“First of all, I’d like to say that I was extremely skeptical about the benefits of learning a language online. I’ve studied privately to learn Japanese and despite it taking six months, I was pleased with the results and I enjoyed the company of learning with friends.

In May, I met my fiancee Jose. He comes from Barcelona and is working in London on a six month contract. Things progressed quickly in our relationship and it wasn’t long before my mind started to wander to what would happen when his contract finished and he had to go back to Spain.

I’ve been looking for an escape from the London life ever since the crunch kicked in! Jose and I plan to move in together in his Spanish apartment, and I will be moving to Barcelona this November. I can’t wait. But one of the things that had troubled me greatly was the upheaval of moving to a new country. A lot of folks in Spain are capable of talking English but if this is a lifestyle change that I have any hope of making permanent, I need to be able to speak Spanish.

Monday to Friday, 9-5, is not the easiest working pattern to fit a language class around. I learned Japanese when I was just 22, working part-time with plenty of hours to burn! This time, I needed a way of learning Spanish that wasn’t going to disrupt my working arrangements. Because let’s face it, while many of us would love to learn a new language, there are greater priorities out there at the moment. Paying the bills for one!

Jose has taught me some of the Spanish basics, and I decided to go online to look for some good distance Spanish courses. My first choice was Rosetta Stone. I’d heard about it before and the course looked very complete, but the price was an instant turn-off.

A further search revealed a course called Rocket Spanish, promising to teach Spanish in half the time at a fraction of the cost. Well, I’ll be honest. I was still skeptical. The website didn’t look particularly convincing and I’m used to hearing sales talk in my day job! I decided to give Rocket Spanish a go because the price was so cheap. Just £50 or so for a complete Spanish course. It seemed like a worthy investment seeing as I spend about as much on trains in London over the course of a single month!

I downloaded Rocket Spanish and installed it on my laptop, burning a few of the audio tracks to disk and looping them on my car CD player.

I have to say, I was delighted with the quality of the course. Rocket Spanish isn’t what I’d call a mainstream Spanish learning product. The lessons are taught by independent Spanish speakers and the entire course is designed to be easy to digest without needing a lifestyle change to fit it in to your life.

The eBook Spanish lessons were of good quality, but it was the audio training where I really excelled. Progress was quick and Jose and I were actually talking in his native tongue within a few weeks - although I’m glad I had a boyfriend to correct my mistakes rather than a foreign stranger!

Rocket Spanish is brilliant as a do-it-yourself solution to learning Spanish. I was stuck in the routine of studying when my private classes were nigh and relying on a teacher to keep me in line. With Rocket Spanish, I learned how to keep a disciplined approach to learning Spanish and some of the learning techniques that it uses are truly a revelation.

Some people will always prefer to study in classes with other students. Good on them. But as November approaches and my move to Spain gets nearer, I’m thrilled to be able to say that I’m now a functional speaker of Spanish. And all thanks to this budget priced Spanish course that I wouldn’t have given a second thought to had I not felt the urgency to learn in a hurry!”

- Shannon Ferguson, London

Feel free to read our full Rocket Spanish review, or head on over to the Rocket Spanish website for further information. Thank you, Shannon, for taking the time to contact us and good luck with the move to Barcelona!

Whether you see it as such or not, the Internet is a thriving marketplace. It brings together special skills from around the world and thus creates a swirling pool of opportunity for those who have something to sell. Spanish translation is a key niche market which takes a little investigation to uncover, but rewards tremendously when exploited.

Why would I want to become a Spanish translator?

Freedom, flexibility, the ability to be your own boss. These are just three of many reasons why so many millions have flocked to the freelance world. Spanish-English translation has that rare appeal of being a job which pays highly - well above your average English copywriting - and also rewards knowledge. Once you can turn Spanish to English, or English to Spanish, you can fulfill hundreds of potential job postings.

There is no substitute for translation skills. This isn’t a market where money-minded project managers dispense their budgets to the lowest bidder, in the hope of a mediocre piece which they can turn in to something better. As a translator of Spanish, you are a highly skilled professional who can charge substantial sums for as little as an hour’s work. Why? Because quality is harder to find!

