Chilean Spanish is the one to learn if you're moving to Chile, studying there, or talking with Chilean friends and family. It has its own words, and people speak it fast. The Royal Spanish Academy lists more than 2,000 words and sayings used mainly in Chile. Many Spanish apps don't teach them. Our Spanish app comparison covers apps for every kind of Spanish.
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, that you're starting a job in Santiago. She writes you a lesson at your level about your first week, like meeting a coworker or buying a bus card. Ask her about any word you don't know.
For speaking practice, try a tutor or partner in Practice With People From Chile.
- Lessons are in Chilean Spanish, with everyday Chilean words and prices in pesos.
- Friends in a lesson can use Chilean forms like ¿tenís tiempo?, and Poppy explains them when you ask.
- 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.
- 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™
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uTalk
Each uTalk topic, like food or travel, is a set of short games. Use it for everyday words that travel well, and learn Chile's own words from the podcasts below.
- Its Latin American Spanish course picks words that people understand across much of Latin America.
- Record yourself and compare your voice with the speaker's.
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italki
Ask a tutor from Chile to talk slowly at first, then a little faster each week, and to explain any slang they use.
- Filter Spanish tutors by where they're from.
- Book one-to-one lessons over video at a time that suits you.
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Tandem
Tandem's Santiago page lists thousands of Spanish speakers who want a language partner. Voice notes are handy here, because you can replay a fast sentence.
- Leave a voice note for a partner, or call them by video.
- Partners can fix your Spanish messages with a correction tool.
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The Chilean Spanish Podcast, also called Español casi Perfecto, is for intermediate learners. Natalia Fontalva tells Chilean stories and explains Chilean slang in 103 episodes, and some episodes are for paying listeners on Patreon. Speaking Chilean slang po! teaches one Chilean slang word per episode, and its titles include po and al tiro, but it has only six episodes, all from 2022.
| 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. |
| 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. |
| italki | Paid | You pay for each lesson, and each teacher sets their own price. Practicing with the community and taking the level test are free. |
| Tandem | Free version | Signing up is free, and Tandem reviews each new member first. Many features are free, and Tandem Pro gives you all of them. |
Try one lesson in your language before you pay.
| App | Languages You Can Use It In | Full List |
|---|---|---|
| Bubblegum | 74 | Supported language pairs |
| uTalk | 140+ | Full list |
| italki | 19 | App Store |
| Tandem | 14 | App Store |
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 uTalk if you'd like to learn everyday Latin American words first.
Why does Chilean Spanish sound so fast?
Chileans often soften or drop the s at the end of a syllable, so words run together. Chilean speech is often called one of the fastest Spanish accents. Listen to short clips more than once, and ask people to slow down.
What do po, al tiro, and fome mean?
Po is a small word that adds emphasis, like "well" or "you know". Al tiro means right away. Fome means boring. Learn them as you hear them, since Chileans use them with friends more than in formal talk.
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
- Bubblegum: Chilean Spanish lessons
- Wikipedia: Chilean Spanish (s weakening, speed, chilenismos, po, cachai)
- uTalk: Latin American Spanish (voice artists from Mexico and Honduras)
- uTalk: Learn Spanish (courses offered)
- uTalk: Languages you can learn from
- uTalk on the App Store (free starter words)
- Tandem: Learn Spanish in Santiago
- Tandem: home page (what is free)
- Tandem on the App Store
- italki: Spanish teachers (Teachers from filter)
- italki: home page (what is free)
- italki on the App Store
- Chilean Spanish Podcast, also called Español casi Perfecto (Apple Podcasts)
- Speaking Chilean slang po! (TuneIn)
- Bubblegum
- Tandem
