Suggested websites

Hola RPrimeau. Bienvenido al foro. I'm not sure whether there's a Rocket Spanish dictionary, but there some good ones available for free online. One is called *Word Magic* at __http://www.wordmagicsoft.com/dictionary/tools/index.php__. You can look words up in either Spanish or English. I like this one because it seems to me to have more words and phrases than some of the others I've come upon online. However, BY FAR, the best source of information about words, phrases, idioms, etc. etc. etc. is *WordReference.com*. This is an amazing resource--a dictionary, a forum, and more. The best thing about the dictionary is that at the end of its definition offerings, it provides links to discussions in the forum that have dealt with the word or phrase you've asked about. Again, you can look in Spanish or in English (or a more than a dozen other languages). When I really want to know what a word means and how it's used, this is the place I turn. Nothing else comes close. You could start at __http://www.wordreference.com/es/translation.asp?tranword=welcome__. The better your Spanish becomes, the more you'll appreciate this site. As for places online where you can learn/practice Spanish, there are zillions. Here are some (probably more than you want) that I like: *Destinos* - A wonderful, terrific, marvelous telenovela (soap opera) created to teach Spanish. (Did I mention that I love it? ?) Available for free viewing at __http://www.learner.org/resources/series75.html__ . Great fun for people at all levels of proficiency in Spanish. Exercises and brief summaries in English and Spanish are available for each episode at http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072497084/student_view0/ *Notes in Spanish* - A series of free podcasts featuring conversations between Marina, who is from Spain, and her husband Ben, an Englishman who speaks rather good Spanish. The free podcasts, helpfully labeled as Inspired Beginner, Intermediate, or Advanced, cover a variety of topics. You can listen to them over the Internet or download them to your computer, and you can discuss the topics in English or in Spanish in the Notes in Spanish Forum. You can also buy full transcript of each podcast plus vocabulary and exercises. Be aware that Marina and Ben speak Castillian Spanish rather than Latin American: __http://www.notesinspanish.com/__ *La Casa Rojas* - Free online video lessons given by a Peruvian man and his American wife. They have set out with the goal of taking someone from knowing no Spanish to reasonable proficiency in one year. There are also video podcasts not tied to the lessons, and a magazine for which they charge a small amount of money. I find the lessons quite delightful and useful, though I think a total beginner would quickly be overwhelmed. But you're not a total beginner, so why not give them a try? __http://www.lacasarojas.com/?cat=201__ *SpanishPod* - SpanishPod.com -- __http://spanishpod.com__ . Lots of brief, fun, and interesting podcasts at various levels: Newbie, Beginner, Intermediate, Upper Intermediate, and Advanced. The Newbie podcasts are free, I think; to get other podcasts and partial transcripts, you have to pay money, but you can get a week's free access to all the transcripts, lessons, etc. Also, I think the Newbie transcripts are always free, but I'm not sure. I definitely recommend you give this a try. *Ejercicios de español para extranjeros: vocabulario, gramática, ejercicios de escucha*... Sounds dull, but it includes songs, short videos with transcripts, film trailers, crossword puzzles, and more. __http://www.ver-taal.com/__ *Spanish Language & Culture* - Lots of help with grammar, but imaginatively done with interesting audio and video. Created by Barbara Nelson, a professor at Colby College: __http://www.colby.edu/~bknelson/SLC/index.php__ *About Spanish* offers a huge array of resources for learning Spanish. Especially good for beginners and intermediate level students. __http://spanish.about.com/__ . There's also a related forum where you can ask questions about Spanish. __http://spanish.about.com/mpboards.htm__ . *Study Spanish* - Extensive resources for grammar, idioms, pronunciation, useful links, and more: __http://studyspanish.com/tutorial.htm__ . *Learn Spanish (Lingolex)*, offers helpful resources for vocabulary (including words describing personality, food, appearance, jobs, and lots more), grammar, finding penpals or chat partners, and related links: __http ://www.lingolex.com/spanish.htm__ . *Busuu* - a free online community for learning languages, including Spanish. You can get some practice reading and writing and can make contact with people all over the world with whom you can correspond. __http://www.busuu.com/__ *News in Slow Spanish* - I only recently found out about this site, but it looks (and sounds) very promising. Here's part of the description from the website: "News in Slow Spanish is a podcast for those who already possess a basic vocabulary and some knowledge of Spanish grammar. Your host, Cinta, is a native Spanish speaker from Barcelona, Spain. She will read our news selection and she and her students will discuss the news in simplified Spanish at a slow pace so that you can understand almost every word and sentence." Parts of the site are free, while others cost money. Definitely worth a look: __http://www.newsinslowspanish.com/home.php__ *How to type Spanish accents and special characters*: See __http://www.starr.net/is/type/altnum.htm__ for info about different methods. I use the "Alt key + 4 digits" method described there. E.g., ALT + 0233 = é, ALT + 0241 = ñ, etc. Or you could try free software called *AllChars*, which some people find even easier: __http://allchars.zwolnet.com/introduction.html__. I use AllChars on my laptop, where the ALT+4 method is more difficult. Though I know you asked for web resources, I want to mention three paperback books that I VERY highly recommend: *¡Búscalo!: A Quick Reference Guide to Spanish Grammar and Usage*. William M. Clarkson and Guillermo Campos. A short, easy-to-understand paperback that somehow manages to cover just about all the important points of Spanish grammar. I turn to it more often than any other, and it almost always answers my questions quickly and clearly. *Spanish Verb Tenses*. Dorothy Devney Richmond. An amazingly good book for explaining Spanish verb tenses and providing lots of useful, challenging exercises (with answers in the back). The same author has also written an excellent companion volume entitled Spanish Pronouns and Prepositions. *Breaking Out of Beginner's Spanish*. Joseph J. Keenan. I love this book!! I started reading it when I had been studying Spanish for just a few months. At that point, it was interesting but too advanced for me. Each time I come back to it, I learn more, and each time I find it a pleasure to read, even its discussion of the subjunctive (in a chapter called "The Twilight Zone"). Other chapters have titles such as "Ten Ways to Avoid Being Taken for a Gringo," "Tricksters," "The Secret Life of Verbs," "Snappy Answers," and "Invective and Obscenity," to name just a few. The above should keep you busy for a while. I hope you find something you like. :D

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