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Spanish Resources

Incomplete List of Spanish Resources (mostly free - input focused)

Grammar Textbooks:

Gramatica del uso del espanol teoria y práctica (A1 B1)

Gramatica del uso del espanol teoria y práctica (b1 b2)

Dictionaries:

Spanish Dict

WordReference

Language Learning Content (Video):

OpenLearn Spanish

Easy Spanish

Masterspanish Academy

astarspanish

María Español

Teacher Catalina

News and Current Events:

BBC News Mundo

News in Slow Spanish

Los 7 de Hoy por Hoy

Web Comics:

Tapas, Global Comix and Webtoons all have Spanish settings or sections of comics in Spanish.

Personal Interests:

books and reading:

Lira Ecfrastica

Leo Romántica Perú

Románticas Club 2.0

social issues, feminism, race, queerness:

Transformer Club Podcast

Black Rainbow. El Podcast

Accesos Denegados Podcast

Transtitlan

Wibinar Feminista

cooking and baking:

Expedición culinaria

Naturaleza comestible

De mi Rancho a Tu Cocina

zines:

Comics and race in Latin America

Festival Léeme

¡Hey, Hagamos Fanzines!

Queer Zine Archive Project (# solo en español)

fitness and health:

Yoga con Adriene en Español

Anabel Otero

other (social topics, lifestyle vlogs and mental health):

Mya Barberi

Tu Amiga Psicóloga

Jess de Cos

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I recommended Migaku as a language learning platform recently, and while it's my new favourite, it's still rather limited in the languages it offers and some features are developing.

As alternatives, I also recommend languagereactor.com and lingq.com. They both have a much larger range of languages available, and overall work in a similar way of teaching languages through immersive methods, and supporting you as you consume content in your target language.

Languagereactor is especially good for consuming video content.

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I've recently been switching to using Migaku as my main platform for language learning, and I highly recommend it for those who don't mind paying for content/language learning platforms. They only have a handful of the most common to learn Asian and European languages, but I'm lucky they have all languages I'm currently studying. I've never felt myself progressing as fast.

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Basically language learning material needs to be created. Like it's largely an industry working on the general market principles.

Some have to provide it and some have to request it, and if we are being honest, people being willing to pay - LOTS of people being willing to pay, specifically, is what ultimately will drive better and more material.

Japanese, Korean, Chinese all have a ton of learning sources, because people want to study them. Because they have economic, social and media capital, as well as the capacity to create the resources and relevancy for other countries to teach their languages in university etc.

There's many barriers to overcome in that game we can't just solve here on our own, but if you're interested in lesser studied cultures? One way to create interest is to actually stear towards native content in those languages.

Japanese is popular because of anime and manga (it's like 90% of the community) and likewise for Korean with Kpop and Kdrama. People love the cultures so much they want to invest their time and money in understanding them better. Similar with Chinese, but another reason is probably also due to business interest. All the same, the content exists because these languages are being studied for the value they add.

So watch dramas and movies in those languages that deserve more attention! Find music and other things to listen to! Even if you can't consume the content with native comprehension, people taking interest in those cultures is what generates language learning content.

That said for some already existing resources, I recommended a series about Korean mythology for learners recently by Tuttle recently. They also have created content in many of the 'rarer' Asian languages such as Vietnamese, Burmese and others (I think they are still adding more?).

Also people won't like it, but generally language learning becoming more technologized and automated, even relying on AI, might actually be somewhat good news for rarer studied languages...

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learning non-european languages is only difficult cuz there's so little info outside of schools and textbooks. except for Mandarin, Japanese, and Korean. they get special treatment. where are all the Burmese instructors online? or the lengthy explanations of Vietnamese idioms? or the videos explaining Kerala verse and rhyme? we need more sub-saharan african and non-east asian language learning material online damnit.

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For anyone interested in Korean and mythology or folktales, I will recommend these two books:

These books published by Tuttle (that have made similar content for a variety of other Asian languages) are excellent for various comprehension levels, including complete beginners.

These books include over 30 stories each that vary in length from a few sentences to several pages, of either folktales or legends. The pages are doublespread, so on one side you can read the story in Korean and on the other side, you can read the story in English, making it accessible for even completely novice beginners, (I highlighted each corresponding sentence on each page in a specific color so I could easily match the translation while reading, whenever there was a part I didn't understand).

There are also word lists, comprehension questions, cultural notes and translator notes included for each story. The books also include free audio that you can access online for all the stories. The books even have a section teaching Hangul, making them relevant without much prior study of Korean.

The fact that the stories vary in length and are highly culturally relevant makes me highly recommend buying them for almost everyone studying Korean that are interested in Korean traditional culture. These are relevant from complete beginners to more advanced learners.

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I am NOT learning Spanish in order to talk to people. If that happens it’s just a side effect. I’m learning Spanish for two reasons.

1. Eavesdrop on people in the library

2. Learn the things that everyone who speaks Spanish knows that I don’t know so I can walk around like an alien doing the equivalent of “hey have you guys heard of this band called The Beatles?”

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If you don’t wanna study grammar in a language you’re studying, then don’t study grammar. If you listen to and/or read the language a lot then your brain will naturally and gradually do its pattern recognition thing the same way it did when you were a baby.

When I was consciously self studying Spanish with apps and textbooks and stuff the whole verb conjugation thing stressed me out but after I switched to mostly just listening I stopped worrying about that. Even though I only produce short sentences at this point without thinking if I hear a word used in the correct context often enough then my brain just uses the correct form.

