Welcome to the Spanish language learning resource! On this page exists links to resources that will aid in your learning of the Spanish language and culture. The purpose of this page is to provide you with enough valuable resources to learn how to speak, read, and/or write Spanish as quickly and efficiently as possible.
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Recommended Resources
After researching resources for learning the Spanish language, these are the best needed tools currently available. However, my research is certainly not extensive — please DO explore the Detailed Resources section for a more complete list of some of the better resources available for learning Spanish.
- The Ultimate Spanish Review and Practice (Basic Textbook)
- Merriam-Webster’s Spanish-English Dictionary (Dictionary)
- The Ultimate Spanish Review and Practice (Phrase Book)
- MIT Libraries: Spanish Language News and Magazines (Newspaper/Magazine)
- Learning Spanish Like Crazy Level 1 (Audio Course)
- iTalki: Spanish (Language Exchange)
Detailed Resources
Basic Textbooks
- The Ultimate Spanish Review and Practice — Comprehensive grammar lessons with explanations and examples of each; also includes exercises for practice in everyday conversation.
- Spanish Grammar for Independent Learners — Complete grammar reference with explanations and examples with accompanying English translations; handy cross-reference for grammatical topics.
- Practice Makes Perfect: Complete Spanish Grammar — Grammar review; exercises, translations; workbook format.
- A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish — Spanish grammar as it is currently spoken/written throughout the world.
- 501 Spanish Verbs: with CD-ROM (Barron’s Foreign Language Guides) — A comprehensive reference to the most commonly used verbs in the Spanish language.
- Madrigal’s Magic Key to Spanish — Unique method for learning the Spanish language in a short period of time.
Dictionaries
- Collins Spanish Concise Dictionary, 4e — After fiddling around in the store for an hour checking out Spanish dictionaries, this is the one I came home with; it has all of the things one could ever want in a Spanish-English bilingual dictionary.
- Merriam-Webster’s Spanish-English Dictionary — Handy format including conjugated verb entries, modern terms, and particularly helpful for learners of Latin Spanish.
- The Collins Gem Spanish Dictionary: Spanish-English/English-Spanish (5th Edition) — A small but content-packed Spanish bilingual dictionary.
- Larousse Unabridged Dictionary: Spanish-English / English-Spanish — Desk reference quality, hardback, more than you will probably need but a great dictionary nonetheless.
- Larousse Concise Dictionary: Spanish-English/English-Spanish — More concise, normally not pocketable though, a handy dictionary and one worth picking up if you don’t already have one.
- Oxford Spanish Desk Dictionary — Pocket-sized with a hardback, plenty of entries for all your look-up needs.
- Concise Oxford Spanish Dictionary — The Oxford version of the concise format, and yet another good Spanish bilingual dictionary.
Phrase Books
- Easy Spanish Phrase Book: Over 770 Basic Phrases for Everyday Use — Probably the cheapest phrase book you can find. Definitely suitable for our purposes, but outdated.
- Spanish: Lonely Planet Phrasebook — The Spanish in this phrase book is more suitable for European Spanish.
- Latin American Spanish: Lonely Planet Phrasebook — Latin American specific phrase book from Lonely Planet.
- Mexican Spanish: Lonely Planet Phrasebook — Mexico specific phrase book from Lonely Planet.
- Berlitz Spanish Phrase Book — Generic Spanish phrase book from Berlitz.
- Berlitz Latin American Spanish Phrase Book — Latin American specific phrase book from Berlitz.
- Rick Steves’ Spanish Phrase Book and Dictionary — Rick Steves’ books are good and suited more for European Spanish.
Newspapers and Magazines
- MIT Libraries: Spanish Language News and Magazines — MIT Libraries page for online Spanish newspapers and magazines; well-maintained with links to publications in a variety of different countries.
- Champs-Elysées Audiomagazines — For intermediate and advanced learners, an audio magazine with Spanish transcriptions. This is an excellent resource, but one that you might not want to start with.
Student Readers
- First Spanish Reader: A Beginner’s Dual-Language Book
- Easy Spanish Reader
- Short Stories in Spanish: New Penguin Parallel Text
- Better Reading Spanish : A Reader and Guide to Improving Your Understanding of Written Spanish
Audio Courses
- Learning Spanish Like Crazy Level 1 and Learning Spanish Like Crazy Level 2
- FSI Spanish
- Rocket Spanish
- Pimsleur Spanish I, Pimsleur Spanish II, and Pimsleur Spanish III
- Rosetta Stone Spanish (Latin America) Level 1 & 2, or Rosetta Stone Spanish (Spain) Level 1 & 2
- Michel Thomas Speak Spanish For Beginners: 10-CD Beginner’s Program and Michel Thomas Speak Spanish Advanced: 5-CD Advanced Program
- Berlitz Rush Hour Spanish
- Behind the Wheel Spanish/Complete Illustrated Text/Answer Keys/8 One Hour
- Learn in Your Car Spanish Complete Language Course
Language Exchanges
Vocabulary
- Instant Spanish: Vocabulary Builder
- Vocabulearn Spanish/Ingles Complete
- 1001 Most Useful Spanish Words
Travel
Culture
General
- Living Language Online Course
- LangMedia: Spanish in Argentina
- LangMedia: Spanish in Ecuador
- LangMedia: Spanish in Mexico
- LangMedia: Spanish in Nicaragua
- LangMedia: Spanish in Spain
- LangMedia: Spanish
- Notes in Spanish
- Notes from Spain
Other
- Spanish for Reading: A Self-Instructional Course
- Streetwise Spanish: Speak and Understand Everyday Spanish
- Breaking Out of Beginner’s Spanish
Audio
- Music coming soon!
Video
- All About My Mother
- Y Tu Mamá También
- More movies / television shows coming soon!
Last updated on Thursday, September 18th, 2008. Suggestions? Do you have other/better recommendations? Please, contact us.
