Apps for advanced Spanish learners (ie. what to do if Duolingo is too easy)
After learning and using Spanish for about 20 years, I know there’s still a lot of new vocabulary I can learn. I could also still be better at understanding different accents and generally feeling more confident when I speak.
However, I’ve reached a point where almost all ‘language learning’ apps are far too easy for me.
Recently I’ve been trying hard to find apps and resources that are sufficiently challenging and useful. Here are 3 great solutions that I’ve been enjoying.
- Langua — an app for practising conversation with AI (the best I found after testing many)
- Daily Language Practice — quick daily speaking and listening challenges
- Spanish content creators on Instagram
Read on to find out how I use these and why I like them.
Langua
A lot of ‘AI language tutor’ apps have launched recently because it’s now so easy to create realistic open conversations using AI. Using text or voice you can have a conversation in Spanish and your mistakes will be corrected.
I’ve tested about 6 of these apps and the one I like the most is Langua. Compared to others, Langua has the most human-like voices, the most natural responses from the AI and the option to include more slang in the responses.
Because it’s AI, it’s capable of having a challenging conversation about any topic, which may not always be true for real-life conversation partners.
Also, compared to others, Langua makes it easy to get straight into an open conversation without being treated like a beginner who needs to learn words and phrases first.
Daily Language Practice
If you like doing a small amount of practice every day, this app offers that, but with much more focus on speaking than there is in Duolingo.
And when I say speaking, I don’t just mean reading a sentence off a screen, but talking freely and constructing your own sentences, like we do in the real world. This app makes it very easy to practise that type of speaking.
There is also listening practice and you’ll listen to real Spanish speakers, not computer-generated voices. The audio you hear is from natural speech, so it’s more challenging.
Spanish content creators on Instagram
Like a lot of people, I can be guilty of wasting huge amounts of time scrolling through Instagram. I decided to make the most of this time by following more Spanish content creators. Not ‘language learning’ content but videos intended for native speakers.
My absolute favourite is Esteban Said. I found him just before a trip to Mexico City and I’ve learnt so much great Mexican slang from his very amusing videos. I also love Carmen in UK, a Spanish woman who makes great content about living in the UK.
If you really want an extreme approach, how about starting a new account and following only Spanish creators?