Making money with your Spanish skills.

We strongly advise you check out Elance, Guru and Get a Freelancer. These are some of the most popular freelance auction sites on the Internet and they host tens of thousands of projects every single day. You will find whole sections dedicated to Spanish-English translation. And you know what’s best? These projects are LOW on bids and HIGH on budget! What does that say? It says that if you’re not an expert in Spanish already, now’s the time to go that extra mile and make a killing with your new set of skills.

The concept is simple. Project Managers are regularly faced with problems that require a professional solution, yet they don’t have the recurring work to merit an in-house solution. This makes it ideal for them to outsource - and the three sites above are the hot spots for such activity.

When you sign up, you’ll find yourself in a pool of other freelancers with the opportunity to bid on projects. Set your hourly charge and off you go. It really is so simple that within moments, you can be translating a page of text in to Spanish and earning three figured sums for fifteen minute’s work.

THAT is the appeal of being a skilled professional. And THAT is why we preach the incredible value of programs like Rocket Spanish which can change your life for the better.

By starting from the ground up, you can make a second income raking in hundreds of dollars every single month. Yes, you have to work for it. There’s no such thing as a get rich quick scheme on the Internet. It’ll take time and the very best of your Spanish skills, but it’s quite possible - and many people are doing it today - to make a full-time slary with part-time hours as a Spanish translator.

Your next trip abroad need not be a cumbersome journey where you fumble with your pocket phrasebook; instead, you can sample the local flavour much more closely if you were to interact with them in their language. Your linguistic efforts will not be ‘lost in translation’ next time, if you are fluent in Spanish, whether you travel to Spain, Mexico, or anywhere in South America. Whatever the reason for your interest in Spanish, learning Spanish need not be an expensive affair; unfortunately this is exactly what it has become.

The rising cost of learning Spanish.

Language classes often market their services as the best, and include tons of reading material, CDs, and other study modules. The cost of these is certainly not negligible, and added to these are the actual course fees. School or college students who want to supplement their second language course study material at their classes might want to enrol for these language classes; for some of them, these fees might be too high. We’re usually talking hundreds of dollars, if not thousands for a quality tutor.

Cheap Spanish classes on the other hand, might not suffice; sometimes these are too general and border on just a few conversational phrases: ‘how are you’, ‘my name is…’, or ‘what time is it’, ‘nice to meet you’ and the like. These simplistic phrase book iterations need not be taught, you can easily find them in a travellers’ guide book.

In the quest of finding good classes that help you learn Spanish cheaply, do not compromise on the quality of the teaching modules. There are plenty of good options when you want to study Spanish online, which are cost effective and comprehensive. Online language portals are a convenient way to incorporate language lessons within your busy schedule. These online courses are flexible enough to allow you to plan out your day in the most convenient manner.

Great value Spanish courses.

Rocket Languages is one of the most comprehensive online language courses, offering study programs in languages of Spanish, German, French, Chinese, and more. This is one of the most effective language study platforms on the web, with interactive audio material and software learning games that make the process of acquiring new language skills both fun and easy. We can’t recommend it highly enough.

Take a look at our Rocket Spanish page to get yourself started.

So when looking for a Spanish course, look for a quality program that does not charge too much, yet enables for a fast and effective learning process, where you learn not just a few words and phrases, but are able to communicate meaningfully and beautifully. Language is a medium that should ideally bridge cultures, and bring people closer together around the world. When you learn a new language, you take a step forward in that direction.

Learning Spanish on the job.

It is seen that Spanish learnt through a Spanish Immersion Program is one of the most suitable ways of acquiring conversational skills and written skills within a short period. This is because the immersion programs allow the student to be involved at a much more intimate level with the Spanish culture and its language. Such classes are designed to stimulate the learning of a new language in an apt environment, which is most conducive to the study of any particular subject. Studying with a peer group is often stimulating for the student, who is able to learn new concepts through discussion within the fellow student community.

A student group learning the same language encourages the practice of the language through everyday conversations. On the flip side, immersion programs are much to time consuming and might be expensive for most people.

