And here are just links to resources I’ve found recently that I think will help you learn Spanish or even just languages in general. I’ll include a short description with each one. I try to do these every Friday though that doesn’t always happen.
- DeepL Translator. Launched in 2017, claims to be more accurate and nuanced than Google Translate. Got a 2020 Webby award for “best practices” and another for “technical achievement”, generally praised, the French newspaper Le Monde said its French translations, at least, definitely were better than those of Google Translate. Here’s its Wikipedia article. Try it out and tell us what you think in the comments below.
- Fundéu (Fundación del Español Urgente). This is a foundation advised by the RAE (Real Academia Española) and other experts who specialize in answering questions about modern usage of Spanish and recommending better alternatives to certain terms (particularly anglicisms). You can search their site with terms relating to a question you might have to see if they’ve already addressed it (they probably have because if you’ve thought of it odds are extremely good someone else has before you, probably several someones, and Fundéu has consequently addressed it) or you can go to the categories page and start sifting through what’s already there to see if you can find something to interest you. You can even contact them via their site, email, or social networks, and they claim they will get back to you directly (I’ve never tried this out but it’s what they say).
- LangFocus. This is a YouTube channel for serious language nerds (frankly I’m amazed he has as many subscribers as he does, not because he’s not good but because I’m surprised that many people are interested in this stuff). However, if that’s you (it is some of you all) and you don’t know about this channel yet, you really need to check it out. I don’t watch every video he puts out but I do watch a lot of them, especially if I’m considering learning a particular language and want to get an idea of what it will entail and overall how difficult it will be.
- Vanfunfun. Another YouTube channel, this one in Spanish, and I must warn you that it’s not intended for Spanish students, so he speaks at a normal, native level and rate of speed (so if you’re not B2-ish or better, probably don’t bother). He talks a lot about books he’s read that he likes as well as linguistics (lots of videos on the etymology of words). If you’re interested by these things, want to practice Spanish, and you’re at least already at an intermediate level, then give him a shot.
Ok, it’s late, that’s all I’ve got this time. I hope that interests you guys. Please leave comments with any suggestions you might have for sites to include in the future.
Are you learning Spanish?
As you know and I’ve mentioned elsewhere, conversing with native speakers is crucial and has to be done sooner or later. A great way to do this is via online classes where the native speaker is the teacher. I personally can recommend a service called GoSpanish (this is my review of them), having tried it myself. You can get unlimited classes with them (online, via a video call using a Skype-like system) for as little as $39 per month – that’s insane. You could take multiple one-hour long classes every day and just pay $39 a month for it if you wanted. They also guarantee you won’t have more than about five students per class, and in my experience it was less than that (sometimes it was just me and the teacher).
Cheers,
Andrew
