Best resources to improve Spanish

We live in a wonderful age when there’s never been easier to learn Spanish.

The variety of sites, podcasts, videos, materials and countless resources give us the opportunity to develop our language skills like never before… I remember back in the 80s sitting by my cassette player listening to English songs rewinding endless times with a pencil trying to catch what they were saying… Only to learn years later that I had it completely wrong! 😂

However, as amazing as it is to so easily find a variety of materials and ways to learn the language, there are that many resources that sometimes it can feel overwhelming to choose which ones can help us more! 

The real challenge these days is to filter and select good quality materials relevant to where you are in your journey and where you are planning to use the language (ie. choosing Spanish from Spain resources rather than Latin American based ones if you are planning to use it in Spain)

Today I am bringing you some of the best resources that in my opinion offer a great variety of topics for all levels and can really help you learn and improve your Spanish in an enjoyable and balanced way.

Notes in Spanish Podcast:

Podcasts are a fantastic way to develop your listening skills and Notes in Spanish is our all time favourite!

It is run by Ben and Marina, an English and Spanish couple and each episode is a natural  and fun conversation between the two. They cover a wide range of topics and since Ben is also a Spanish learner, he offers many useful tips for listeners while Marina often provides corrections and points out common mistakes. It has a beginners, intermediate and advanced section and episodes last around 10-15 minutes.

Practica Español

If you want to improve your reading comprehension and you enjoy reading the news, I highly recommend having a look at this site. It has real world news adapted to learners of Spanish at different levels (for beginners look at A1, A2 news, for intermediate B1, B2 and if you are an advanced learner you can focus on C1,C2) As well as current news, it has different categories like “Travel”, “Culture”, “Science” with a great archived selection of news if you want to read on those topics as well.

Profedeele

Profedeele  is an amazing site where you can find lots of activities and resources to practice and improve your Spanish through high quality interactive exercises in an independent way. It is divided by topics of interest or levels following the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. So, again look at A1/ A2 if you are a beginner, B1/ B2 for intermediate and C1/C2 if your Spanish is at an advanced level.

Spanishdict

Finally, I would like to recommend Spanishdict as a general translator, dictionary and verb conjugator. It provides you with helpful explanations, examples, phrases and you can work on pronunciation choosing to hear Spanish from Spain or Latin American based Spanish.

To keep things interesting, motivating and exciting, make your learning varied and balanced.

Remember to align it with your likes and interests always taking into account whether a topic is relevant for you… You’ll make progress a lot quicker!

Hasta pronto,

Cristina