Hola a todos,
With nearly 330 million native speakers (417 million if you include second-language speakers), Spanish is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. It is spoken in many countries and continents including Spain, Mexico, Central America, and virtually all of South America (excluding Brazil, where Portuguese is the official language). Spanish is also spoken by many people in California, New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas. Being such a prevalent language, you will likely use Spanish at some point in your life.
Now, some people may want to simply learn how to understand and speak verbal Spanish. On the other hand, more ambitious folks may also wish to learn how to read and write Spanish. In either case, you will find some useful resources here.
RESOURCES FOR LEARNING TO SPEAK SPANISH:
With a total of 80 episodes, each one being anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes long, Coffee Break Spanish will gently guide you through the Spanish language from very basic lessons which teach you common greetings (IE: “Hola”, “Cómo estás”, “Adiós”), to intermediate lessons where you analyze Spanish conversation. You can download all the episodes for free in iTunes and transfer them on to your iPod or you can download them in MP3 format from this website and listen to them in your preferred media player. One must pay extra for bonus material (transcripts, enhanced podcasts, etc), but if you are willing to put in some extra effort you can write your own transcripts with the help of Google Translate and Search. If you complete all eighty episodes (congratulations!), you can move onto their more advanced podcast “Show Time Spanish“.
YouTube is a great supplement to Coffee Break Spanish because it allows you to apply what you’ve learned. You can find Spanish lessons, TV shows, and movies on YouTube. By simply listening to Spanish while watching pictures and body language you will pickup the language. After all, isn’t that how you learned English? The embedded video below is entirely in Spanish, but includes pictures and body language to help you comprehend the meaning of the spoken words.
3. MSN, Yahoo, and Skype
You probably live in a non-Spanish speaking country, making it difficult to meet and practise with native speakers. However, the Internet makes it possible to meet people online who speak Spanish natively. Check out the Spanish chat room on TheChatPage website. Perhaps you will meet a native speaker there from Spain, Mexico or South America. Ask them for their MSN, Yahoo IM, or Skype contact information and have a conversation with them online (You must both have microphones or webcams). I recently met a man from Bogota, Colombia who practised Spanish with me via webcam on MSN.
RESOURCES FOR READING AND WRITING SPANISH:
Use Google Translate to translate Spanish to English or English to Spanish (among many other languages!). Again, use this as a supplement to the resources above (or if you just want to impress someone who speaks Spanish 
) Google Translate is especially useful if you are trying to write your own transcripts of Coffee Break Spanish. Just type the English sentence in and get the proper Spanish translation:
Use Google Translate to translate Spanish to English and vice versa
No translate service is perfect, including Google’s. So, if you are unsure of the accuracy of Google’s output, use elMundo as an alternative. Sometimes both are incorrect, and you have to think a little bit to get the correct translation. Don’t worry though, soon you’ll be your own translator! 
You can use Google Search to check for spelling mistakes. If you’re unsure of the spelling of a certain Spanish word or phrase, enter it into Google and often it will return the correct spelling for you.
Use Google Search to check for spelling errors in your Spanish
Watch others chat in Spanish and join in if you like. Use Google to translate words or phrases that you’re unsure of. Meet people in Chat rooms and exchange MSN, Yahoo or Skype contact info. As mentioned above, if you have a webcam, you can practise speaking Spanish online with native speakers.
Well, that about sums up some of the most handy resources for learning Spanish. Good luck in your endeavour to conquer another language!
Hasta luego amigos!
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