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365 Days on Duolingo (MEGA POST - ALL MY SPANISH LEARNING RESOURCES + LOTS OF EXTRA CONTENT) [Archived]

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justheaven

365 Days on Duolingo (MEGA POST - ALL MY SPANISH LEARNING RESOURCES + LOTS OF EXTRA CONTENT) [Archived]

Post by justheaven »


Original Post by: perkynipz: https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/23043865 | Archived DL page: https://archive.ph/kdPGD


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Well, to start with, 365 days seems to have flown by! I still remember creating my first Spanish post and commenting to Camilla-danesa about her amazing 380 day streak, how time flies!

I’m now fairly close to completing four trees, but I wouldn’t be anywhere close to that if it wasn’t for the awesome community here at Duolingo! Most comments I have received for help have been encouraging and accurate and I want to say a massive thanks to the regular posters and admins who contribute towards this amazing community, thank you.

One year ago today Duolingo was in a very different place to where it is now. I have found some changes good and some slightly worse. Immersion was around (even though I never had a chance to use it, gutting) and Bots were not introduced yet. I personally have found the bots somewhat frustrating but overall helpful towards learning languages, I suppose they can only get better over time! Messaging has been removed which has been frustrating as I enjoyed that social element to the site. I’m personally hoping they bring back some form of messaging, even if it’s social media related (which personally I cannot stand). However, if messaging is brought back, please please please make sure it is policed and regulated appropriately (which I’m sure Luis and the team will make sure it is).

I found learning Spanish extremely difficult when I first started out, like, ridiculously difficult. Probably because I didn’t concentrate that much when I was in high school when it came to languages and now, at the age of twenty six, I have become a lot more wiser and aware of its importance. However, the platform itself is fantastic and I want to bring hope to all the users that are just starting out that if you stick at it, you can achieve (even if it sucks at first and you are getting super frustrated with it, because yes, it takes getting used to).

I’m a firm believer of what you put in, you will get out in the long run. I will also add, don’t do what I did at the start and solely rely on Duolingo as your main source of learning a language. I ignored Duolingo’s users advice which put a bump in my learning to begin with. However, I have now learnt a varied approach will increase your listening and writing skills and to some extent, your speaking skills to.

With that being said I want to give back to the community what you have given me over 365 days. So, here is a list of all my learning resources which has helped me over the past year. I really hope they help you like they have helped me! I’ve also took the liberty to add a few extra resources such as interesting Spanish YouTube channels as well as my Top Ten Spanish songs at the very end. I’ve also listed my Spotify link for my Spanish playlist if you want to hear more awesome Spanish tunes... enjoy!

Communication Services and Apps to help practice writing, speaking and listening skills with real native speakers


HelloTalk - Probably my most used app on my iPhone at the minute. I can talk with anyone (normally Spanish speakers) from around the world, messaging or calling for free. Users can correct my sentences and even leave me voice messages with how certain words or sentences should sound. This App is an absolute beauty!

iTalki - I book Spanish lessons with Native Spanish teachers across the globe at least three times a week now. iTalki is a safe website where you can find proven qualified teachers of any language. Once booked, you can have the lessons over on Skype, it really is awesome!

HiNative - Powered by Lang-8, HiNative is a great app where you can ask native speakers about your targeted language direct. There are too many functions to talk about, you will have to download it and try it yourself.

Verbling - Pretty much like iTalki, however, they have an inbuilt system which does not require Skype, pretty handy if you ask me. You can conquer a language with native teachers you pick to guide you on your language journey.


Newspaper (All Languages)

World Newspapers - With over 11,000 online newspapers from 185 countries to choose from, The Paperboy will keep you pretty busy when you are bored.


Radio (All Languages)

Radio Garden - Radio Garden works like any other digital radio, however, in this case, the world is your tuning dial. When you move the globe with your mouse, moving between borders, over cities and towns, it tunes into every station available in the area.


Games (Word Memorisation)

Babadum - Potentially the most addictive language memorisation game on the internet. There are lots of game modes to choose from and many many languages to pick ... DO NOT PLAY THIS GAME!!

