Best free app to learn Spanish

[Greenfrog78]

I've just come back from my holiday in spain and would love to learn the language. I've downloaded duolingo but it hasnt the best reviews. Is there anymore free apps out there anyone would recommend?? Or any other tips to learn a language free?

I absolutely love Duolingo. I've been learning Spanish for 88 days and have learned such a lot

Duolingo is great! Honestly, stick with it!

I've done first hour and really enjoyed it then read a couple of reviews saying you cant become fluent so feel abit disheartened. Thanks for advice I'll keep going.obviously I know itll take at least year but didnt know how it progressed alot further down the line.

i THOUGHt DUOlingo was just ok. I had a different perspective. I used it to refresh and got to level 25 fairly quickly but didn't really feel that i'D improved that much.

I don't mean the little things like using ustedes son instead of vosotros sois (as if you're studying and needing marks in an exam, I think that's ok, but I saw a couple of things on duolingo that sounded wrong to me, like vos queres for Tu quieres.

Are there any apps for learning castellano/ ?
My son needs to brush his spanish up. For school, for exams.

The content of duolingo seems so boring! nonsense sentences that'd drive you crazy.

I'm a language teacher and am also learning a new language (Ukrainian) on Duolingo. Duolingo is great when you're starting out as a beginner. No it won't make you fluent, but neither will any app really! To become fluent will take a long time and will require you to actually speak to people in the language really.

Duolingo is great for building vocabulary and giving you a feel for the pronunciation and an ear for beginning to understand the spoken language. It doesn't overtly explain or teach any grammar though, so that limits how far you can get. After Duolingo you could look for Spanish podcasts or YouTube videos (there are loads!) suitable for your level. You could also get a Spanish grammar book.

Vos queres isn't wrong. It's what they say in Argentina (and other nearby countries).

@Fairislefandango is right- any app will only get you so far. To be fair the same is true of evening classes. For anything like fluency you need immersion. But apps and classes are a good way to get started.

Vos querés is what they say in Argentina, but you'd think Duolingo would stick to one version of Spanish instead of doing a mishmash of different regional variations!

Yes, true! Would be interesting to know what the English for learners is like. US, I'm guessing, but maybe they throw in an awright luv every now and then for good measure.

Anyway, OP it's definitely a good place to start 👍

Spanish is very easy in as much as there are no silent letters like we have in English. I found it much easier to learn than French - both of which I studied to A level many moons ago.

Babbel app is very good. I was learning back in lockdown. I think you get a free trial for a month with it too
You could also download El pais which is a news app. Reading Spanish helped me loads too

Dreaming Spanish on YouTube is great. The guy Carlos is lovely and we have a family in joke of pointing to floor and saying "Hoy" (he starts all videos this way.

My Spanish husband says the Spanish on duolingo is Latin American therefore some of the pronunciations and words used are not "correct". I'm doing it for basics at the moment. I do think they should distinguish between Latin American Spanish and Spanish Spanish because there a number of differences.

You'll struggle to reach fluency without conversation. There are probably online resources for practicing conversation with randoms on Skype. The speed of real conversation also makes my head explode, so listening to Spanish news or watching some awful telenovelas might be useful. I also listen to Spanish music and read the lyrics.

Lingualia is much more consistently Castilian. Duolingo uses a mishmash of various Latin American dialects and isn't consistent, which can make it tricky. There's variations within Latin America too, like the voseo, and there's even different ways to use it. The problem with picking a dialect and sticking to it is that they all have some regional quirk that no one else uses! You'd think in the USA that Mexican Spanish would be most commonly taught but it isn't; the school Spanish (I have a DC in AP Spanish now) is a mix of mostly Latin American grammar and tilted-towards-Spain vocabulary. You can immediately tell here who has school Spanish.

Will have a look at lingualiq