Coursera Spanish Courses & Certifications [2023]

Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world.

Learning a new language can open doors for many, it enables you to connect and communicate with people from around the world as well as apply for jobs that require a bi-lingual applicant.

Learning a language takes time and patience, it also needs to fit around your already busy schedule.

It can be inconvenient to attend a Spanish class each week, battling traffic and cold nights. Luckily, in today’s society, we can easily learn from the comfort of our own homes.

The rise in online learning platforms means that we no longer have to attend physical classes at scheduled times, we can slot in our language learning when it’s convenient for us.

In this article, learn the best Coursera Spanish courses to take with the online learning platform Coursera.

What Are Coursera Courses?

Coursera is an online learning platform that allows students to learn from wherever they are in the world.

There are more than 5,000 online courses available via the platform encompassing a wide variety of subjects.

The courses are taught by partners from leading universities and companies to enable students to learn Spanish and valuable and job-relevant skills that they can take out into the world with them.

Although the majority of the courses are behind a paywall, there are also several free courses that are accessible to everyone.

That being said, the paid-for courses are affordable and offer high-quality learning on a flexible schedule.

The courses range from beginner to advanced, they can vary in duration and the requirements that are expected of the student in order to complete the course.

Are The Courses Free?

Coursera courses are free to enroll in but the extra features are not free to access.

Only students who have paid for the entirety of the course content will receive a shareable certificate to state they have completed the learning.

There are also a number of graded tests and quizzes that are available through the paid versions of the courses, which demonstrate to employers that extended learning has taken place.

Financial aid options are available through the site, which can help those on a low income.

Many employers or educational institutions will often pay for students to complete these courses.

Spanish Vocabulary Courses

One of the main aspects of learning Spanish as a new language is understanding the basic Spanish vocabulary specialization. There are many online Spanish courses that focus on learning vocabulary, which are as follows.

1. Learn Spanish: Basic Spanish Vocabulary

• Offered by: University of California, Davis
• Length: Approximately 5 months
• Level: Beginner

This best online Spanish course is a specialization in learning the most popular and well-used words and phrases in the Spanish language.

There are five different best online Spanish courses in this specialization, reflecting the different study areas you will undertake.

By the end of the course, students will have learned 1500 commonly used Spanish words.

The categories include:

• Spanish Vocabulary: Meeting People
• Spanish Vocabulary: Cultural Experience
• Spanish Vocabulary: Sports, Travel, and the Home
• Spanish Vocabulary: Careers and Social Events
• Spanish Vocabulary: Project

As you will notice below, each of these courses can be taken individually or within the specialization depending on what the individual would like to learn.

Therefore, students with knowledge in one area may want to skip one of these modules.

Teaching occurs via a number of videos and readings, with practice quizzes and graded quizzes set by the instructor.

There are also a number of graded assignments with peer feedback too.

The applied learning project at the end of the Spanish course will test all the grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary skills that the individual has picked up throughout the course.

Here the student is expected to write a short piece and give an oral presentation which will be graded by their peers.

Upon completion of this course, students will receive a shareable certificate demonstrating they have completed the course to the best of their ability.

This certificate can be shared on job sites such as LinkedIn or added to their CV to demonstrate their language skills.

2. Spanish Vocabulary: Meeting People

• Offered by: University of California, Davis
• Length: Approximately 16 hours
• Level: Beginner

This is part one of the Spanish vocabulary specialization course, however, it can be taken on its own.

For those looking to learn the basics in terms of grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation, this online course will teach you all this in relation to talking about your friends and family as well as yourself.

The course only studies the present tense as it is a beginner’s course, to help students understand the basics before moving on to anything harder.

Split into 3 modules, each module consists of video lectures, readings, and quizzes to consolidate learning.

The modules are as follows:

• Talking About Family and Friends
• Talking About the Body
• Talking About Places and Weather
• Peer Review Activity

At the end of the course, students will take part in a peer-reviewed activity in which students will undertake a specific task relating to the module and upload it to the site.

This will then be peer-reviewed and students will receive feedback about this assignment.

3. Spanish Vocabulary: Cultural Experience

• Offered by: University of California, Davis
• Length: Approximately 18 hours
• Level: Beginner

The second part of the Spanish vocabulary specialization course surrounds the cultural experience.

Again, this course can be taken on its own if the student prefers to focus on this one specific subject area.

The course is split into the following modules:

• Talking About the Market and Food
• Talking About Daily Routines
• Talking About Leisure

As this course elaborates and builds on vocabulary in the previous course, students would benefit from having a basic understanding of Spanish here in order to get the full benefits.

More complex writing and communication skills are developed with the course such as communicating likes and dislikes as well as understanding common cultural experiences.

Learning consists of videos, readings, and quizzes for each module. There is no end-of-course quiz here.

Students can either move on to the next course within this specialization or end their learning here with a shareable certificate of completion.