In my opinion unless you want or need to brute force speaking in long sentences from literally day one then you can put off studying grammar until you’re advanced enough in the language to study grammar in that language. Or you can just read a general overview before you get started so you know roughly what you’re looking at.

Besides, some of the grammar stuff taught in textbooks isn’t strictly necessary or even correct in everyday speech anyways.

Kids mostly learn grammar in school so they can know more about their language and so they can write formally. They already know how to use grammar. When babies start saying their first two or three word sentences they say things in the correct order already. Even baby mistakes like saying foots instead of feet usually show a very good knowledge of how the grammar usually works.

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More Chinese Podcasts

Beginning of this list is for learners, and roughly gets harder as you go down, the last few podcasts are not made for learners.

Tea Time Chinese (easiest one for me)

Convo Chinese

Talk to Me in Chinese (I am almost able to follow)

One Call Away

Daily Mandarin

Sensing Chinese

Maomi Chinese (english is in this one)

Chill and Learn Chinese (a lot of english in this one)

Nidiamedia 霓达故事 (chinese paranormal stories, I am almost able to follow)

Nidiamedia True Crime

Fu Yi Lou (another true crime podcast)

After Sunset (another true crime podcast)

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learning another language is always beautiful, no matter how long it takes. like, what do you mean you are crying because you had to read a sentence twice to get it, when at the beginning you had to do it five times? kicking yourself because you had to listen to an audio at .75x to understand it fully, when two months ago you could barely understand one or two words, even at your second try? getting mad because you had to research how to spell a word, when a few days back you didn't even know how to pronounce it? hell, that's amazing. keep going. you'll get there.

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It's wrong to say "America" or "American" when you really mean The United States of America or Citizen of The United States of America.

People say America, not because it's the only or even best part of the Americas, but because y'all not worth so much more struggle and breath than other countries, and tbh it's kind of rude to just name your country so it forces people to tongue ache or support the delusion you center on your whole (2!) continent(s).

No one wants to say The USA. Don't make me say two words and painfully spell three (or even 2) whole sperate letters out for you. Most countries have names that cling and flow, that can beautifully be associated with their unique culture and population etc.

"Italian food"... "French food"... "Chinese food"... "United States of American Food"? Wtf it doesn't even work. Fugly

So I suggest we find alternatives, where you don't need to strain with the "the (long name)" format, so what about

McAmerica

USsiA

USsiA is great bc it is so similar to Russia. You know, McAmericas only remaining friend...

"hey, I'm going on a little trip to ussia, I have some friends that are McAmericans. I eat the Ussian fast food, and drive my McAmerican car everywhere" Easy to say.

McAmerica is fun bc it sounds like a little hiccup when your stumbling to say "make America..". It also makes it painful to say "Make McAmerica Great..." And Hilarious.

USsiA is also great because "United States of 2 whole continents" for literally 1 ass country has neocolonialist undertones that the trumpet is using to declare other American countries as this or that new state that must be "united".

Y'all not the American Union. It's one (1) country. Imagine Germany going "We are The United Euroasia"? Yeah they'd be told to fuck off big time.

Find a normal name if you don't wanna be McAmerica.

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Tbh as a European, the truumpy clownery is only motivating me even harder to learn other secondary languages than English

Of course English doesn't only belong to the US, but it makes me want to focus and connect with actual allies, with other cultures around the planet.

I think so many outside of the US (and maybe inside?) feel this way right now

Lbr in the modern day, the US dominance is a huge factor in why English is so dominant to the level it is. I'm happy to receive influence from other countries than McAmerica.

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Something I've been thinking about recently is the benefits/disadvantages of learning multiple languages.

I learn multiple, because I can't concentrate on only for the multiple years it takes to achieve proficiency.

I also think taking breaks (shorter or longer) while focusing on another language has specific benefits for me.

That, and in the early phases, it's hard to spend multiple hours a day because beginner material (although I enjoy it) isn't easy to mass consume the same way you can causally listen to podcasts on substantial topics or the news or audiobooks, watch movies and shows, read books, etc for a higher number of hours per day without it becoming a huge chore.

However, I am also contemplating the need to study one language very intensely for a high number of hours a day. However, it's difficult for me to sustain for long also due to real life obligations being a distraction.

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Today's word of the day is el arancel which is "tariff" in Spanish

There are some other words that get used - some people use la tarifa but that's more often the "utilities" like when you rent an apartment or pay for "utilities", that's la tarifa too

The other word is el impuesto which is just "tax" - this comes from imponer which is "to impose", or literally "to put within/upon"

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Coincidentally, today's other word of the day is la payasada which is "clownery" or "buffoonery"

This comes from the word payaso/a meaning "clown"

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That said, I'm also experimenting with "speed-running" languages a bit more than I have in the past (specifically the beginning phases). By that I mean spending less time on beginner material.

I've had a tendency to overthink in the beginning, over-focusing on grammar or repeating beginner material over and over trying to catch every little detail.

New strategy is only repeating material until I have the basic comprehension, then move on to more engaging or natural material. However, I still think beginner material is initially very helpful to get a basic grasp on structures and key vocabulary.

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I completely agree with the statement of this video. Language learning just takes a long time to learn (properly). When in doubt, the answer is always more input. Find things to do you enjoy in the language, and then put in the hours.

My strategy is to always have a line of material ready for whatever language I'm interested in. Then I just need to find the hours and attention to get through it. Collecting that kind of material is the point of this blog.