Over the past three years I’ve made a concerted effort to improve my Spanish and last November this culminated in me moving to Panama for five months, then travelling in Colombia and Ecuador, before finally cycling along the south eastern coast of Spain until the end of June.
To improve my Spanish along the way, I used numerous podcasts, apps and websites to help me on the path to fluency. In the hope that my research benefits others, here’s a list of some of my favourites:
Podcasts:
Notes in Spanish. For inspiration, I’d also recommend reading the accompanying advice how to become fluent within nine months.
Coffee Break Spanish
Apps:
Websites:
Kiosko. A list of the front pages of Spanish newspapers. This link will take you to the sports pages.
Newsela. A website specifically designed to help improve your reading skills.
Study Spanish. Explains grammar rules in simple, succinct English.
Verb Conjugation. The place to find out how well you really do know your conjugations.
Italki. Get chatting online for free and make some new friends from around the world. I’d recommend combining this with weekly lessons with a good teacher, such as Susana. Also, sign up to their email list to receive regular emails about how to avoid making common grammatical errors.
DELE exam papers. Test out your progress!
Look for content that interests you and watch programmes on YouTube about it in Spanish. You can tell from this website I’m a big sports fan, so for me Informe Robinson was a treasure trove of material to learn about the lives of my heroes and practise Spanish at the same time. Alternatively, short films, such as the award-winning Hola Mamá, are fun to watch.
Lyrics Training. Practise your listening skills here to hundreds of songs.
There are countless sites I could have included here, but these are the ones I turned to most frequently. Which is your favourite? And which ones did I miss? Let met know in the comment section below!
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