Spoken Spanish · Lavapiés, Madrid
Finally speak Spanish. Even from zero.
Paula is a vet in Madrid: she spends her days explaining complicated things to worried people, simply. With you, she speaks Spanish out loud, and corrects your mistakes in writing, off to the side, without cutting you off.
- Total beginners welcome
- Five minutes is enough
- Free during the beta
Hear a real exchange
A Tuesday evening, ten minutes.
She remembers you were seeing a flat on Saturday. She asks. Your mistake goes off to the side.
Paula
Oye, ¿al final fuiste a ver el piso el sábado? ¿Qué tal?
Hey, did you end up seeing the flat on Saturday? How was it?
You
Sí, fui. Es muy pequeño, pero estoy muy contento de él.
Yes, I went. It's really small, but I'm really happy with it.
Paula
Vale, pequeño pero tuyo. ¿Y qué te convenció, la luz o el barrio?
Okay, small but yours. And what won you over, the light or the neighbourhood?
Not textbook Spanish. The Spanish they speak in Madrid.
You may have learned your conjugations in columns. At the bar or the pharmacy, nobody will give you time to recite them.
What you learn elsewhere
- ¿Cómo está usted? — even to someone your age
- Conjugations in columns, never said out loud
- A voice with no accent, from no country
- Your Latin American Spanish “corrected”, as if it were wrong
What you learn with Paula
- ¿Qué tal? Vale, venga — what people actually say
- The past tense learned by telling your week, corrected in the margin
- A Madrid accent, with its lisped z and c
- Your ustedes, carro or celular: never corrected, they're right
Don't speak a word yet?
Your first sentence in Spanish, in five minutes.
Three units to start: Paula says a sentence, slowly, with its translation underneath. You repeat it out loud, and your pronunciation is scored word by word. Then the guided lessons take over, one sentence at a time.
- 1Say hello and your name
¡Hola! · ¿Qué tal? · Bien, ¿y tú?5 min - 2Say where you're from
Soy de Francia. · Vivo en París. · ¿De dónde eres?5 min - 3Say you didn't understand
No entiendo. · ¿Puedes repetir, por favor? · Más despacio, por favor.5 min
Three moves. The rest is conversation.
You tap and talk
One button, your voice. Like a voice note to a friend in Madrid.
Paula answers out loud
Within seconds, calmly. She slows down when you get stuck, and always keeps it going.
Your mistake goes in the margin
Explained in English, off to the side. You keep talking and read it later.
A real conversation partner, not an exercise.
Scenes in Madrid
A caña at the bar, the San Fernando market, the Rastro on Sunday, lunch with the in-laws. Each with a goal to reach.
She remembers you
Your name, your job, what you talked about last time. No more of the same questions every session.
Your level, tracked
A five-question spoken test to start, then your level reassessed after every session.
A notebook that fills itself
Every phrase you meet goes in with its translation. Paula brings it back at the right moment.
Your pronunciation, word by word
Green, yellow or red under each word you say, and a “Why?” to see what's off.
A review after every session
Your recurring mistakes, three things to work on, five phrases to keep.
Questions
I've never studied Spanish. Is this for me?
Yes. The first three units start from “¡Hola!”. Every sentence is said slowly, with its translation, and all you do is repeat it.
Is Paula real?
No. She's a character, carefully written, with a life story that never changes: Lavapiés, the clinic, Trufa and Bicho, the municipal pool. Her voice is synthetic and her portrait is a drawing. We'd rather say so.
I learned Latin American Spanish. Is that a problem?
Not at all. Paula speaks like Madrid, but she never corrects something that's right elsewhere: ustedes, carro, ahorita go through without a word.
How much does it cost?
Nothing during the beta. Prices will come later, announced in advance.
Request your invite.
falaí is in private beta: we open spots a few at a time, to keep conversations good and listen to every piece of feedback.