Spanish, one of the romance languages, is primarily spoken by people in Spain and across Central and South America. Outside of these countries, Spanish is the second most widely-spoken language around the world and is used by over 400 million people. For this reason, it’s highly beneficial to at least know some basic Spanish no matter where you live or what your career path is. If you work in business or marketing, knowing Spanish could be beneficial for communicating with international partners, and if you do freelance work, speaking some Spanish could open up your business to many more customers!
Featured Programs
- Learn Spanish: Basic Spanish Vocabulary Specialization
- A Travel by Spanish America: Spanish for Beginners
- Spanish for Successful Communication in Healthcare Settings
Disclaimer: Some courses may include an affiliate link. Courses were chosen first based on the methodology with affiliate links only added after the ranking was complete.
Learning a language is never easy, and it’s always helpful when you can go at your own pace, ask questions, and start simple. Taking a free online course allows you to do just that, and gives you the freedom to learn Spanish at no cost to you! The ten courses on this list are all entirely free and will give you a thorough introduction to the language, its nuances, and its vocabulary. We chose them using an exclusive methodology we use to find only the best options. If you are looking for a streamlined way to learn a new language, keep reading to see ten great free online courses for learning Spanish.
Ranking Ten Free Online Courses For Learning Spanish
1. Spanish for Beginners 1: Meeting and Greeting
Provided by Future Learn
Future Learn is an online platform that is designed to help connect students to the courses of the future! The site partners with various institutions and universities to offer free courses to members of the platform. The site is free to join and new courses are added on a rotating basis, meaning that you never quite know what you will get. This best online Spanish course is great for those who know absolutely nothing about the language, as it provides the first words and phrases you will need to meet new people and communicate effectively.
Palma Mackenzie is the instructor for this course, and she has been teaching Spanish for The Open University for over 14 years. The course takes approximately four weeks to complete if you work about four hours a week on it, and Future Learn offers a certificate of achievement for an additional $59 charge. By the end of the best free online Spanish course with certification, you’ll be able to greet others, talk about where you come from, talk about your career, and talk about the languages you speak.
Cost: Free
Certificate: Yes (with $59 fee)
Time to Complete: Approximately 4 weeks
Curriculum: Beginner
User Experience: Excellent
Quality of Instruction: Excellent
Pros:
- Start anytime and go at your own pace
- Learn how to greet people and introduce yourself
- Teaches from the very basics
Cons:
- Certificate does not come free with the course
2. Learn Spanish: Basic Spanish Vocabulary Specialization
Provided by UC Davis via Coursera
This program from Coursera is considered one of their “specializations”, meaning you take five of their introductory Spanish courses to complete a larger program. Over 85,000 students have enrolled in the course so far, and over 3,000 of these students have given the program a nearly five-star rating. Coursera is a web platform that partners with a variety of universities to offer free courses to online students. Occasionally they group courses together to create these larger specializations, which offer a free shareable certificate of completion and are more comprehensive.
This free online Spanish course is taught by Dr. Robert Blake, who is a professor at the University of California, Davis, and has over 150,000 online pupils. By the end of the course, Blake will have instructed students on how to integrate over 1,500 new Spanish words and phrases into their vocabulary. Nearly a quarter of students who completed this specialization began a new career after doing so, and it’s clear why. The specialization also includes an applied learning project that allows students to prepare a written travel plan.
Cost: Free
Certificate: Yes
Time to Complete: Approximately 5 months
Curriculum: Beginner
User Experience: Excellent
Quality of Instruction: Excellent
Pros:
- Start anytime and go at your own pace
- Provided by one of the US’ preeminent universities
- Offers free certificate of completion
Cons:
- Longer course, not for a quick brushing up of material
3. 3 Minute Spanish – Beginner Taster Lessons
Provided by Udemy
Is it difficult for you to sit through long lessons or classes? Have you found typical language classes ineffective for you due to their length? This set of taster courses from Udemy could be the perfect compromise for your attention span. This course is just over an hour long but is broken up into small, 3-minute lessons that are easily digestible. Udemy is an online platform that offers a wide array of both free and paid classes for members, and the site is completely free to join.
