Free & Useful Apps to Learn Spanish (According to My Students!)
The other day, I asked a group of students this question:
"What apps or platforms do you use to learn Spanish?"
...and wow, I was not expecting such a wide variety of answers!
So today, I want to share their amazing suggestions with you. Even if you're a beginner or a more advanced learner, you might find a new tool here to add to your daily practice.
Vamos!
PART I: The ones I usually recommend
Here are a few tools that I usually share with students who want extra practice outside of class (apart from the Extra Grammar Ebook and the PDFs I always share... some of you are always hungry for extra practice!).
These were originally also recommended by students, and I've been re-recomending them since then.
All of these are either completely free or have very good and solid free versions.
Duolingo Podcasts
Link aquí
This was recommended originally from a dear student, and he was so happy about the pace of the stories (as Spaniards tend to talk at crazy speed), and the stories in the past tenses, which he always had trouble using in a mixed and natural way.
Here they share short stories in Spanish with English narration in between.
Great for listening on the go, and they’re especially helpful for intermediate learners.
Dreaming Spanish
A favorite! A dear friend from EEUU who helped me a lot with my web design recommended this for me.
This YouTube-based platform offers tons of videos a wide variety of levels and accents, and it¡s all based on comprehensible input.
They have content for absolute beginners all the way to advanced levels. Super engaging and actually fun to watch.
I'm still waiting for something like this but in Italian!
Babbel
Link aquí
It's not 100% free, but it offers a few lessons for free and is well-structured. I usually recommend it to people who love a more academic or grammar-based approach.
Busuu
Link aquí
Similar to Babbel but with more interactive features and a community aspect. They also let you practice with native speakers by correcting each other’s writing.
PART II: The apps a new group recommended — and I loved discovering
Here’s where it gets interesting. When I recently asked a new group of students who are learning an A1 course, they came up with some amazing tools I had never heard of before!
Here they are:
“Charlemos” Facebook group
Apparently, there’s a great little community on Facebook where Spanish learners and native speakers meet up virtually to practice together. It's a friendly space to ask questions and exchange voice notes or texts.
I had heard about other Facebook groups who offer language exchanges, but this one seems absolutely lovely and safer (especially for women - I've myself suffered some harrassment from online apps for language exchanges).
HelloTalk
Link aquí
A super interactive app that connects you with native Spanish speakers (and speakers of basically any language).
You can chat, send voice messages, and even correct each other's sentences.
Language Transfer – Complete Spanish
Totally free, audio-based, and very different from anything else out there. It focuses on logic and how the language works. It’s like learning through conversation and reasoning, perfect for curious minds.
Airlearn
A newer platform where you can listen to native speakers and adjust the speed and subtitles. I tried it for a bit and really liked how natural it felt. Great for listening and picking up real-life vocabulary.
TalkPal AI
Link aquí
One student described it as "Duolingo meets ChatGPT." You chat with an AI who speaks Spanish and corrects your messages. Está bueno if you’re trying to build confidence but you get a bit too anxious when speaking to real people.
Bueno, hasta aqui el post.
Muchas, muchas gracias 💛...
to all the students who shared these ideas: GRACIAS. You reminded me that the best resources often come from each other. Learning is a community process, and it’s beautiful to see how many tools are out there to support us along the way.
Got more app ideas? Message me on Whatsapp — I’d love to hear about them!