Spanish

A great site with a wide set of resources:

• Lessons with video
• Flashcards (configurable)
• Phasebook
• Chat!
• Translation
• Question & Answer section well done
• Dictionary
• Verb conjugator
• Reference section with language descriptions and overviews
• Technical support section (how-to for special characters and more!)
• Word of Day
• Blog

You can probably tell that this is one of my favorite resources for learning Spanish!

YouTube is an incredible resource for learning almost anything, and the Spanish language is no exception. Start off with videos designed to teach beginners, and then move on to viewing popular video bloggers that speak Spanish. Not only will that train your ear, but you will hear popular slang and colloquial usage in fun settings.

The link below does a search on YouTube's Educational area for "learn spanish".

A terrific podcast by Mark, a Scottish language teacher, and Kara, a Spain-born native Spanish speaker. Very fun, great clarity and explanation of subtle vocalizations, easy-to-learn chunks of conversational and practical Spanish. Recommended!

Also available on iTunes, free!

Very well produced! This is an easy and fun way to gain listening and conversation skills while on a virtual trip to Madrid. A great way to feel a bit of immersion, and lots of fun.

Highly recommended.

StudySpanish.com offeres a good amount of free learning and lessons with a full language course available (only $155 as of Nov 2011).

Full pronunciation lessons are right on the web site, and the stepped audio format is nice. Vocabulary lessons are limited to about half the words for free, and the other half (and advanced vocabulary) are in the paid program.

Buying the program also gives you 12 months access to all the premium materials on their site, including a podcast (first two episodes are free).

Ben and Marina write a nice blog intended for an audience of people learning Spanish.

They also sell Spanish-speaking courses and materials.

Ben and Marina do a nice podcast for people learning Spanish.

If you are just starting out, check out the first episode in the beginner level podcast.

They also sell learning materials for Spanish.

The popular "Equals 3" YouTube channel by Ray William Johnson is in the top-3 most-watched shows on YouTube.

There is also a Spanish version that is fun to watch for the casual and native Spanish speaking and culture! Each episode features three viral/popular video clips with comedy commentary.

Have fun with it.

I'm not totally able to rate this channel yet because I haven't watched it a lot, and I'm not yet fluent enough in Spanish to understand everything he says (which is why its good to watch the channel) but he seems like a hip, articulate young man making some interesting video blogs.

The English translation of his channel slogan is, "Hi, I'm a carbon-based creature in the process of oxidation, come with me."

We have a fabulous amount of beginner's language material available freely on the net - and that is great. And, as a tool for advancing specific translation needs, Google Translate is a great tool.

However, once you get into the more technical areas of a topic or industry, it can be hard to find materials that are written by native speakers for a natural translation. That's where Wikipedia comes in.