Spanish immersion courses in Spain are effective modes of learning Spanish; they say if you want to learn a language, the best way is to visit the country of its origin. Of course, when you are close to the native speakers, you will not only pick up the correct articulation of syllables and words, which is sometimes not possible to acquire if you learn it at home, but also learn how to use the language as it is done by the natives themselves.

It is often noticed that a foreign language student tends to use the language learnt in the same manner as her or his mother tongue; this tendency is checked if these students study the language as used by the native speakers themselves. But this might not be as easy as it sounds, for it takes lot of practice and understanding of grammatical nuances, which is achieved through proper study of Spanish literature; not just by becoming proficient in conversational Spanish.

Taking part in a Spanish Immersion course will involve communicating extensively with other students, and thus fast-tracking your ability with the Spanish language. Perhaps more importantly, it will build your confidence with practical experience of speaking Spanish.

Studying Spanish abroad isn’t always possible.

For most people, travelling to Spain to learn Spanish abroad is not a feasible option. Immersion programs in the native country might be suitable for people who want to learn the language for business purposes, and their courses being sponsored by their companies, but for the broad spectrum of Spanish learning students immersion programs abroad are much to expensive and time consuming.

Added to this, are the worries about financial costs while staying in Spain. It is fine when you plan a vacation, but planning a study course abroad is a separate issue altogether. Why not opt for a much more convenient way to learn the language, not just at the beginner level, but also intermediate and advanced. Learning Spanish online is a relatively easier and hassle free approach to learning Spanish. Anyone can take advantage of online Spanish courses, and because of the flexible study time they can adjust for themselves, it is a viable options for those who have a busy daily schedule.

When you are a student of the Spanish language, reading Spanish literature, listening to spoken Spanish on TVs, and chatting with a native speaker are good ways of improving your Spanish. As opposed to using a ‘classroom learnt’ or a ‘phrasebook’ Spanish, such interactions will help you hone your Spanish speaking abilities, and have an authentic influence on your language. In short, practice makes perfect!

There are helpful Spanish resources available online, as well as in stores. These complement your current Spanish skills, or if you are a beginner help you get started with the basics. Spanish journals, TV shows, and online community sites help you to see how the language is actually used by native speakers. Try to supplement your Spanish language learning course with these.

The language taught at a class or a online portal might teach you how to speak correct Spanish, but they cannot always tell you what to say in certain situations. Increasing your vocabulary helps, for one, you will have a larger lexical knowledge for you to pick words out from. For language fluency, you need to study the native speakers’ way of speaking; they might not turn you into a Spanish literary master, but you will definitely have more control over vocabulary and grammar nuances.

Keep a record of your improving Spanish.

Among the top tips to help you improve your Spanish, diary writing is one the most effective. This need not be a written diary; you can record your thoughts on a voice recorder or on your cell phone. Try this exercise each day, record your random thoughts and translate them in your head in Spanish, and then either write them or tape them.

You will notice that to express complex ideas and emotions you would automatically look to find the most appropriate words that were not in your vocabulary before. As days pass by, you will notice that you can automatically ‘think’ in Spanish as well, which is key in improving fluency of the language. When you encounter a novel situation, instead of fumbling for words, you will know exactly what to say; because by then you will have thought out the idea you want to communicate in Spanish parallely to your own language.

Spanish is all around you.

The internet is a vast repository of language learning resources, and you are sure to find sites that offer Spanish learning help and guidance. As a student, you should frequent these sites, and study the contemporary language usage pattern. More often than not, the language study material that classes offer often have an academic approach to the language, that is otherwise perfect for studying literature and poetry, but do not help while conversing with other people.

Literary study is one of the best ways to improve vocabulary and perfect your language, but you need to be attuned to the contemporary natives who use the language in a much different manner than their predecessors did. This you can easily pick up from frequenting online Spanish sites, reading Spanish magazines, watching Spanish programs on TV, and interacting with members of the Spanish community.

Learning a foreign language is never easy. It becomes all the more difficult when we grown up and decie to take on a language with which we seldom encounter in our everyday life. In addition, as it comes to learning that very language in a very short space of time, it’s easy to get over-burdened with information that isn’t going to help you speak conversational Spanish or master the basics.

