and intense study later, I can now speak conversationally fluently! Conversationally means that I can understand 90% of all conversations as long as it's spoken at a normal pace.

This is because neuroplasticity generally decreases as a person gets older, meaning the brain becomes less able to change itself in response to experiences. Some aspects of language learning become progressively more difficult with age, others may get easier.

There isn't one version of Spanish that is easier or harder to learn than another. While the accents and dialects vary from place to place, you can still understand most of what people are saying, regardless of which Spanish you've learnt.

Is 30 too old to learn a language? ›

No matter how old you are, you're never too old to learn a new language. However, because your brain's ability to adapt and change decreases over time, you'll probably have to practice more.

When Is the Best Time to Study a Language? Ideally, you'd want to study when your mind is both fresh and ready to learn. And there are actually periods of time when you're brain is more open to acquiring new knowledge. Between 10 am – 2 pm and between 4 pm and 10 pm, according to studies.

1. Egyptian – 2690 BC (circa. 4700 years old) The first known language ever was a proto-language on the African continent, and the first known proto-writing system was created in Nigeria. So, it is perhaps no surprise that the oldest language on this list is also from and used in Africa – Egyptian.

Learning a language on Duolingo is completely free, but you can remove ads and support free education with Super.

Registration with Babbel is completely free of charge and the first lesson in every course is free to try. (Depending on the language you choose, that's 30-80 free lessons!)

Even with a busy schedule and a tight budget, learning and practicing Spanish on your own is entirely possible. Contrary to popular belief, you don't have to enroll in multiple classes or spend hundreds on software to thoroughly learn a new language.

Speaking regularly is one of the fastest ways to learn Spanish without putting in too much effort. If you're not in Spain or Latin America, it can be difficult to find someone to practice speaking and comprehension with, but it's possible.

What's better Duolingo or Babbel? ›

Is Babbel better than Duolingo? After thoroughly testing out and reviewing each language learning program, we feel that Babbel is better than Duolingo for multiple reasons. Based on the strength of their curriculum, teaching style and delivery, we rate Babbel as the superior app over Duolingo.

If you want to try Babbel before you buy, you can sign up and access the first few lessons of each course for free. The free version of Babbel is very limited though. To access all the features, you need a subscription. If you're not happy, Babbel offers a 20-day money back guarantee.

There isn't one version of Spanish that is easier or harder to learn than another. While the accents and dialects vary from place to place, you can still understand most of what people are saying, regardless of which Spanish you've learnt.

Based on US Foreign Service Institute (FSI) research, if you start out as a beginner and spend an average of one hour per day working actively on Spanish—such as with a teacher or conversation partner, as well as doing homework—then it can take 480 hours to reach conversational fluency.

According to an FSI study, i.e. the Foreign Service Institute, it should take a new learner approximately 600 classroom hours to achieve conversational fluency in Spanish. They also suggest an approximate 1:1 ratio between the time spent independently studying Spanish and the time spent in a classroom.

Read in Spanish (even as a beginner)

One of the first steps you can take to learn Spanish independently is to begin reading. Now, this doesn't mean you need to pick up an untranslated version of Don Quixote and try to make sense of it. Instead, the best thing to do is start with short, simple dialogues and stories.