The free online Spanish course, which was created by Kieran Ball, assumes that you know nothing about Spanish and starts from the very basics. Ball has nearly 300,000 online students and is a language tutor based in the UK. No confusing terminology or jargon is used in his short lessons, meaning you will be able to retain short words and phrases with no issue. By the end of the course, you will be able to express things like opinions, introductions, and more.
Cost: Free
Certificate: No
Time to Complete: Approximately 1 hour
Curriculum: Beginner
User Experience: Excellent
Quality of Instruction: Excellent
Pros:
- Start anytime and go at your own pace
- Lessons are broken up into three-minute intervals
- Starts from the most basic words and phrases
Cons:
- No certificate of achievement
4. Learn Spanish – Hundreds of Spanish Words Effortlessly in Minutes!
Provided by SkillShare
This course created by Mark Perren-Jones packs an abundance of Spanish knowledge into 35 short lessons, making it an incredible resource for those looking to learn the language. This is part of the reason why the course is one of SkillShare’s premium courses, meaning you must have their upgraded paid membership to access it. Luckily for you, SkillShare offers a 14-day free trial of their premium membership for new members, which gives you plenty of time to go over this course, which is about 3 hours.
Not only is Mark Perren-Jones an expert in the Spanish language, but he is also a world-renowned acupuncture and massage therapist. Perren-Jones aims to make his course fun and easy, promising that you can learn hundreds, if not thousands, of new Spanish words in as little as one hour. By the end of the free online Spanish class, you will be able to speak many new Spanish phrases effortlessly and you will find that it can actually be incredibly fun to learn a new language!
Cost: Free
Certificate: No
Time to Complete: Approximately 3 hours
Curriculum: Beginner
User Experience: Excellent
Quality of Instruction: Excellent
Pros:
- Start anytime and go at your own pace
- Class is meant to be enjoyable
- Learn thousands of new words and phrases in just a few hours
Cons:
- No certificate of achievement
- Free trial of course materials expires after two weeks, not accessible after that
5. Introduction to Spanish – Revised
Provided by Alison
Alison is a free online education website that mainly aims to provide working professionals with new skills that can advance their role in the workplace. There are currently more than 14 million students enrolled on the site, and the platform houses more than 1,500 free courses for student consumption. It’s free to become a member on Alison.com, and many students have found that completing courses on the site has tangibly increased their salary or gotten them a promotion. You can also find specific career advice for your field on the site, as well as courses to get you to your individual goals.
This free online Spanish course with certification, provided by the Global Text Project, takes between 1.5 and 3 hours to complete, which is the perfect amount of time to get a basic overview of some introductory Spanish concepts. In the course, you will be taught about how to count and correctly use dates, as well as how to make purchases or reservations. These concepts are essential for travel and can certainly be used in your everyday life. Once you move up to the next Spanish level, you will find yourself able to communicate effectively with people in your life or on a trip.
Cost: Free
Certificate: Yes
Time to Complete: Approximately 1.5 – 3 hours
Curriculum: Beginner
User Experience: Excellent
Quality of Instruction: Excellent
Pros:
- Start anytime and go at your own pace
- Learn concepts that are essential when traveling
- Learn thousands of new words and phrases in just a few hours
Cons:
- Rated 2.9 out of 5 stars on the Alison site
6. Learn Practical Spanish Online Introductory Spanish Courses
Provided by Learn Practical Spanish Online
This website, Learn Practical Spanish Online, is less of a concrete course with a syllabus and more of an interactive program with lessons that you can review based on your individual skill level. The website is free for anyone who would like to use it and requires no membership, meaning you can go on anytime to brush up on your skills. This site would be perfect to use in conjunction with a more structured class to review specific materials alongside lessons as you go. The website focuses on modern conversational Spanish, which is perfect for those who want to learn how to speak the language in less of an academic setting with more real-world applications.
The website has 10 individual lessons in the “beginner” section, but the lessons advance to intermediate and advanced concepts as needed. The lessons in the beginner section include things like nouns, basic sentence structure, adjectives, subject pronouns, possessive adjectives and pronouns, verbs, and the imperative. These free Spanish lessons also offer practice readings at the end, which is great because you can combine verbal, oral, and reading skills.
