It's easier to learn Spanish free now we have the Internet. Of course, it was always possible to learn how to speak Spanish for free, but it required a lot of work. You would have to borrow language tapes from libraries, and spend a lot of time going through many different phrase books and textbooks. It was a lot of hard work, but ultimately it was worth it.

Now there are a lot of lessons and tutorials online which are designed to help you learn Spanish free. They are produced by people of different ability levels, from native Spanish speakers to trained language teachers, and even students and hobbyists have built spanish tutorials on the web.

The problem that you will face is that, although there is a lot of variety in the "learn Spanish free" resources, they tend to be very bit and piece. What I mean by this is that they are not complete courses, but are instead often a "sample" from a college course, or a project that has been abandoned.

As a result, while you will find these tutorials to be a good introduction to the subject, you should bear in mind that in the long run it will be easier and quicker for you to do a paid Spanish course.

My current top recommendation for people who want to learn Spanish free is the Rocket Spanish course. They provide a free course, which is quite introductory, and a paid option for when you want to take it further. The course is available here.

Rocket Spanish Course.

This covers basic to intermediate Spanish, both written and conversational. As it contains audio materials with voices provided by real native Spanish speakers, it is a great way to get familiar with the language without picking up bad habits.

BBC Spanish Site

Another good option is the introductory materials put out by the BBC. The BBC has a strong reputation for providing good quality content, and it is well deserved. This site is also very useful if you are revising for an exam.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/

Sispain.org

This is a great resource if you want to learn Spanish free. It is produced by The Embassy of Spain to help you learn Spanish and to promote Spanish relations. However, it is a bit old, and currently only works in DOS. If you remember the old days of DOS and are quite happy using it, then this is a great option for you.

http://www.sispain.org/english/course/calgary/index.html

There are a number of other free resources to help you learn Spanish. I am in the process of researching these, and will publish a more exhaustive list soon. In the meantime, I strongly suggest you start to learn Spanish free with the free 6 day course from Rocket Spanish.