Twenty countries, more mother-tongue speakers than any language but Mandarin, and top of the British Council’s list of the languages Britain needs. The case for Spanish, set out properly.
Spanish grammar, accents and culture
Notes on learning Spanish from the tutors who teach it in London every week. The posts here cover the grammar that catches English speakers out, the difference between Castilian and the Spanish of Latin America, the accents you will meet from Bogotá to Buenos Aires, and the practical side of getting from first words to a real conversation. We teach private Spanish lessons across London, and business Spanish for teams at their own offices.
How long does it take to learn Spanish?
The question new students ask first. The honest answer turns on how often you study, what you do between lessons and what you mean by fluent — and a year of regular lessons gets further than most people expect.
What Spain’s World Cup victory can teach us about learning Spanish
A tournament hands a learner the one thing a textbook cannot: something they already want to talk about.
Why do Spanish speakers seem to speak so fast?
They are not speaking faster than you are. Spanish joins its words together differently, and once you hear where the joins fall the speed falls away with them.
Learning Spanish because your partner speaks it?
Learning for a partner and their family is the most personal reason there is, and it changes both what a course needs to cover and what counts as progress.
Why Spanish has two words for “to be”
Spanish has two verbs for “to be”, and the choice stops being a guess once you can see what each of them is doing. A plain explanation, with the cases that catch people out.
Why Spanish pronunciation is easier than English.
Spanish spelling tells you what to say: five clean vowel sounds and very few surprises. The handful of sounds worth practising, and the fear you can put down.
How to sound more natural in Spanish (without sounding like a textbook)
Textbook Spanish is correct and still sounds like a textbook. The small habits that close the gap between accurate and natural.
Spanish expressions that don’t translate into English (and what they really mean)
Five phrases that refuse to behave in English, what each one means, and the moment a Spanish speaker reaches for it.
False friends in Spanish: The words that trick English speakers
English and Spanish share thousands of words and most mean what you would expect. These are the ones that do not, including the handful that cause trouble at work.
Por vs Para in Spanish: The Tiny Words That Cause Big Drama
Two short words that stop a fluent sentence dead. The idea behind each one, which turns the choice into a decision rather than a guess.
Why Apps don’t make you fluent in Spanish
A pattern among our London students: months of daily app practice and still no conversation. What the apps do well, and what they leave for someone else to do.
Common struggles when learning Spanish, and how to fix them
Spanish is one of the kindest languages to an English speaker, and almost every adult learner still meets the same few walls. What they are and how to get past them.
Exploring the Rich Diversity of Spanish Accents
Close to six hundred million speakers, across Spain, most of Latin America and much of the United States. A tour of the accents and what sets each one apart.
Apps, classes or a private tutor: what works best?
Each has its place and most learners end up using more than one. What each is good at, and which to choose for the result you are after.
Where to practise Spanish in London
About 117,000 Londoners speak Spanish as their main language, which makes it the city’s second most common. Where to find them, from language exchanges to the places you already walk past.
Is there a difference between Spanish and Castellano?
Students ask this in their first lesson more often than any other question about the language. Two names for the same thing, and what each one implies about where you are standing.
Argentina and its distinctive Spanish accent
Every Spanish-speaking country has its own accent. Only one is recognised inside a single sentence by every other Spanish speaker on earth.
Latin America: A world of opportunities for English speakers
Eighteen countries, more than four hundred million speakers, and a set of openings for an English speaker with skills to offer.
Traditional paper dictionaries vs Spanish apps
The question used to be whether an app could replace the dictionary that sat on every language student’s desk. What the phone has settled, and what it has not.
Is improving your Spanish one of your New Year’s Resolutions?
Learning a language is among the commonest New Year’s resolutions and among the first to be abandoned. Both facts have the same cause, and it is a fixable one.
Formal Spanish
English manages with one word for “you”. Spanish has four, five in parts of Latin America, and the choice is the first thing a native speaker notices.
Colombian Spanish
Colombia is the country most often named as the place to hear the clearest Spanish, and what people mean by that is Bogotá. Why its accent carries so well, and the expressions worth knowing before you go.
Spanish can be a very easy language to learn for English speakers
Prospective students ask one question more than any other: is Spanish hard? The Foreign Service Institute, which has trained American diplomats since 1947, puts it in the easiest band there is.