In planning our sabbatical / career break as well as the time we have spent Living in Spain, we have found many resources that have helped us along the way. We will only recommend products that we stand by and have personal experience with. The following are our affiliate links you can use to purchase goods or accommodations and we will get a very small % of the sale. If you are planning on purchasing anything below and use our links, you will be helping us out. Thanks so much!
We have our own !
Or you can shop via our link at the .
LEARNING THE SPANISH LANGUAGE
Should you learn Spanish before you arrive?
We think it is helpful to at least have your basic manners and counting under your belt before you arrive. There are very few locals in town who speak English fluently, so do your best to speak the local language when you can. Once you arrive, there will be local options for Spanish language classes, but the options below can be done before or after you arrive.
Here are the tools we have used and recommend. Everyone has a different learning style, so that is why we are recommending a variety. Learning Spanish can be fun at any age.
LEARNING THE SPANISH LANGUAGE
Synergy Spanish is our favorite to allow you to feel confident right from the start. It helps you build an instant vocabulary using English words as your base. There are certain rules which are easy to follow and before you know it, you have a good vocabulary. For example if a work in English end with “tion” (celebration, constitution, etc), when learning Spanish you will see the ending just changes to “ción” (celebración, constitución, etc). It is amazing how fast you will learn Spanish! Click on the image or link to learn more about Synergy Spanish
Pimsleur is also a great way to learn Spanish as well. It all depends on your learning style and how dedicated you are. Pimsleur follows the style of listening and repeating. Each session is just 30 minutes and you will be amazed at how quickly you can pick it up. Of course you can repeat any session until you are comfortable to move on. Each session builds on the previous one, so don’t skip ahead. This is very nice to just limit yourself to 30 minutes a day and see how much you learn. Click here to learn more , or Click on the image below.
The cool thing about FluentU is the way they’ve arranged the “classes”. If you want to learn in a passive way, there is audio for both words and their use in sentences. Once you’ve learned the lesson, you presented with quizzes. But they don’t feel like quizzes. Learn more about FluentU ! FluentU is a new way to learn a language. !
Rocket Languages knows more about learning a new language than anyone on the planet! They offer multiple award-winning language learning courses used by more than 1,200,000 people, just like you, to master a new language. With more than 1,400 5-star reviews you can be comfortable knowing that their products are high quality and engaging.
Their language learning system is based on both science and the practical success strategies that polyglots (people who speak 5 or more languages fluently) use. And their Spanish courses give you the best bang for your buck, as every course has more than 100 hours of repeatable tuition. Rocket Languages is Amazing! Click to learn more or on the image below.
One of the best ways to learn Spanish is to live it every day. Speaking with the locals or attending a class will really advance the process for learning Spanish.
See how the Wagoners Abroad kids were speaking Spanish after 18 months of living in Spain and attending public school.
We have a complete list of our recommended books .
* Please note: These are affiliate links and we will receive a small % of the sale, when an item is purchased via these links.