FSI Spanish Basic Course

What is the FSI Spanish Basic course?

Originally developed in the late 1950s to give US diplomats a firm grounding in the language before being sent on missions to Spanish-speaking countries, FSI Spanish Basic is arguably the most comprehensive Spanish course ever created.

It consists of four volumes comprising a total of 60 lessons that include hundreds of drills, speaking exercises, texts for reading practice, and many hours of audio recordings for perfecting your pronunciation.

In short, it contains everything you need to start communicating confidently and effectively in Spanish in a wide range of situations.

This completely free online Spanish course is available here in its entirety, allowing you to start improving your Spanish today.

How was FSI Spanish Basic originally used?

This course was designed for full-time students who attended six hours of class per day.

On top of this, they were expected to spend at least two hours a day studying outside of class, and even when they weren’t in lessons, they were supposed to speak only Spanish among themselves.

This created the perfect conditions for them to make rapid progress, and within only six months, the students would already have acquired a high level of proficiency.

How can you use FSI Spanish Basic?

For most people, recreating these conditions is not a realistic prospect, but the wealth of material contained in this free Spanish course can still be used to aid you in achieving your learning goals.

When studying any language, one of the keys is to use a variety of materials, and if you already have a coursebook, you can use the materials found here to supplement your learning.

For example, making smart use of the innumerable drills contained within this course could be a great way to give your fluency a boost.

On the other hand, if you’re looking for a primary resource, which will then be supplemented by other materials, you could also adapt FSI Spanish Basic for this purpose.

Taking it further

As anyone who has successfully mastered a foreign language will tell you, you can’t become fluent through books alone, and as soon as possible, we also encourage you to get out into the real world and start using your Spanish.

Fortunately, with such a large number of speakers, this is not a language you should have trouble finding partners to practice with. And once you begin using it in real situations, that’s when you will see your Spanish ability truly start to grow.