Many Spanish language courses are available for free via the Internet. Websites such as Learn Spanish and Spanish Romance offer a series of lessons for beginners and intermediate students, which start with basic phrases and vocabulary and progress to more advanced conversation and grammar skills. These sites also provide supplementary tools and information, such as online Spanish-English dictionaries, Spanish proverbs and Spanish music. Audio tracks are also available to help learners improve their listening comprehension skills and compare their own pronunciation to that of native speakers.
Spain is an excellent place to attend a training course in the language. The Cervantes Institute, located in Malaga, offers training courses for students of all levels. Course options include intensive Spanish courses with 30 lessons a week, designed for those who wish to learn or perfect the language in as short a time as possible, and longer duration Spanish courses with 20 lessons a week which provide complete immersion in Spanish life and culture. Cervantes also runs courses targeted at those who are learning Spanish for a particular purposes. Programs such as "Spanish for Lawyers," "Commercial Spanish" and "Spanish for Tourism" aim to meet the needs of those who wish to speak better Spanish to advance in their chosen careers.
Many Spanish language training courses are also available in Latin America for those who wish to learn the variant of Spanish spoken in the region. Companies, such as Spanish Study Holidays, offer courses at Spanish language schools in Mexico, Cuba, Costa Rica and Guatemala. All courses are run by fully qualified native Spanish speakers and range in length from one week to nine weeks, depending on the level of tuition. A Spanish language training course in Latin America is an excellent way to learn about the culture of the region as well as the features specific to the Spanish spoken there.
For those not wishing to travel abroad to study Spanish, there are also a variety of Spanish language training courses available in the United States. The website Study Abroad Links provides a searchable database of Spanish language schools in the U.S., and features learning programs in Miami, Colorado, Florida and Georgia. Narrowing the search by city or town enables you to find courses in your local area. Taking a language course near to where you live gives you the opportunity to learn Spanish less intensively and at lower cost than opting for a course overseas. However, it may take longer for you to achieve fluency in Spanish without the complete immersion in Spanish-speaking culture which an overseas course provides.