Cost: Free
Certificate: No
Time to Complete: As long as needed
Curriculum: Beginner to advanced
User Experience: Good
Quality of Instruction: Excellent
Pros:
- Start anytime and go at your own pace
- Perfect to supplement other learning platforms
- Goes from beginner to advanced material
Cons:
- No certificate of completion
- Not a structured course with a syllabus
7. Lengalia Beginner Courses
Provided by Lengalia
Lengalia is a website that stretches learning Spanish across 24 different self-paced courses. They have dozens of resources all available in one easy location, including things like in-depth grammar explanations, a structured and flexible learning process, Spanish tutors, and Spanish certificates that students can achieve. While Lengalia is typically a paid site, students have the opportunity to try out the site for free for 7 days before making any kind of commitment. This trial week is certainly enough time to try out one of the beginner courses and find out whether or not it is the right platform for you.
Lengalia’s 24 self-paced courses move from levels A0 to C2. C2 is a level of proficiency where students can understand virtually everything they read or write with ease, and are able to communicate even in difficult situations. Lengalia is a great place to start if you want to get to this proficiency level, and you could find that it is even eventually worth it to spend money to remain a member on the site. By the end of all of Lengalia’s courses, you will be able to communicate with almost any Spanish-speaking person in most situations.
Cost: Free (With Lengalia 7-day free trial)
Certificate: Yes
Time to Complete: As long as needed
Curriculum: Beginner to advanced
User Experience: Good
Quality of Instruction: Excellent
Pros:
- Start anytime and go at your own pace
- 24 different self-paced courses
- Can bring students all the way to proficiency level C2
Cons:
- Free trial expires after 7 days, course material isn’t accessible after that
8. A Travel By Spanish America: Spanish for Beginners
Provided by Universidad del Rosario via edX
This course, which is provided by the Universidad del Rosario, is perfect for those who are planning on taking a trip through a Spanish-speaking country and don’t currently know any Spanish. The class will give you enough vocabulary to get through your trip without having to spend hours on a boring class. edX is a very popular massive open online course platform that is free to join and offers many different course paths or even degrees. Some courses are free and others are paid, but all are provided by preeminent universities or institutions around the world.
Nearly 6,500 students have enrolled in this travel course already and made the most of their stay while traveling through Spanish-speaking countries. By the end of the online Spanish course with certification, learners will have been equipped with some basic communicative tools to effectively communicate with the people around them at their destination. Additionally, students will learn a lot about Spanish-American tradition and how to introduce yourself, follow directions, order at restaurants, and more. The lessons taught in this course will make you want to travel even if you hadn’t planned on it originally, making it easy for you to move through Spanish-speaking countries with ease.
Cost: Free
Certificate: Yes (With $49 fee)
Time to Complete: Approximately 4 weeks
Curriculum: Beginner
User Experience: Good
Quality of Instruction: Excellent
Pros:
- Great for those planning a trip to a Spanish-speaking destination
- Teaches useful vocabulary and communicative tools
- Taught by a preeminent Spanish university
Cons:
- Only meant for travelling purposes
- Certification is not free
9. Spanish for Successful Communication in Healthcare Settings
Provided by Rice University via Coursera
While this class from Coursera might seem like it is targeted to a rather specific group, the knowledge you can take away from this course could actually be applicable in a variety of different situations. If you are planning on staying in a Spanish-speaking destination for a long time and eventually will need to see a doctor, this class will be useful for you. It could also be useful if you work in the healthcare field and eventually want to relocate to a Spanish-speaking country for your job. Coursera is a learning platform that helps students launch or progress their career forward with exciting professional classes.
This free online Spanish course with certification is provided by Rice University and taught by Maria Victoria Abad Rabat, who is a Spanish lecturer at the university and currently has over 20,000 online pupils. Rice University is one of the top 20 universities in the US, so taking a course from them could prove to be invaluable for your learning. By the time you finish the course, you will learn the important parts behind doctor and patient communication, how to explain procedures, how to conduct a physical exam, and how to solve difficult issues with communication.
