Why learn Spanish online?

If you are here, you know that learning languages online has many advantages:

• You can learn at your own level instead of in a class where many of the other students are at a higher or lower level than you.
• You can learn at your own speed, repeating lessons or segments of lessons as many times as you like. In fact repetition is recommended so that you can really internalise everything in a lesson.
• You are not bound by a class schedule. You can learn whenever you want: evenings, weekends, early morning— whatever suits you.
• You can learn wherever you want: in your living room or kitchen, in bed, in a park, on the beach, on the bus, or in a café.
• Online Spanish courses are usually much cheaper than classroom courses.

When you first visited Real Spanish it was probably as the result of a search for “online Spanish courses” or “Spanish lessons online”, or something similar, and pages of results popped up. Many online Spanish courses offer free materials in the expectation that many users will then go on to buy a paid subscription. Our approach is similar: we offer free mini-lessons on YouTube as well as complete sample lessons on this website so that people can try before they buy. So what sets us apart among so many options?

• Our online Spanish courses were developed by a team of qualified and highly experienced language teachers. We have taught in many different countries and at various levels. We also write curriculum materials and give workshops and training sessions for teachers. For more information about the Real Spanish team, click here.
• Our online Spanish courses focus on intermediate-advanced levels because many people who have studied Spanish to B1-B2 level, whether online or in face-to-face classes, still have trouble understanding and conversing with native speakers, especially if they don’t normally live in a Spanish-speaking environment. Many other courses don’t go beyond B1-B2 level.
• Our lessons are highly visual, consisting of animated videos and graphics as well as clips from movies and TV. The visual content is engaging and provides maximum support for language learning.
• Our online Spanish courses focus on colloquial language spoken at native-speaker speed, because this is what many intermediate-advanced learners find most difficult. We base our lessons on short clips from TV and movies in which the actors, presenters or interviewees use authentic natural language, including many colloquial expressions that you may not find in conventional language textbooks. We even explain vulgar expressions that are used in the clips. This is why our target audience consists of adults aged 18+.
• Our approach is intensive: that is, we take short clips and analyse them in depth, highlighting the vocabulary, expressions, and grammar points in the dialogue. It’s surprising how many language points come up in a two-minute video clip!
• Language occurs in a cultural and historical context, and we have a strong focus on the history and the cultures of the Spanish-speaking world.
• Our online Spanish courses don’t follow a strict sequence of vocabulary or grammatical structures. We focus on the language points that come up naturally in the lessons. For example, rather than treat the subjunctive as a topic on its own, we explain specific examples of the use of the subjunctive that come up in the lessons. And it comes up a lot!
• We provide word-for-word transcripts of the lessons so you can listen and read at the same time, chiming in with the virtual teacher or the dialogue. This is a great way to improve your pronunciation and fluency.
• We’ve created online learning activities so you can practise using the vocabulary, expressions and grammar points highlighted in the lessons.
• In addition to our lessons based on TV and movie clips, we offer interactive pronunciation lessons, because no matter how well you know grammar, how extensive your vocabulary is, or how many expressions you know, you will find it difficult to participate in conversations with native speakers if you have trouble pronouncing some sounds or can’t recognize some words and phrases when they are joined up in native speech.

Do you have comments or suggestions related to the content of this blog?

Contact us and we’ll upload them to the blog.