Drops - Similar to Babadum but designed for mobile, this fun word memorisation game will keep you busy for hours. There are many languages to choose from and the app is constantly being updated with new things to check out. It's definitely worth a download.

Memrise - One of my favorite word memorisation games of all time. I can use Memrise on my iPhone and via a desktop. I am a premium member which allows me to access awesome content such as, listen to the natives (of my chosen language) and play the speed review game (which is a kind of lightning fast memory game). With plenty of languages to choose from, Memrise always keeps me busy when I am at home or on the move.

Lingvist - Lingvist boasts that their program can adapt to you when it comes to learning a language, and it can! Just check it out if you don't believe me.

Clozemaster - Clozemaster kind of reminds me of the old Space Invaders game, but this one relates to learning languages. It has an array of languages to learn as well as interesting game modes where you can choose the word to input into a sentence, making it correct. It's kept me very busy on England's rainy days.

Now, just for the Spanish learners, here is all the resources I have amassed over my 365 days on Duolingo. Some resources may seem unusual to you, however, I can endorse all this Spanish content as they have all helped me out immensely.


Spanish Learning Resources

Readlang - Readlang is the perfect site to help memorise those difficult Spanish words (or any language which you are learning). RL offer daily flashcards as well as a handy YouTube converter like this to help hone in your listening skills! You can also translate words or phrases on any non Spanish web page live using the Readlang Chrome Extension which I now use regularly.

Veinte Mundos - VM is one of my favourite Spanish learning resources. The site holds a library of Spanish magazines complete with audio descriptions and much much more. VM explain that Spanish is spoken in twenty different countries each possessing its own unique cultural landscape. VM is a community effort to report on real life scenarios from across the Spanish speaking world. In my opinion, their stories are fascinating and some of the best Spanish reads around.

Coffee Break Spanish - CBS from the Radio Lingua Network offer carefully structured Spanish courses which have been written by experienced teachers and native speakers. Courses can be accessed by computer, MP3 player, smartphone or tablet.

Lyrics Training - Although you have to create an account to play, Lyrics Training allows you to memorise the words to your favorite songs (mine are in Spanish). You can choose from four game modes, beginner, intermediate, advanced or expert attempting to fill in the missing lyrics, it is highly addictive.

JW in Spanish - My Spanish teacher from Colombia showed me this Jehovah's Witnesses site and it is amazing (especially as I am not religious in the slightest). The posts range from beginner level to advanced, however, ALL posts come with sound recordings so you can listen to the pronunciation of the Spanish words as you read. This is a no brainer!

Zambombazo - Zambombazo is a music blog and it has so much information on its site it is hard to know where to begin. I guess I will just leave this here (yeahhh, they really do teach you how to dance to one of my favorite Spanish songs, awesome).

Spanish for immigrants - A good wordpress site which contains Spanish podcasts, audio files, music and stories. This site is great for practicing your Spanish!

BBC - Offering a variety of Spanish courses as well as news, radios and TV channels, the BBC Learn Spanish section is a website to check out.

About in Spanish - An interesting blogging website where you can read about technology, food, life and more. Subscribe to About and receive interesting emails in Spanish!

Internet Polyglot - A great site where you can learn pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary. There is an added bonus of many games to play as well!

Introduction to Spanish - The website itself is quite basic, however, the content inside is never ending and extremely useful. This site is a great introduction into the Spanish language.


Spanish Comics

Dilbert in Spanish - You know, that guy with the funny head.

Garfield in Spanish - Everyone loves Garfield don't they?

More Garfield in Spanish - Moreeee Garfield!


Spanish TV Stations

National Geographic in Spanish - This site has everything to do with the environment in, you guessed it, Spanish!

Nat Geo in Spanish - Nat Geo has interesting documentaries on crime, history, nature and much more!

Discovery in Spanish - Explore what is going on around the world with some fascinating documentaries on Discovery online.

Mitele - Mitele is an online TV platform managed by Mediaset Spain. It's contents can be viewed on demand or live.


Spanish Sport Channels

Spanish ESPN - ESPN has all the latest sports updates from around the world.


Spanish News Channels

RTVE - Spanish Radio and Television Corporation owned by the Spanish state.

News in Slow Spanish - Kind of what it says on the tin, just read along while a person reads out the content in Spanish, slowwwwlllly.

