Last updated: November 2018
5 Instagram accounts to follow if you’re learning Spanish
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If you’re actively trying to improve your Spanish, getting a little bit of practice every day is an extremely effective way of doing that. For anyone who’s already in the habit of checking Instagram at least once a day, it’s a great place to get that regular Spanish fix, without evening thinking about it.
There are loads of Instagram profiles that claim to help you learn Spanish but not all of them are genuinely useful. In fact a lot of them are quite pointless. I did a thorough search around Instagram and these are the ones I think are most useful.
Accounts had to meet a few criteria to make it onto my list:
• needs to have Spanish in every post (we don’t want to see a teacher’s holiday photos)
• they must post regularly — at least several times a week
• needs to do more than just post individual random words
Here are my five favourites, in no particular order:
1. Mariela in Spanish
https://www.instagram.com/marielainspanish
What is it? Videos containing mini lessons and narration of every day activities in Spanish.
Why do I like it? Mariela gives genuinely useful Spanish lessons that focus on common mistakes and confusing bits of grammar or vocabulary. Sometimes in her Stories she’ll narrate what she’s doing, with key vocabulary translated on screen. Narrating daily life is great because, after all, that’s the really useful stuff that most courses and grammar books don’t tell you! The other day she explained what she was doing as she parked in a car park to go shopping.
2. Spanish English Rosie
https://www.instagram.com/spanish_english_rosie
What is it? Picture posts with a weekly theme. Every Monday you get a new ‘word of the week’ then every day throughout the week you see example sentences containing that word, translated in English and Spanish.
Why do I like it? It’s really good at reenforcing new words. Loads of Instagram accounts posts a different random Spanish word or phrase each day. I don’t think this is helpful for real learning because you look at it for 3 seconds and then never again, so you’re unlikely to remember it. Here you get more chance to practise so you’re more likely to remember. Also, the posts have a really pretty colour scheme!
3. Your Spanish Guide
https://www.instagram.com/yourspanishguid
What is it? Regular (daily or almost daily) mini Spanish lessons on video. David explains grammar points and tells you interesting phrases and idioms.
Why do I like it? David explains grammar points very clearly. As well as that, it’s just good to hear some spoken Spanish every day. I particularly liked one of his posts the other day where he taught the phrase “hacer la cobra” which translates as “make the cobra” and refers to the movement you do when you swing your neck backwards to avoid a kiss from someone! Brilliant!
4. Human Spanish
https://www.instagram.com/humanspanish
What is it? Spanish phrases and sentences with audio, so you can hear the pronunciation too.
Why do I like it? As I’ve said, lots of accounts post written Spanish phrases but I think it’s really important to hear the pronunciation too and get used to spoken Spanish. I think this is quite a new account and I would like it to post more regularly.
5. Spanish phrase of the day
https://www.instagram.com/spanishphraseoftheday
What is it? As it says, it’s a Spanish phrase every day!
Why do I like it? The picture contains the Spanish and the English is in the description. This means you can test your understanding by looking at just the Spanish first, then checking the English. Also, they tend to be colloquial phrases that you would hear in typical conversation.
