Puerto Rican Spanish is the one to learn if you're moving to Puerto Rico, visiting, or talking with Puerto Rican family. About 6 million people speak it, on the island and among Puerto Ricans in the US mainland. Many Spanish apps teach Mexican, Latin American, or Spain Spanish, so this page gathers resources made for Puerto Rico. 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 San Juan, and she writes you a lesson at your level about your first shift. In it, a word like guagua means a bus, and zafacón means a trash can. Ask her about any line you don't follow.
Bubblegum focuses on reading and listening more than speaking, so for conversation, try a tutor in Practice With People From Puerto Rico.
- Lessons are in Puerto Rican Spanish, with everyday island words like carro, guagua, and zafacón.
- Friends say tú to each other, and a question can put tú in the middle, as in ¿Qué tú quieres?, from Level 2.
- Read and listen to news and stories in Spanish about things you care about.
- 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.
- Lesson audio is clear Spanish, but it doesn't copy the island's way of saying words, like the soft s at the end of a word. Listen to the podcasts below for that.
- 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
Puerto Rican Spanish 101 is a paid audio course from Spanish con Salsa. It has 10 recorded conversations between Puerto Rican speakers, each with a slow version, plus transcripts with English translations and flashcards. Its page doesn't list any free lessons.
Learn Spanish a lo Boricua is a podcast about the Spanish spoken in Puerto Rico. Its host, Kerry Brennan, has worked with second- and third-generation Puerto Ricans and with learners who have Puerto Rican partners. It has 69 episodes, 31 of them with transcripts, and episode 60 introduces a beginner course.
Preply
Ask your tutor to role-play a phone call to a clinic or a talk with a coworker, so you hear and use the words you'll need in Puerto Rico.
- Filter Spanish tutors by country of birth.
- Watch a tutor's intro video before you book.
MobileWeb
italki
On italki, tell your teacher you're learning Puerto Rican Spanish, so the examples fit island life.
- A "Teachers from" filter on the Spanish teachers page.
- Book one-to-one video lessons.
MobileWeb
| 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. |
| Preply | Paid | You pay for each lesson, and each tutor sets their own price. If your first tutor isn't a good fit, you can try two more for free. |
| 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. |
Try one lesson in your language before you pay.
| App | Languages You Can Use It In | Full List |
|---|---|---|
| Bubblegum | 74 | Supported language pairs |
| Preply | 19 | App Store |
| italki | 19 | App Store |
Which Puerto Rican 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 a tutor on italki or Preply if you'd like to talk from your first week.
Is Puerto Rican Spanish different from other Spanish?
Yes, in some words and sounds. Puerto Ricans say guagua for a bus and zafacón for a trash can. In speech, the s at the end of a word is often soft or dropped. Writing stays standard Spanish, so what you learn from books works everywhere.
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: Puerto Rican Spanish
- Wikipedia: Puerto Rican Spanish (about 6 million native speakers; seseo, final s, shared with Puerto Ricans in US cities)
- US Census Bureau: Puerto Rico (population estimate of 3,221,789 on July 1, 2022)
- Speaking Latino: 13 Puerto Rican Spanish words (guagua, zafacón)
- SpanishDict: zafacón (regionalism used in Puerto Rico)
- Spanish con Salsa: Puerto Rican Spanish 101 course
- Learn Spanish a lo Boricua (podcast listing)
- Preply: Spanish tutors (country of birth filter)
- Preply: iPhone App Store listing (languages you can use it in)
- italki: Spanish teachers (Teachers from filter)
- italki: what is free
- italki: iPhone App Store listing (languages you can use it in)
- Bubblegum
