Whether you are planning to visit the country or just fancy learning a new language to exercise the grey matter, learning Spanish is a great thing to do. There are various ways to learn languages from evening classes, private tutors to online software.

Now we can add mobile apps to the list as there is an excellent range of apps on offer that can help you learn Spanish or a variety of other languages on your own terms. Study whenever is convenient at a time to suit you. If you are looking for an app to teach you Spanish then why not start by checking these out.

Duolingo

This is a great language app that is available for both Android and iOS devices from their respective app stores. In 2013 Duolingo won the Best App Award in both the Google Play Store and the App Store and it continues to rank highly.

You can choose to learn a range of languages and lessons are divided into manageable units that follow a theme, for example, work, medicine and education, so you can work methodically through or pick the most useful for your needs. Each lesson helps you not only learn words and pronunciation but more technical aspects of the languages such as tenses, adjectives, adverbs and nouns, etc. It focuses more on the practicalities of speaking the language, so there is not much in the way of grammar for written Spanish.

You will find each of the units offers a collection of sub-units which focus on about 7-10 new words. This means you are learning in bite-size chunks and more likely to retain the information. You learn through a range of voice recording where you have to record yourself parroting a sentence, matching words to pictures, dragging words into the right order to form sentences and translating either way from English-Spanish or Spanish-English. The app is free to download.

Learn Spanish with Mind Snacks

The premise for this app is that it is aimed mainly at school-age children learning the language at school, but that said it has a lot to offer and can work for anyone. It has a game like format which is why there is such an appeal to the younger learner.

There are nine games on offer, and each is again split into the type of themes such as home, food or school. Each game offers a different format which is more likely to hold attention in younger players and designed to help you learn Spanish while having fun. One of the games is called Swell and is something of a word matching game where you correctly identify the Spanish translation of an English word. The game has a speed element and gets faster as it progresses, so the aim is to maintain your winning streak for as long as possible.

The graphical presentation follows the overall objective and is quite a child based, but it is a fun way to learn and could work equally well for adults. The app is only available for iOS users and costs £4.99 to download; there are no further charges after that.

Rosetta Stone

If there is one name that most people have heard of when it comes to learning foreign languages as an adult, it is probably Rosetta Stone. They have a clear methodology that differs from many other apps, but it is tried and tested, and they believe it is the one that works best.

You learn Spanish (or any other language you are studying with them) in the native language, and English is not used. It mimics the way a Spanish speaking child would learn their native tongue. Widely promoted as immersive learning, you will not find any English translations to help you. Images and audio support the learning experience, and there is a live tutor on offer where you can schedule lessons. Conversing with native speakers is considered one of the best ways to learn any language so something you should potentially consider.

This is an intensive way to learn Spanish, and the voice recognition will correct your pronunciation but has been built to acknowledge non-native speakers, as naturally, we will be not pronouncing things in exactly the same way as those who have spoken Spanish all their lives.

The Rosetta Stone app is available on both the Google Play Store and the App Store. It is free to download and have a look around, but after that, you will have to sign up for a subscription to learn Spanish fully.

Learn Spanish: Language Course

Another great and easy to follow app, Learn Spanish offers you free lessons each day. Learn and memories words and sentences with easy The lessons are fun and nicely interactive, making it great for all ages of learner.

You will find elements of vocabulary, grammar, and lessons on pronunciation so you can be sure you are getting the basics right before you move on. There is a good range of lessons at various levels so you can start using this app even if you are an improver with some prior knowledge of Spanish. The app aims to teach useful phrases rather than just isolated words so you can be sure you are structuring your sentences correctly. There is a state of the art voice recognition system that helps determine your speech and makes corrections in a way that is useful.

You can see a leaderboard of all your friends to help you stay motivated as you vie for top position. This is a subscription based app but the level of Spanish offered make this more than worth while. You can pay monthly at a cost of $9.99 or subscribe for a year for just $47.99 which is a great saving and gives you plenty of time to cover all the topics on offer.

Start learning Spanish today with Learn Spanish: Language course and you will be speaking fluently in no time, and able to impress your friends and family on the next holiday.