One of the fist paths that most foreign language experts will advise you to follow is to try building some sort of affinity with the language before actually starting the lessons. For instance, you can opt to watch Spanish cartoons or films with English subtitles. The internet these days is a great resource for such programs. This will help you build a little but significant attachment with the language. After that, there is always the Synergy Spanish theory to help you learn Spanish in 138 words in just a few days’ time.

Synergy Spanish is a software program that you can download to your PC and enjoy as a fast-track Spanish course. Before embracing this fast Spanish course, let us make one thing clear to you. Spanish in 138 words will not make you extremely fluent in the Spanish language. Neither will you be able to understand all the literature of one Lorca. Nevertheless, this course will enable you to gather a basic level of understanding of the language so that you can express yourself in that language and converse with the Spanish people.

An extremely quick way of learning Spanish

Consider the basic building blocks of the English language. To master every last corner would take months or even years. But in every day conversation, how much English do we actually use? In reality, we focus on the same basic sentence structuring and much of the language we use is derived from the same “beginners’ English”.

Synergy Spanish focuses on this concept for its 138 word theory, and it works well. You won’t become the Latino Shakespeare, but you’ll be able to engage in basic Spanish conversation.

Once you learn this theory you can handle daily activities such as buying goods at the market, greeting people, asking for directions, ordering meals at the restaurant, and similar tasks.

The Synergy Spanish course comprises of sixty-eight lessons. Do not think that the course is going to be over taxing just because there are 68 lessons in all. Each of the lessons are restricted to only around ten minutes’ duration. That comprises 680 minutes or eleven hours and twenty minutes; not even half a day. This, however, will be spread over a regular interval of time so that you get enough time to understand each part of the entire course. It might not be thorough, but the theory enables you to learn Spanish in 138 words.

In this guide, we will take a look at the growing popularity of the Spanish language, what it can offer you and more prominently - how best to go about learning it.

Why learn Spanish?

Spanish is the fastest growing language in the world. With over 330 million people speaking it, there are more people capable of Spanish than there are of English. To fully understand the business implications of such a statistic is to look beyond the barriers of language and appreciate the advantages of appealing to all audiences. By learning and utilizing Spanish, you could potentially communicate with twice as many customers - or twice as many employers - as you would be with English alone.

For many people, this is irrelevant. Not everybody is out to further a career by learning a second language, or to sell a product using a foreign market. The large majority of us want to learn Spanish as a hobby to fulfil personal goals. Maybe it’s to improve our travelling experiences by speaking the native Spanish tongue, or maybe for the feel-good factor of being able to communicate freely in a whole new language.

Indeed, for many of us, the personal appeal of learning Spanish crosses in to career enhancing prospects too. Extensive research proves that employees with a second language in their pocket typically earn substantially more than those with just English – up to 15% in some careers.

If you’ve ever travelled to Spain, or a Spanish speaking country, you’ll appreciate the freedom that comes with knowing the local lingo and being able to engage others in conversation. It’s a desirable skill - valued highly both in the working and personal landscape.

Spanish also happens to be one of the more graspable languages to learn. While mastering it is a tough feat to manage, the hurdles are much easier to overcome. You’ll be speaking conversational Spanish in quick time with a good learning programme – of which there are several – so it isn’t such a “light at the end of the tunnel” deal. You’ll be able to use your developing Spanish skills long before you’ve finished brushing up on the minor quirks and nuances.

Challenges of learning a second language

Some of us are challenged by English alone, so what obstacles can we expect on our way to becoming a fluent speaker of the Spanish language? No worthwhile skill comes without a challenge, and learning Spanish is no different.

The reality is that most of us could learn Spanish if we were locked in an empty cell with nothing but vocab and grammar books for company. It’s the dedication to the cause – learning with discipline and practicing regularly - that’ll ultimately make the difference between success and failure.

Set your goals and stick to them. Many people give up on Spanish after deciding a few weeks in that it isn’t doing much for them. Maybe through difficulty of learning, or simply for questioning the original desire to learn it.

Either way, be prepared to have your patience tested. Learning Spanish is a time consuming business. You get back what you put in.