BBC Spanish - BBC World in Spanish focusing on Spanish speaking countries.

MSN Spanish - Even though MSN is a little outdated, this site still brings top quality news in Spanish.

CNN Spanish - From lots of topics such as money, travel and technology, this Spanish news site has it all.

En Punto - En Punto say they are a team of young journalists in Mexico focusing on bringing viewers the most relevant and up to date news.

El trece - El Trece is an Argentine Television Network located in the capital of Argentina, Buenos Aires.

Televisión Pública Argentina - TPA is the main public television station of Argentina .

Televisión Nacional de Chile - TVN is the Chilean public television broadcaster. It is owned by the State of Chile, but it is independently funded and operated.

Corporación de Televisión de la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso - UCV is the oldest Television channel of Chile. It was founded in 1957 (October 5) and currently airs in Santiago on channel 5.

Azteca News - Azteca Noticias is a news organization owned by the Mexican television company TV Azteca.

Noticieros Televisa - Noticieros Televisa is a division of the Televisa radio and television network based in Mexico.

Milenio Televisión - Milenio Televisión is a Mexican television cable news channel owned by Grupo Multimedios. The news programming uses the resources of the Milenio newspaper, one of the largest in the country. Programming is a twenty four hours a day, through news, analysis and specialised programs.

Canal Once - Canal Once (Channel Eleven; formerly Once TV México), is a Mexican educational broadcast television network owned by Instituto Politécnico Nacional.

Multi Medios - Multimedios Televisión is a network of Spanish language television stations primarily concentrated in northeastern Mexico. The system is part of Grupo Multimedios. The flagship station of Multimedios is XHAW-TDT located in Monterrey, Nuevo León.

SNT - Located in Paraguay, SNT have just had their 50th anniversary. They have given Paraguayans television since 1965.

RTVE News - The Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española, S.A. is the state-owned public corporation that assumed the indirect management of the Spanish public radio and television service formerly called Ente Público Radiotelevisión Española in 2007.

Euronews - Euronews is a multilingual news media service, headquartered in Lyon, France. Created in 1993, it aims to cover world news from a pan-European perspective.

Deutsche Welle - Deutsche Welle (DW) is the German chain abroad. They use
independent journalism to help transmit a broad picture about Germany, shape facts and offer perspectives, not only German. DW help to foster understanding between cultures and their people.

TeleSUR - TeleSUR say they have been present in the great events, not only in Latin America, but around the world. In their nine years they have made important coverages that have shown the truth about different world events. They are sponsored by the governments of Venezuela, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Uruguay, and Bolivia that is headquartered in Caracas, Venezuela.

RT - The Spanish language RT news channel began broadcasting from Russia for twenty four hours a day and seven days a week in December 2009, becoming the first Russian language television channel in Spanish with a global reach. Over the years, the network has been rated as one of the main sources of alternative information in the West, since it often covers issues ignored by mainstream mass media.


Spanish YouTube Channels

Flama - Funny Spanish videos that will make you laugh your head off.

Inna Moll - Definitely my favourite Spanish v-logger.

Butterfly Spanish - Covering grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, cultural aspects and tips and tricks. These free and intriguing Spanish lessons will keep you busy.

Spanish Sessions - Beautiful videos of Spain whilst learning Spanish, what more could you ask for?

Senor Jordan - A seriously funny dude teaching Spanish over in America.

Hablemos Espanol - JonathonQuick shared this interesting Spanish YouTube series in the comment section below. Hablemos Espanol act out short scenes explaining different aspects of spanish.

Extra en Español - Extra is scripted in the format of the popular television series Friends. Created by Channel 4 Learning and designed for learners, Extra will help you hone your listening skills as the actors speak slightly slower. In total, four versions were made, each in a different language; English, French, German, and Spanish. The link is to the first Spanish episode on YouTube (out of a total of thirteen).

Spanish with Paul - Paul makes learning Spanish a whole lot easier! Check out his videos and you will see what I mean! Thank you alex87097 for suggesting this YouTube channel.

Spanish Dict - The must have Spanish resource.

Professor Jason Spanish - A little slow paced for me, but still extremely informative.


