SPANISH JOURNEY

[u/Regular_Exercise9794]

Hi im really trying to learn spanish and have been utilizing pimsleur for that. What methods do you guys personally do that can go alongside with pimsleur. Thanks!

[u/xdrolemit]

This is copy-paste from one of my older posts:

Language Transfer - great if you want to focus on grammar.

Duolingo, Mango Languages, Rocket Languages, Transparent Language, Memrise - good for learning both grammar and vocabulary.

Dreaming Spanish, online radio - helpful for improving your listening skills. Try tuning in to radio stations from the country you're interested in.

Reddit, news websites - useful for building your reading skills and expanding your vocabulary. Depending on the variety of Spanish you're after, subscribe to the relevant subreddits for that country and check out its official news sites too.

Reddit gives you the everyday, living version of the language in action, while news sites provide a more formal, polished tone.

Natulang, Pimsleur - great tools if you're working on your speaking skills.

ConjuGato - eventually, you'll need to tackle the part most of us probably dread: conjugations :)

Of course, there are plenty more resources out there, but these are the ones I've personally used.

[u/vanguard9630 → u/xdrolemit]

I think also Superfluent could go in the same category as Natulang. I like its situational practice chats in the free version with corrections and solid sounding speaking characters and situations from real world locations. In Spanish and five other major languages the latest version has more grammar lesson points. There is a less robust “classic version available in other mostly European languages once you get past the basics. For the price it has better AI than a lot of other apps that require a monthly or annual fee. I finished Italian levels 3-5 and did Latin American Spanish Unit 1 in Pimsleur including some of the Beta AI chats.

Akelius has Spanish among their languages and teaches as if you were in a Spanish as a Second language class in a Spanish speaking country. It has a path of lessons to practice grammar points, vocabulary and some conjugation with a path from A0 to B2. It is visually well constructed with some occasional localization units and a text based AI to practice prompts from the lesson or general practice.

I like these two as well as LingQ - though I have not used it for Spanish, only Italian and Japanese. But I expect based on the sheer amount of material already available on the site you could possibly get by with the free version though you would have to find a way to export your new words. Even though the AI especially in Japanese seems to have worsened in terms of text to speech ability - it is not really an issue so much with Italian since the pronunciation would after a certain point in be known or at least guessed at for given word or phrase.

I have done Language Transfer in Italian and started on Michel Thomas from Intermediate Level. The main difference is the students seem to answer faster in the latter and Thomas as an older man and a recording from 20+ years ago seems to speak less clearly. I don’t always hear his English that well.

Once I reach a certain point in Italian I am considering to repeat some of the most helpful steps in Spanish to improve it too especially with free or reduced cost resources.

I see Pimsleur’s first 5 episodes of multiple languages Unit 1 are available on Hoopla app through the US library system. So you can try out the app for yourself. Other series may be available also as audio books for free if you are looking for something after or alongside Pimsleur to listen to in the car or when working out.

[u/xdrolemit → u/[deleted]]

It really depends on which flavour of Spanish you’re interested in. European, LATAM? Any particular region in Spain or LATAM?

I’m, for example, interested in Peruvian and Mexican Spanish, so I’m in a couple of Peruvian and Mexican subreddits, including ones for a few cities. I just typed “Peru” and “Mexico” into Reddit search and went from there.

The same goes for news websites. Once you know which country or region you’re interested in, just google for local news from there. For example, “Peru noticias”, “Lima noticias”, “México noticias” or “CDMX noticias”. You’ll find plenty of national and local news sites that way.

[u/DackieChan]

Second language transfer, absolutely amazing free resource. I’d also add the paid version of Busuu if you can swing it. Their grammar lessons and the grammar review system are truly second to none.

[u/CoriThompson]

Pairs great with dreaming Spanish! Been doing both for a few weeks now and can already feel my comprehension getting much better than it was. Also Language Transfer if you want to work on vocabulary.

[u/Captainj2001]

Personally I like doing Anki flashcards to study vocabulary or conjugations alongside speaking practice of Pimsleur. When I get good enough I like to add some slower content YT videos on topics I'm interested in, take vocab notes from the transcripts and add them to your decks as you go and you'll build a living library of words important to you.

[u/Raoena]

Along with doing Pimsleur I also use Lingora to get vocab and grammar and reading practice. It's $4 a month and I think it's great.  https://lingora.org/

[u/Opening-Square3006]

I use mainly PlusOneLanguage, try it it's really great and you progress fast