Introduction to the Spanish language

With 437 million speakers, Spanish is the second most spoken language after Chinese. Spanish is a wonderful language to learn for leisure, travel, recreation, employment and friendship. It also is an easy language to grasp if you are an English speaker, as it is a Romance language comparable to Latin, Italian and French.

2024 Babbel Efficacy Study

If you're a total newbie to Spanish, we're offering you the chance to study it for free for 12 weeks using our app and Babbel Live! Commit to our trial, give us your feedback, and you'll get £100 and free access to the app for a year.

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Explore the rich cultures of Spain

The world speaks Spanish This joyous, colourful and musical language is one of the most commonly spoken in the world, with 437 million speakers - making it the second most spoken language after Chinese. (For context, English is the third-most spoken language in the world at around 360 million native speakers!) If you want to be able to converse with millions of people, then a few phrases of this language will take you far and show great willing to make friends and to be culturally aware.

Become a global citizen El español is an easy language to grasp if you are an English speaker, as it is a Romance language in common with Latin, Italian and French. Much of the vocabulary is intuitive, cognates are similar to English and the grammatical construction is relatively easy to pick up. It's also a remarkably fun and sociable language to learn, and a wonderful way to experience the colourful and rich cultures of Spain and Latin America. Don't forget that there are millions of speakers in the USA either!

Engage with locals in their native tongue Don't worry about becoming a fluent Spanish speaker if you are a beginner. Just commit to learning a few basic phrases and words that will help you to begin your exciting language journey. Native speakers love the effort that it shows when you travel and have some local words up your sleeve. You'll make friends so much more easily if you can show willing and a desire to embrace their culture, language and way of life.

Master Spanish in bite-sized lessons

How can you incorporate your new language into your daily life? With Babbel it's easy. Simply by using your smartphone app, you can be prompted to take short bite-sized lessons every day. In just 15 minute chunks you will rapidly start to learn vocabulary, phrases and sentences that help you to get about in your life. From asking what the WiFi password is in your Madrid hotel to asking for directions to the nearest tapas bar in Barcelona, each lesson will rapidly build your confidence and abilities. Even better, the rich media content is highly engaging, so that your lessons are always fun and something to look forward to. There is also no advertising to distract your focus!

Features of Babbel

Evening classes, library books, online content packed with adverts, occasional conversational practice... all of these can be useful ways to learn Spanish. At the same time, most people don't have the time or inclination to commit to weekly classes or to sit through 'free' online content that is constantly interrupted by advertising. With Babbel, you get to learn your chosen language in a way that is customised to your needs, your desire to learn and your current ability level. Try your first Spanish lesson with Babbel for free. Try your first Spanish lesson with Babbel for free!