Never rely on one avenue of studying. For example, as brilliant as an online course can be for learning Spanish (and we’ll get on to recommending the best ones later), you can massively improve the effectiveness of your studying by branching out and considering other materials.

An online course can only be accessed online. So what about the times that you’re sitting on a train or bus with fifteen minutes to spare? Fifteen minutes a day goes a long way over a month. The key point to remember is simply organizing your time. Work out how much time you can afford to spend learning Spanish without obstructing your other activities, then spend it.

Learning Spanish the old fashioned way

Before the explosion of the Internet, people looking to learn a new language had to use some good old fashioned trial and experimentation to find a method that worked. It’s hard to imagine learning Spanish without the aid of the World Wide Web a mere mouse click away. But that’s the way it used to be, and you’d be surprised just how many people are still studying languages without the Internet.

So what other options are there? If you were to rip out your modem and toddle off to learn Spanish – where would you start?

The first step is probably one of the most overlooked. It’s free (usually!), convenient and ideal for those looking to test the waters of a new language. That’s right, have a dig through your wallet and grab the library card, head on down to your nearest library – and grab some Spanish reference books to help you study.

Books are brilliant for anybody looking to master Spanish. They provide round the clock support and can be easily tucked away for some studying on the aforementioned bus and train commute.

If you’re serious about your pursuit of Spanish, you’ve probably already considered enrolling in a Spanish class. While many companies offer Immersion courses, these are expensive and require a sometimes unrealistic commitment.

An Immersion course is simply an induction in to the everyday usage of another language. In the same way that we’re taught English in our family homes, a Spanish Immersion course encourages absolute commitment to the language. It may involve attending a purely Spanish spoken class, or even living with a Spanish speaking family. But either way, immersion training is not for the casual learner. It’s for those who need to thrive on a real-life environment where success and failure are both immediately acknowledged in what can be slightly unforgiving circumstances!

If you’re ultra determined and passionate about learning Spanish, it might just be the route for you. For others, a standard Spanish class should suffice.

Check out your yellow pages and community boards for information on local Spanish studying sessions. The task of learning can be made a whole lot easier by joining other students who happen to be in the same boat. There will always be a certain following who believe that the number one way to learn is through a teacher-student relationship – and they might just be right.

The advantages of learning Spanish online

The new age of distance learning and instant course initiation has seen a dramatic rise in the popularity of Spanish e-courses. Millions are flocking to the Internet rather than their local schools for a cost-friendly and convenient avenue of learning.

Learning Spanish online ticks all the right boxes for most types of learners. Whether you’re retired, in education, unemployed or looking for an extra online hobby to pass the time, studying over the Net is an attractive possibility and one which many people have excelled in.

Besides the obvious advantage of having course materials a mere click away, learning Spanish online dramatically cuts down on the costs associated with private tutoring.

When you attend a physical Spanish course, the money you pay goes towards a professional Spanish speaker taking the time to train you. As a result, the prices can be high. When you study online, the material is prepared in advance and catered to those who enjoy learning at their own pace. Many courses still offer full support if you have any questions, but it’s the luxury of learning in your own home that can make it such an appealing option. Crucially, the training comes at a fraction of the price that you could expect to pay for a personal tutor.

Books remain a realistic alternative but they can only go as far as words on a page. The great thing about online Spanish courses is that they throw up the opportunities to learn using interactive and increasingly sophisticated software.

We’re already seeing the first signs of voice and word recognition software, plus interactive training suites that take Spanish beyond words on a page in to a completely absorbing learning experience. This is certainly the future of convenient Spanish study.

The pick of the online Spanish courses

Here at Know Your Spanish, we’ve weeded out the good Spanish courses from the bad. Having undergone a thorough review of each course, you’d be amazed how many learning programmes there are out there that slip below the standard of what we’d expect from a good course.

Some Spanish courses have the rather unflattering claim to fame of teaching illegitimate Spanish, or broken vocabulary. Others – thankfully now off the market – have wasted consumers’ money with audio lessons and videos which have quite clearly been slapped together in somebody’s bedroom on a minimal budget.