4. Spanish Vocabulary: Sports, Travel, And The Home

• Offered by: University of California, Davis
• Length: Approximately 19 hours
• Level: Beginner

The third course in the Spanish specialization covers topics such as sports, travel, and the home.

New vocabulary will be introduced to students that relate to these topics, including politics and various cultural factors relating to Spanish-speaking countries.

There are also a few new tenses introduced to students here, including the progressive tense and the past tense.

With these tenses, students will be able to talk about activities they have previously enjoyed as well as talk about certain actions relating to sports.

Over three weeks, students will break their learning into three different modules which are:

• Talking About Sports and Pastimes
• Talking About Travel
• Talking About Your Living Arrangements

Learning is split into video tutorials, readings, and quizzes that relate to each of the modules.

Each module takes roughly 6 hours to complete, depending on how much time the student has to dedicate to their learning each week.

When students have completed their learning and passed their tests, they will receive a shareable certificate of completion.

5. Spanish Vocabulary: Careers and Social Events

• Offered by: University of California, Davis
• Length: Approximately 19 hours
• Level: Beginner

The fourth installment of the basic Spanish course is to do with careers and social events.

Here students will learn about the subjunctive and future tense as well as a whole bunch of new vocabulary.

If you are concerned about learning new tenses here, we would advise building up a basic level of Spanish before deciding to take this course.

This part of the course is split into three modules, which are as follows:

• Talking About Cafés and Restaurants
• Talking About Clothing And Fashion
• Talking About Careers and Professions

Each of these will follow the main pattern of all the other courses; they will consist of video tutorials, readings, and quizzes to help students consolidate their learning.

There is no main quiz at the end of the course as the extended project is the next step for those wishing to complete the entire specialization.

Every student that completes this course will receive a shareable certificate to demonstrate they have successfully completed the learning required.

6. Spanish Vocabulary Project

• Offered by: University of California, Davis
• Length: Approximately 22 hours
• Level: Beginner

The last part of the Spanish specialization course is the end project.

This only needs to be completed by those students that have completed all the other parts of this course.

Choosing this course will not teach you any to speak Spanish, it will just rest the skills and knowledge you already have.

That being said, this part is not mandatory for students that have followed the rest of the course. It is simply to consolidate knowledge and learning, testing it in a real-world context.

Each student will imagine they are applying for an all-expenses paid trip to a Spanish-speaking country.

The task requires students to complete a written report as well as an oral presentation using all the new vocabulary and grammar skills they have accumulated.

The written report is split into three parts and is split across four sections:

• Milestone 1: Introducing Yourself to Your Host Family
• Milestone 2: Culture and History of Your Selected Nation
• Milestone 3: Your Trip Plan
• Milestone 4: Final Report and Oral Presentation

Students will complete this final report using their 3-part plan over the course of 7 weeks, so there is no need to panic when looking at the syllabus.

The oral presentation is expected to last between 3-5 minutes and summarizes the key points of the report.

Other Spanish Courses

1. Spanish For Successful Communication In Healthcare Settings

• Offered by: Rice University
• Length: Approximately 24 hours
• Level: Intermediate

When working in a healthcare setting, knowing a second language can be highly beneficial.

Patients may come from anywhere in the world, so knowing a popular language can help to understand their wants and needs.

Each lesson taught in this course will cover a different physician-patient interaction.

Students will learn vocabulary, grammar, and certain aspects of sociocultural relevance that may occur in these situations.

The course is split into 16 videos, 24 readings, and one end-of-module quiz.

The Spanish lessons here are likened to virtual classes, in which students can reflect and practice what they learn through a number of activities.

This makes the lessons more interactive than the more traditional lecture-style lesson.

Students will complete handouts relating to their lessons and each module is followed by a 10-question quiz which will help them to consolidate their learning.

When the course is completed, students will receive a shareable certificate which can be shared with employers.

Frequently Asked Questions

What If I Don’t Have Enough Time Per Week To Complete The Course?

All Coursera courses offer flexible deadlines. The main reason these online platforms exist is to provide customers with something that is tailored to their specific needs and timetables, not the other way around.

As a result, the deadlines and durations of the courses act as a guideline and do not limit the student to rigid learning schedules.

Many deadlines can be reset and students can take their learning at their own pace.

Are Coursera Language Courses Worth It?

Coursera language courses can change over time, this means that the courses are constantly evolving and changing for the better.

What works for one student may not work for another. For example, some students do not thrive with self-paced learning and others do.

Many courses offer a 7-day free trial through which students can determine whether or not the course is suited to their needs.

If the student is not satisfied with the course, they will receive a full refund.

The Bottom Line

There are numerous Spanish courses available on the online learning platform Coursera.

More in-depth courses must be paid for, but they are highly rated and well-reviewed by the thousands of students that have previously taken them.

Learning a new language online has never been easier!