Cost: Free
Certificate: Yes
Time to Complete: Approximately 168 hours
Curriculum: Intermediate
User Experience: Good
Quality of Instruction: Excellent
Pros:
- Great for those in the medical field
- Teaches useful vocabulary and communicative tools
- Taught by one of the US’s top 20 universities
Cons:
- Targeted specifically toward medical professionals or those who need medical help
10. Duolingo
Available on web, iOS, or Google Play
Duolingo is an online site and mobile app that is considered one of the best and most modern ways to learn a new language. Duolingo offers lessons in a variety of languages, Spanish being one of the most popular ones. The site is completely free to access and you can continue any lessons you started by moving them to your mobile device such as an iPhone, iPad, or Android. Learning on Duolingo is fun to do and it becomes addicting, engaging your mind with mini games and questionnaires that increase your knowledge of vocabulary and grammar.
No matter what level of speaking and reading you are currently at in your language, Duolingo can help you go further. When you sign up, you will be able to identify what lesson you should start at based on what knowledge you already have. You can continue using Duolingo as long as you want for free, even if you become proficient in the language you are trying to learn. Duolingo can also be a great way to supplement other learning platforms if you are currently taking a more structured online course.
Cost: Free
Certificate: No
Time to Complete: As long as needed
Curriculum: Beginner to advanced
User Experience: Excellent
Quality of Instruction: Excellent
Pros:
- Great supplementary tool for other learning platforms
- Works on desktop or mobile devices
- Works for any level of learning
Cons:
- Not a structured curriculum, no syllabus
Frequently Asked Questions About Free Online Courses for Learning Spanish
Learning a language is hard work, especially if you only grew up speaking one language in your household. For most people, learning a new language as an adult can present a whole new array of challenges and make quitting seem easy. While it is very easy to quit while learning a new language, it is so much more rewarding to keep going and get to the proficiency level you have always dreamed about!
Regardless of your individual challenges, learning a language online can seem even more daunting than taking a typical language class since you don’t have the added resource of learning from your classmates and hearing their mistakes. Thus, starting a new online language course will likely leave you with a lot of questions. The list below details some of the most commonly asked questions when it comes to free online Spanish courses, as well as the answers to these questions. Hopefully reading these answers will make you feel much more confident about starting your online Spanish-learning journey!
Who Should Take A Free Online Spanish Course?
Even if your ultimate goal isn’t to become proficient in the language, taking a free online Spanish course can help in a lot of different areas of your life. If you are someone who loves to travel, taking an introductory Spanish course can allow you to move through Spanish-speaking destinations with ease and make the most out of your trips. If you work in retail or other forms of customer service, having some knowledge of Spanish can help you communicate with customers who might not speak English and help them get the best service they can. If you work in business, learning Spanish could help you communicate with international or Spanish-speaking clients.
Learning a language isn’t something that has only one application, and you will find that after you learn one language, learning others becomes much easier! Anyone can benefit from taking an online introductory Spanish course, no matter what your lifestyle or ultimate career goals are like.
What Will I Gain From A Free Online Spanish Course?
Depending on the course you choose to take, you could learn a variety of vocabulary, grammar, or communicative skills. Primarily, introductory Spanish courses will teach students how to perform simple communication tasks like introducing themselves, talking about where they are from and the languages they speak, following directions, ordering at restaurants, asking where important things are, or purchasing items from a store. All of these skills are very commonly used and will come in handy during your everyday life.
If you choose to continue learning Spanish even after you have completed an introductory course, many courses offer students the opportunity to move up their proficiency level to as high as C2.
Are Free Online Spanish Courses Hard?
Compared to other skills, learning a language on your own can be one of the most difficult things to do. Thus, unfortunately, online language courses can be very difficult. However, most professors do not want their students to suffer while taking their course. Instead, they want to challenge them intellectually to make sure they learn as much as they possibly can throughout the duration of the course. So, yes, online Spanish courses are difficult, but the risk is certainly worth the reward.
Are Free Online Spanish Courses Worth It?
Yes! Many online Spanish courses offer the same resources that you would get at a typical language course through your local university or community college. However, online courses are easily accessible as they can be done on your own time and they don’t run on a strict schedule. Since all of the courses on the list above pose no cost to you, you couldn’t have any kind of loss by at least trying them out. If you find that you don’t enjoy the course, the only thing you have lost by quitting is your time.
Your time definitely will not be a waste with any of the classes on this list, as we are certain that you will start learning and retaining new information even the first day you start your studies! Language learning is something that you will retain throughout your life and will benefit you in many different ways, so it is best to start now!
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