Notes in Spanish: Inspired Beginners is not meant for the newest of beginners, but it was rather disorganized and lacked continuity from podcast 1 to podcast 2. I think they are attempting to make it a bit immersive by doing quick reviews of the previous podcast, but they reviewed some things so fast as to be generally useless. For example, one phrase they discussed was how to ride a bike, and it went like this:

Guy: Hey ___ – do you remember how to say you are riding a bike in the countryside?
(short pause)
Girl: Yes – (Spanish spoken quickly)
Guy: Great – what about (next phrase)?

Coffee Break Spanish takes things a bit slower and make sure to repeat things more than once, both when introducing a word/phrase or when reviewing it. Notes in Spanish: Inspired Beginners is no longer on my iPod, but I’ll consider trying the Intermediate and Advanced levels when the time comes.

Spanish Para Todos may be good, but the instructor speaks so deliberately that getting started seems to take forever. It’s organized into 5 parts – an English preview of the dialogue, a slow reading of the dialogue in Spanish (twice), a review in English and a final reading of the dialogue in Spanish at a native speed.

Theoretically, this sounds great, but I couldn’t stand how long it took to get started and how slow the initial two readings of the Spanish dialogue was. It was too slow for me, but perhaps it would be just right for someone else. Another thing that bothered me was the scenario of a classroom with good and bad students, but that is definitely the unschooler in me responding. Spanish Para Todos is off my iPod.

For the last one I tried, SpanishPod, but I don’t actually know what their method of instruction is like or if there is any. The vibe is some 20-somethings talking about Spanish and travel, with seemingly great emphasis on talking. The podcast I tried was 12 minutes long and after 5 minutes they still chatting away in English. A friend had visited Mexico and they discussed some cultural aspects but nearly half the podcast was done and maybe 5 or 6 Spanish words had been spoken. It’s nice if you are interested in learning about some culture, but if I subscribe to a podcast to learn Spanish, I want to learn some Spanish. Adios de mi iPod, SpanishPod. Maybe their other podcasts are better, but the first impression I got from them is hard to get over.

It’s clear that Coffee Break Spanish is the one for me, and the one I would most recommend to others. I have not tried their bonus materials, but I like how they refer to them as ‘bonus’ materials and not a vital necessity for learning. They are well organized, well paced and the personalities of the hosts are engaging. Most importantly, my retention from podcast to podcast is very high. I definitely think that trying out CBS is well worth the time.

I’m always on the lookout for free online resources since I spend a lot of time at a computer. I’m getting close to mastering my Inbox. I use Google Reader and Google Alerts to keep up with websites, blogs and news topics. And now I’ve come across some websites that offer opportunities to learn Spanish for free, thanks to Wide Open Education, a website devoted to online learning.

Previously I’ve mentioned the Coffee Break Spanish podcast and the free Destinos videos (requires registration, and you’ll really need the text materials by episode 4). Since there there seems to have been an explosion in podcasts and I’ve subscribed to a few, including SpanishPod, Notes in Spanish and Spanish Para Todos. I’ve added these after we got back and haven’t been commuting as much, so the jury is still out on whether they’re as good as Coffee Break Spanish or not.

Podcasts are great when you’re stuck in car, but something structured would be more helpful to gain a deeper understanding of Spanish. I’m going to give each of the following 4 websites a try over the next 6 months and see if they work for me or not. They’re all free, so the only thing I’ll be spending is time

1. Livemocha

Livemocha seems to combine the traditional lesson-oriented approach with the possibilities added by social networking. There are 4 Spanish courses that seem to correspond with university level classes: 101, 102, 201 and 202. The total time to complete those courses is 160 hours. Course 202 seems to complete what I want to learn at this time – simple past & irregular verbs. I like the solo structured approach with the option of social networking – I’ll try Livemocha first.

2. Mango

Mango seems to have the most traditional approach to learning, a complete course with multimedia exercises and audio of native speakers. They just added an ‘On the Go’ feature involving mp3s, but it turns out that it’s a $149 audio course. I’m sticking with free for now.

3. iTalki.com

iTalki is a social network focussed on language learning. Looks like I can create a profile, find a Language Partner and ask questions to the Spanish-speaking community. There are also files, seemingly pdfs, provided by members as well as comprehensive lists of resources. I like the idea of a Language Partner, but my preference is to learn solo to start.

4. Lingro

The last website I found is a tool rather than a learning resouce. Lingro allows you to load a webpage, click on a word you don’t know and have it translated. It’s useful just in English for providing definitions, but I think it’ll be great for learning new words in Spanish. All you have to do is go to site, enter a website for browsing and pick a language at the bottom of the page. You can even save words to a list after making an account. I loaded Tiny Grass and proceeded to find translations for lots of words, from journey (‘viaje’) to unschooling (which has no Spanish translation )

There’s enough free resources out there that I have serious doubts I would spend money on stuff like the Rosetta Stone. I’m happy with the Destinos texts we have for a nice traditional reference, and I look forwarding to giving all these online options a test drive in my quest to master Spanish.

