I'm looking for an online Spanish course

I definitely have some thoughts on this! I have a Skype teacher through a Spanish school in Guatemala called Ixchel. They have an online curriculum, but are also flexible to student goals. My teacher and I often spend about half of the class just talking, and the other half working through a grammar and literature textbook. She's absolutely awesome, and she said the school has had had lots of increased interest in their online classes.

I also know that another Spanish school I've visited in person, Habla in Mérida, Mexico, has started doing online classes. I really loved their in-person curriculum (very arts-based and creative), so I bet the online classes would be good too. They seem to have created a very structured curriculum for online as well, and it looks like they have group and individual classes.

Spanish spoken in Spain is generally Castilian Spanish, which is a different pronunciation than in South America. Eg gracias is pronounced grath-e-ath in much of Spain and gra-see-as in South America. Where you want to use it may influence where you try to find a course.

I am also about to start learning some Spanish whilst in lockdown as I only have some limited tourist language under my belt at present. Someone I know that is fluent said the purest Spanish and that which was easiest to follow was that spoken in Ecuador and the worst was Mexican, which had many dialects and was spoken quicker. I spend longer in Spain than South America, so will learn Castillian Spanish.

There are dozens of You Tube videos teaching the basics, so try a few and see what style works best for you.

Have a look at the BBC’s Mi Vida Loca - it’s an interactive dramatic film - quite entertaining, good music and I’ve learned quite a lot of good conversational Spanish from watching it. Adios!

Thank you all for raising very good points. I want to significantly improve my Spanish before a 2021 trip to Spain.

I'll start with Youtube.

I highly recommend Destinos, a college-level first year course taught by means of an interesting story (a young female Mexican-American lawyer is hired by a wealthy Mexican gentleman to track down his missing heir). I looked forward to each episode and often watched two or three in succession. You will become engrossed in Rachel's search as she travels to Spain, Argentina, and Puerto Rico on her quest. Each country's speakers use the local pronunciation so you are exposed to Castilian Spanish and others.

It is free to watch online from annenberg.org.

https://www.learner.org/series/destinos-an-introduction-to-spanish/

I recommend buying the accompanying text if you are serious ( it is available from Amazon and maybe from Annenberg as well). The workbook was not worth the trouble; just get the text.

Lola - Thanks for the link to the online course. I've been studying Spanish on my phone through an app, but I was looking for something where I could hear more than one or two sentences at a time being said. This looks like a great place to start. Thanks!!

Ah Destinos, the bane of many a college Spanish student in the 1980-1990s.:)

As for learning LA or Spain Spanish, to be honest, it really doesn't make a difference. There are so many variations of Spanish in different countries that even some Spanish speakers have trouble when they go to another country. However many young South Americans have moved to Spain to further their careers and studies and are understood. Think of it as an Aussie or Brit coming to visit America-the accent and some words may be different but they are able to be understood.
Plus, I've found Spanish speakers to be the most kind and patient with non Spanish using the language. I'd say more than 3/4 of the people I meet let me use my college level Spanish and compliment me, even though I know I sound awkward.

If you are a member of your public library, they often have online databases in which a language-learning program is included. For example, my public library has a subscription to Mango Languages, and my academic library has a subscription to Rosetta Stone. I did French via Rosetta Stone and really liked it.

Frommers sent out this offer today. I didn't check it out, but I may . . . depends on how bored I get next week.

If you're into podcasts, there are some channels devoted to learning a specific language. Helped me better than language learning apps especially when it comes to pronunciation.