Chilean Spanish is the Spanish of Chile, and people there speak it fast, with words you won't find in a Mexico or Spain course. The big apps rarely say they teach it. Babbel lists a Mexico course and a Spain course, and Memrise says it teaches the Spanish of Spain and Mexico. That leaves a few Latin American courses, one small Chilean dictionary, and your own listening. For podcasts, tutors and a language exchange in Santiago, see our Chilean Spanish guide. Our Spanish app comparison covers Spanish in general.
Bubblegum
For serious learners, Bubblegum is the best app to learn Spanish. You learn from Spanish you can mostly understand, which is called comprehensible input.
Tell Poppy, your AI tutor, your level and what you like, and she writes your Chilean Spanish lessons. If a sentence is hard to follow, ask Poppy to explain it.
With Regenerative Review™, words you save show up again in new lessons, so that you can review words in new contexts without having to use flashcards.
Try asking Poppy when you would say once, the light meal of tea and bread that many Chileans eat in the late afternoon or evening.
Bubblegum is mostly reading and listening. For a Chilean voice and for speaking, add the resources below.
- Lessons are written in Chilean Spanish, with words like palta, micro and once.
- From Level 2, friends in a lesson can use a familiar Chilean form like ¿tenís tiempo?, while a shop or office uses usted.
- Regenerative Review™ brings saved words back in new lessons, and you can export them to Anki.
- Clear, expressive AI voices read every lesson aloud, with a different voice for each speaker.
- The voices read lessons in standard Latin American Spanish, without a Chilean accent of their own.
- Narration uses standard spelling, so you won't see the dropped sounds of fast speech written out.
- Custom lessons cost us money to make, so you need Bubblegum Pro for unlimited custom lessons. Lessons Poppy wrote for other learners are free for everyone to read.
- Regenerative Review™
Mobile
Cueca: Chilean Dictionary is a free app from one developer. Its App Store page lists more than 845,000 words, example sentences, verb conjugations, a speaker button on each word, and offline use, with no ads or purchases. It is a dictionary, so it explains words and doesn't teach lessons, and it is new, with one rating so far. Keep it open next to your lessons for Chilean words. Find it on the App Store.
Entiende: Spanish Dialects compares phrases from five countries, but its list has Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Puerto Rico and Colombia, not Chile. It's useful for hearing how much Spanish changes between countries, and you can find it on the App Store.
Pimsleur
Pimsleur asks you to answer out loud, which helps if you want to talk before you read much. It won't prepare you for the speed of a Santiago conversation, so add Chilean audio from the section below.
- Lessons are taught by native Latin American Spanish speakers.
- Five levels, with core audio lessons of about 30 minutes.
MobileWeb
Mango Languages
Check your local library before you pay. Mango's page doesn't say which country its speakers come from.
- Native speakers say every word in the Latin American Spanish course.
- Many public libraries and schools give their patrons full access at no cost.
- Flashcards
MobileWeb
Duolingo
Duolingo gives you the Spanish that Chile shares with the rest of Latin America. Chilean words and the tenís kind of verb come from other sources.
- A free Spanish course for English speakers.
- Short lessons fit into a busy day.
MobileWeb
uTalk
Each uTalk topic is a set of quick games, so it suits a few minutes at a time. For Chile's own words, use the dictionary and podcasts above and below.
- Its Latin American Spanish course uses voice artists from Mexico and Honduras.
- Record yourself and compare your voice with the speaker's.
MobileWeb
Español UC, the Spanish program at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, offers a free Coursera course called "Español como segunda lengua y cultura chilena," at the A1.1 level. It has four modules of four short classes, each about 6 to 10 minutes, and it covers grammar, vocabulary and Chilean culture. You need a Coursera account but no payment, and it is for people who have never studied Spanish. Read about it on the university's news page.
Dreaming Spanish
Dreaming Spanish helps you build listening for Spanish in general. For Chilean voices, use the podcasts in our Chilean Spanish comprehensible input guide.
- Videos made for learners, from Superbeginner up to native content.