Me: I’d like an omelette with bacon y tomates.
Deli guy: Home fries?
Me: Si, todos.
Deli guy: Solo bacon y tomates?
Me: Si… Perdon – cebolla tambien.
Deli guy: Cebolla? OK.
Me: Gracias.

I didn’t realize what happened until the guy asked me the question in Spanish. I’m pleasantly surprised and kinda proud. Now I think I’ll look for other places I can practice my Spanish too.

Our current reading includes Senor Felipe’s Alphabet Adventure, about a photographer whose assignment is to photograph one item for each letter of the Spanish alfabeto. It’s written in English, with Spanish words for each item photographed, and there’s an additional list of vocabulary at the end of the book. We’re also reading El sombrero del tío Nacho / Uncle Nacho’s Hat, which is bilingual, with the story written both in English (sprinkled liberally with Spanish words and phrases) and Spanish. The story follows Uncle Nacho as he just can’t seem to get rid of his old hat that’s full of holes. It’s very helpful for Trish and me to see both versions since the alfabeto book provides a lot of vocabulary but little in the way of verbs.

Another fun thing we’ve used for learning Spanish has been the cd Let’s Sing and Learn in Spanish. I ordered a lot of stuff from the library system and this has been great. The most important thing – the music is not annoying. That would have made it useless. Aside from one segue into 80s style freehouse, it’s a nice selection of songs with catchy Latin rhythms and melodies. Everything is sung in Spanish and is easy to understand. The cd also has instrumental versions of the tracks, which didn’t make sense to me until they were playing the other day and I found myself plugging in some the words and phrases. This is a MUCH better option than Cantos Y Rimas – Nursery Songs & Rhymes, which is just plain annoying (the singer, dancing kids and hand puppets are distracting).

Years back I took 2 semesters of Spanish and had a fun time of it, thanks to Destinos, the Spanish teaching soap opera. It’s called a ‘tele-course’ and seems to have been made with distance learning in mind. Trish thought the idea was cool and so I grabbed a copy of the dvds off Ebay for a lot less than the usual $500. It’s not cheap by any means, but the copy in the library system was not available to take out (and only VHS). Trish liked the idea so much that she also got some workbooks. We’ve started watching the dvds while we wait for the text materials and have learned quite a bit already.

We’re hoping the text materials fill in the gaps, especially regarding verbs. It’s pretty easy to pick up vocabulary visually, but in the first 4 episodes verbs have been glossed over. That’s not to say that the videos aren’t good – they’re done very well. Each episode consists of an intro, the episode itself and a review. The intro is easily skipped in favor of the episode, which tells the story and displays vocabulary as needed, and the review, which asks questions to test comprehension. At the end of the review is a teaser for the next episode. All of the episodes can be seen online at www.learner.org, though in small Youtube-size videos.

If you’re like me and commute to work, I can recommend 2 other resources. The first is an awesome free podcast called Coffee Break Spanish (‘Language-learning with your latte’). The hosts are Mark, el profesor, and Kara, la estudiante – Mark teaches and, we learn along with Kara. Each podcast is about 15 minutes long and is very well organized. The podcast itself is free, but they offer bonus materials with each podcast for £8.50 /month (they’re Scottish with great accents). I haven’t tried the bonus materials yet, but will consider them once we are done with Destinos. The bonus materials include a pdf guide, a bonus podcast, iPod flashcards and ‘iPod notes’ (whatever they are). The one thing to remember is that they teach the somewhat lispy Spanish from Spain, where ‘gracias’ is pronounced ‘grathias.’ Aside from that, everything they teach is easy to understand and learn. I’m on podcast 8 – they just finished up their 40th and seem to going strong with the recent launch of a second podcast.

The other commuting/car resource I can recommend is Pimsleur Spanish, which consists of 30 language and grammar lessons aimed specifically for audio learning. Learning purely by hearing works very well for me, and the most usefully lesson in this set was the one regarding pronunciation and similar Spanish/English words (ie Spanish you already know but didn’t realize). This is around $130 at Amazon so I definitely recommend getting it from your local library.

That’s what we’ve done so far, and it’s been fun! M explained to his Dadima (one of a zillion Indian terms for ‘grandma’) that ‘Hola’ was Spanish for ‘hello’ and asked Trish yesterday if she knew what ‘vaca’ (‘cow’) was. We’re incorporating little phrases into our English, and get to practice a bit with our Mexican neighbors down the block. I think the best part is just knowing that instead of dreaming of Costa Rica we’re working on something tangible to bring the dream closer to reality. Hasta luego!