# Free Language Courses



## Mushu7 (Jul 17, 2015)

Apologies if this is already known, but I've only just found out.

looking arund for Spanish (and Catalan) courses with colleges and online and whatnot and I found that you can do free language courses with Learn Direct.

They are all distance learning, but basically any language in the EU you can learn for free, thanks to a Government initiative.

Beginners, Intermediate and Advanced classes.

Certainly a great start in learning a language FREE, so there is no excuse for anyone thinking of moving abroad to not even try and learn, even if you come away with the basics rather than fluency.


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## Naomira (Feb 25, 2015)

I've been learning on my own but wasn't aware of this. I'll definitely look it up. Thanks.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Mushu7 said:


> Apologies if this is already known, but I've only just found out.
> 
> looking arund for Spanish (and Catalan) courses with colleges and online and whatnot and I found that you can do free language courses with Learn Direct.
> 
> ...


Could you give a link as I can only get info about an English course which has a free demo, but then you have to pay. Maybe it's because I'm accessing it from Spain? I wanted info about other courses, not languages

There are some excellent free courses from the BBC (Mi vida Loca)
BBC - Learn Spanish with free online lessons

The Open University
Portales: beginners' Spanish second edition - OpenLearn - Open University

Once you are in Spain your Town Hall may give free or very cheap classes.

Also you can search the forum for lots and lots of ideas and resources about learning Spanish


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## Mushu7 (Jul 17, 2015)

Languages 

Thats the link for the learndirect website. However I looked on my local college website and it is free with learndirect with them. So if anyone is interested it would be worth looking at your local college website - the advisor I spoke to said it was a Government initiative throughout the UK that anyone wanting to learn an EU language can do so for free via this route.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Mushu7 said:


> Languages
> 
> Thats the link for the learndirect website. However I looked on my local college website and it is free with learndirect with them. So if anyone is interested it would be worth looking at your local college website - the advisor I spoke to said it was a Government initiative throughout the UK that anyone wanting to learn an EU language can do so for free via this route.


Yep, that goes straight to a site that comes up initially in Spanish and is a site for learning English that you have to pay for. There's no menu to give access to other courses.
Must be because I'm in Spain


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## Helenameva (Aug 15, 2014)

Pesky Wesky said:


> Yep, that goes straight to a site that comes up initially in Spanish and is a site for learning English that you have to pay for. There's no menu to give access to other courses.
> Must be because I'm in Spain


Same here. That's a shame. But an excellent resource for UK based learners. The importance of learning the language cannot be over emphasised. It's hard work but will make life so much easier here.


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## Naomira (Feb 25, 2015)

I found two free sites which I use from time to time, spanishdict.com and culturealley.


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## Mushu7 (Jul 17, 2015)

Yeh sorry guys - it must come up compltely different when abroad. It must be specific for UK residents wanting to learn another language so yes great for those wanting to move.


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## Keithtoon (May 7, 2015)

This Forum is so so helpful.....some wonderful links on this post....well done and a big thank you.
Keithtoon


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## Helenameva (Aug 15, 2014)

A good website to learn Catalan is parla.cat. It's free, comprehensive and enjoyable.


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## Maureen47 (Mar 27, 2014)

I accessed the learn direct from the UK and it also requires payment.


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## Helenameva (Aug 15, 2014)

I'm sure this course has been mentioned in another thread recently but I can't find it so I'm posting it here again just in case -

https://www.edx.org/course/learn-sp...&utm_campaign=Student_Newsletter_September_15

It's a free beginner's course and has just started.


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## Elyles (Aug 30, 2012)

Most communities have adult learning programs that include Español para Extranjeros. They are free. My wife and I have been enrolled here in Jaca for three years now.


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## ccm47 (Oct 15, 2013)

Yes Espanol para los estranjeros can be a good way to make friends and from the international set too.
I actually ended up speaking 2 languages in each class as I'd get a weekly fix of French before and after class with some of my fellow students . Whereas the Germans found me hard to cope with as my pronunciation was almost the reverse of theirs and I had to be rescued a couple of times by the teacher because they were trying to get me to speak Spanish with a German accent!
In my class there were 5 Germans, 3 French, 3 Moroccans, 1 Russian and a couple of others whose nationality I've forgotten. I felt quite sorry for the Moroccans as they had done a hard day's work before coming out to class and were struggling with the non-Arabic alphabet. I'd definitely go again if I could.


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