- Many guides, each marked with a country flag.
MobileWeb
Language Reactor
Fast Chilean speech is the case where replaying a single line helps most. Load a Chilean YouTube channel and loop one sentence until you can hear every word.
- Dual subtitles and a popup dictionary on Netflix and YouTube.
- Pause and replay one line when speech gets fast.
Browser extension
| App | Free? | What's Free |
|---|---|---|
| Bubblegum | Free version | Custom lessons cost us money to make, so you need Bubblegum Pro for unlimited custom lessons. Lessons Poppy wrote for other learners are free for everyone to read. |
| Pimsleur | Free trial | You can try Pimsleur free for 7 days. After that, you pay for one language or for all of them. |
| Mango Languages | Some lessons free | The first lesson of every language is free, and many public libraries give their members full access at no cost. The paid plans start with a free trial. |
| Duolingo | Free | Every Duolingo course is free. Super Duolingo removes ads and adds extras such as Unlimited Energy, and you can try it free for 14 days. |
| uTalk | Some lessons free | Every language has free starter words, and getting full marks in the games opens one more topic for free. For the rest, you subscribe or buy a language or topic. |
| Dreaming Spanish | Free version | The free plan lets you watch free videos, track your progress and save videos. Premium adds thousands of extra videos and offline watching. |
| Language Reactor | Free version | The main tools are free, such as Netflix subtitles and a basic AI dictionary. Pro Mode adds tools such as speech recognition and machine translations. |
Try one lesson in your language before you pay.
| App | Languages You Can Use It In | Full List |
|---|---|---|
| Bubblegum | 76 | Supported language pairs |
| uTalk | 140+ | Full list |
Which Chilean Spanish app should a beginner choose?
If you are serious about learning Spanish, start with Bubblegum. Poppy, your AI tutor, writes lessons at your level about things you like. Or start with Pimsleur if you'd like to say Latin American Spanish out loud from the first lesson.
Is a Mexico course enough for Chile?
It gives you the shared grammar and most words. Chile adds words such as palta and a faster, softer way of speaking, with the s at the end of a syllable often weak. A Latin American course plus Chilean audio covers both.
Why is there no Chile course on Babbel?
Babbel's Spanish page lists a Mexico course and a Spain course. If you pick one, choose Mexico for a Latin American base, then add Chilean podcasts.
Is Bubblegum free?
Yes. Lessons Poppy wrote for other learners are free for everyone to read. Custom lessons cost us money to make, so you need Bubblegum Pro for unlimited custom lessons.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Chilean Spanish (verbal voseo, s softening, speed, al tiro, fome, cachai)
- Atlas Obscura: what is la once (a light tea-and-bread meal in Chile)
- Bubblegum: Chilean Spanish lessons
- Cueca: Chilean Dictionary on the App Store (free, offline, audio for each word)
- Entiende: Spanish Dialects on the App Store (five countries)
- Babbel: Learn Spanish (Spanish (Mexico) and Spanish (Spain))
- Memrise: Learn Spanish (Spain and Mexico)
- Pimsleur: Latin American Spanish (native Latin American speakers, five levels, 7 days free)
- Mango Languages: Latin American Spanish (native speaker audio)
- Mango Languages: pricing (first lesson free, library access)
- Mango Languages: home page (free through many libraries)
- Duolingo blog: what is vosotros (the course teaches ustedes)
- uTalk: Latin American Spanish (voice artists from Mexico and Honduras)
- Dreaming Spanish: guides listed by country
- Dreaming Spanish: FAQ (videos for learners, levels)
- Language Reactor: Chrome Web Store listing (dual subtitles and popup dictionary on Netflix and YouTube)
- Español UC: free Coursera course on Spanish and Chilean culture (A1.1)
- Duolingo on the App Store (free offer)
- uTalk on the App Store (free starter words)
- Dreaming Spanish: premium plan
- Language Reactor: home page (free features)
- Language Reactor: Pro mode
- Bubblegum
- Duolingo
- uTalk
- Language Reactor