If you’re buying from the Internet, you must always be cautious of who you’re buying from. Only use trusted vendors that have been recognised and authenticated. It goes without saying that a money back guarantee should be high up the list of things you look for in an online Spanish course.

Take a good look. Are there sample videos available? Do you have a reasonable window of time to return the course for a full refund? Who provides the training material and what have they released in the past?

Check our Spanish learning products section for details on several trusted Spanish courses which we have individually tested and approved.

Rocket Spanish, is a market leading course from the rapidly expanding Rocket Languages company - the same company that provides full language learning solutions for French, Italian, Japanese and even sign language.

Rocket Spanish comes with our highest recommendation and is suitably endorsed on our website. The money back guarantee, sample software and expert advice makes it as good a course as you’re likely to find on the Internet.

Synergy Spanish is another tremendously popular Spanish course serving up a fast track learning curve which makes the most of your learning capacity through contributions from expert psychologists.

You can be sure that these courses aren’t the first, and won’t be the last, to break through in the exploding online Spanish market. Always seek a third party opinion before handing your cash to a Spanish e-course provider.

Some helpful Spanish tips

No matter which method of learning Spanish you decide on, there will always be a few tips and tricks to advance your skills.

We’ve touched on the subject before, but it’s the single most telling factor in whether your studies will prove a success; time management.

Before you sign up to a Spanish course, or open your first book, sit down and prioritise your wants and needs. Write a list of all the things you HAVE to do, a list of the things you SHOULD do, and a list of the things you’d LIKE to do.

Where does learning Spanish fit in to that list of priorities? If you find that it barely makes the “Would like to…” list, then you might want to think twice before assigning two hours a day to your Rocket Spanish course.

While you might succeed for the first couple of weeks, you’ll soon find that the greater worries in life take a stranglehold and your original targets flounder accordingly.

Likewise, if you really need to learn Spanish in a hurry – for a new job, or a move abroad – ten minutes a day isn’t going to draw the fast results that are necessary. You might find it easier to stick to your learning programme, but the fluency in Spanish ultimately won’t come quick enough.

Reference books and quick learning guides should be a given for anybody serious about learning Spanish. Collins Spanish Dictionary: Complete & Unabridged should be snapped up and kept handy for those times where a basic translation of Spanish to English (or vice versa) is required.

Research shows that language is best remembered in small batches, so keep your studying sessions spread out and varied. Fifteen minutes brushing up with a book on the train, ten minutes memorising vocabulary before you go to bed…a collection of these spells will prove much more effective than one hour-long cram.

If you have any friends who are looking to learn Spanish, don’t wait another second before hassling them in to studying with you. Not only does a study partner provide inspiration and a helping hand for practicing conversational Spanish, but it allows you to share resources and costs.

You can share books, learning resources and even – if you’re discrete about it – paid course materials. Why not halve your expenses by sharing an e-course between you?

It’s also a good idea to stay up to date with Spanish culture as a whole. That means subscribing to news feeds from Spanish websites, purchasing the odd native Spanish magazine and even re-watching your favourite movies with the Spanish subtitles turned on.

Check out our simplified tips for learning Spanish.

Don’t lose sight of your goals

Learning Spanish, as with learning anything, requires persistance and a lot of practice. Accepting the trials and tribulations is key to maintaining sight of your goals.

Never lose track of your ultimate goal. Why are you trying to learn Spanish? Everybody should have one good reason, even if it’s as simple as making a penpal friend or contacting a distant foreign relative. For those who learn with the ambition of furthering a career, or moving abroad and settling down in a Spanish speaking country - inspiration shouldn’t be hard to come by.

There’s no escaping the reality that learning a second language will test your patience somewhere along the line. Dealing with the frustration, clearing your mind and practicing over again is the ingredient of success.

Surround yourself in the Spanish culture at every opportunity. Buy magazines, visit Spanish websites, and watch Spanish movies. The more involved with Spanish life you become, the more inclined you’ll be to pick up the language and make sense of it. Finally, we highly recommend you check out the courses listed in our Spanish learning products section, and do check back regularly at Know Your Spanish for more advice in our series of articles.