Spanish Newspapers and Blogs

El Pais - One of the highest-circulated daily newspapers in Spain.

El Mundo - One of the highest-circulated daily newspapers in Spain.

ABC Espana One of the highest-circulated daily newspapers in Spain.

El Universal - El Universal is a major Mexican newspaper.

La Nacion - The Nacion is a leading conservative Argentine daily newspaper.

The Guardian - Learn Spanish with the Guardian.

Spanish Travel Blog - Beautiful world travel blog in Spanish.


Spanish Radio

Listen Live - Spanish radio stations streamed online from Spain.

Radio Ambulante - Latin American stories in sound with the option to translate to English.


Spanish Podcasts

Open University - The Open University in England and Wales provide free Spanish podcasts for all.

Medical Spanish Podcast - Interactive audio Spanish lessons.

Spanish Podcast - Some really good Spanish audiobooks and podcasts.

En Rumbo: intermediate Spanish - Part of the Open University course, learn to pronounce with native Spanish speakers.

Audiria - Audria offer podcasts to increase your knowledge of the language at any level.

Lengalia - Free podcasts available for European Spanish and Latin American Spanish.

Mexican Slang Podcasts - Improve your Spanish listening skills and speak Mexican Spanish.

CVC Spanish Podcasts - Some excellent podcasts in Spanish!

Caracol Radio - Caracol Radio is one of the main radio networks in Colombia. Founded in Medellín in 1948 and now based in Bogotá, podcasts are being added daily. You will never fail to find something new to listen to, whether it is, world news, football or 6AM updates.


Spanish Books (online)

The Spanish Experiment - Many brilliant children's stories complete with translations and catchy pictures. Oh and if you don't feel like reading the stories, just click the play button at the bottom of the page. All the stories are read out slowly which is fantastic for Spanish learners.

CVC - With three levels (beginner, Intermediate and advanced) step by step you will learn to pick apart the text in each e-book. The site also has options to question what you have learnt, so make sure you read carefully!

Online Children’s Library - Lots of South American Spanish books available.

Learn Spanish: Short Childrens Stories - Children's Spanish short stories with mp3 audio.

Spanish Uno - Spanish Uno contains short stories for Spanish learners of all levels. They also have dedicated sections devoted to grammar and vocabulary which is pretty handy. Spanish Uno also has jokes in, quite literally, hundreds of categories. This is a site you definitely need to check out.

Ciudad Seva - Writer: Luis López Nieves.

Learn Practical Spanish - Learn Spanish with useful sound files.

Hello Travellers - Audio books in slow Spanish.

Dive into Spanish - Audio books in Spanish, you need to sign up for more content.


Spanish Dictionaries

Spanish Dict - The must have Spanish dictionary.

Forvo - Spanish pronunciation dictionary.

Conjuguemos - Learn to conjugate verbs correctly.

Word Reference - Submitted to myself in the comment section by King2E4, Word Reference is an in depth online dictionary catered towards many languages, not just Spanish! There is also a handy application on iTunes available if you are on the move!


My Top Ten Favourite Spanish Songs on YouTube

1. Luis Fonsi - Despacito ft. Daddy Yankee

2. Shakira - Chantaje (Official video) ft. Maluma

3. Enrique Iglesias - Bailando (Español) ft. Descemer Bueno, Gente De Zona

4. Shakira - Me Enamoré

5. El Amante - Nicky Jam

6. J. Balvin - Sigo Extrañándote

7. J Balvin - Safari ft. Pharrell Williams, BIA, Sky

8. Alvaro Soler - Sofia

9. El Perdón - Nicky Jam y Enrique Iglesias

10. Farruko - Sunset ft. Shaggy, Nicky Jam

Click this link to check out all my other Spanish tracks over on my Spanish playlist on Spotify

I will mention that I don’t mind adding to this thread If I find more useful learning resources, Spanish YouTube channels, communication apps etc.

Make sure you follow the thread or bookmark it to keep up with new updates

Finally, thank you Duolingo for giving me and so many others the opportunity to learn a language that we enjoy, I am forever grateful.

Jay.

N🇧🇬 A2:es: C1:us:
"That youngster's naturalness is impressive."Duolingo

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