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Travel & culture
Travel & culture14 Oct 2026
Halloween or Todos los Santos? How Spain Really Spends the First of November
Pumpkins in the shops, chrysanthemums in the cemeteries and chestnuts on the street corner — what actually happens in Spain at the start of November, and the Spanish to go with it.
Travel & culture1 Oct 2026
Switch Your Phone to Spanish: The Easiest Immersion There Is
You look at your phone dozens of times a day. Changing its language turns all of that into free, repetitive, context-rich Spanish — and the way back is easier than you fear.
Travel & culture28 Sept 2026
Language Apps vs a Real Tutor: What Each Is Actually Good For
An app will keep you consistent and teach you words. It cannot hear you, correct you, or notice the mistake you have been making for a year. What each is actually good for — and how to use both.
Travel & culture26 Sept 2026
Learning Spanish Through Music: Rosalía to Jorge Drexler
Rosalía, Jorge Drexler, Silvio Rodríguez and Bad Bunny are four different Spanish lessons. How to use music deliberately — and why the songs you love teach you more than the ones you understand.
Travel & culture25 Sept 2026
Renting a Flat in Spain: Contract Spanish, Decoded
Fianza, aval, gastos incluidos, prórroga: the Spanish rental contract vocabulary that decides how much you pay up front and how long you can stay.
Travel & culture23 Sept 2026
The Seven Jobs of “Se”
One two-letter word doing seven unrelated jobs. Reflexive, reciprocal, impersonal, passive, the se that replaces le, the accidental se — and how to tell them apart in real sentences.
Travel & culture22 Sept 2026
Vosotros vs Ustedes: Which Spanish Should You Actually Learn?
Spain uses vosotros; most of the Spanish-speaking world doesn’t. Here’s who says what, why ustedes is the safer default, and why the whole decision matters less than learners fear.
Travel & culture21 Sept 2026
ColaCao: The Spanish Breakfast Drink That Became a Word
Why Spaniards order “un ColaCao”, the great lumps debate, the ColaCao vs Nesquik rivalry, la merienda — and the handy phrase “ser más de”.
Travel & culture21 Sept 2026
Going to the Doctor in Spain: What to Say and What They’ll Say Back
Most guides teach you how to say what hurts. Almost none teach you what the doctor will say back. The two-way vocabulary for a GP appointment in Spain — from the cita previa to the pharmacy.
Travel & culture20 Sept 2026
Ten Spanish Films Worth Watching Twice
Watch it once for the story, once for the Spanish. Ten films from Spain that reward a second viewing — from Almodóvar to Fesser — with the level each one suits and what to listen for.
Travel & culture19 Sept 2026
Sobremesa and Other Spanish Words English Should Steal
Sobremesa, madrugar, estrenar, vergüenza ajena: twelve Spanish words that name something English speakers do all the time and have never had a single word for.
Travel & culture17 Sept 2026
Why “Me Gusta” Isn’t “I Like”: Backwards Verbs Explained
Me gusta doesn’t really mean “I like” — it means “it pleases me”. Once you see the sentence the right way round, gustar and its whole family of backwards verbs start to make sense.
Travel & culture16 Sept 2026
NIE, TIE, Cita Previa: The Spanish Bureaucracy Glossary
The NIE is a number, the TIE is a card, and confusing them costs you a morning. A plain glossary of Spanish immigration paperwork — plus the phrases that work at the counter.
Travel & culture15 Sept 2026
Mexican Spanish: What Changes When You Cross the Atlantic
On the night of 15 September, millions of Mexicans shout ¡Viva México! — and a learner who studied Spain’s Spanish will understand every word and still notice the difference. What changes between Madrid and Mexico City, and what doesn’t.
Travel & culture13 Sept 2026
The Best Spanish-Language Podcasts by Level (A1–C1)
Podcasts are the cheapest listening practice there is, but only if the level roughly matches yours. A shortlist from A1 to C1, and a method for getting more out of one episode than most people get out of ten.
Travel & culture12 Sept 2026
Ordering in a Spanish Bar Without Sounding Like a Tourist
Una cerveza, por favor is not wrong — it is just vague. Beer sizes, the poner trick that replaces quiero, how the tab works, and the fifteen phrases a Spanish bar actually runs on.
Travel & culture11 Sept 2026
Saber vs Conocer (and Pedir vs Preguntar)
English uses one verb where Spanish uses two — twice over. Saber and conocer, pedir and preguntar, plus what happens to the first pair in the preterite.
Travel & culture10 Sept 2026
Empadronamiento: The Spanish Vocabulary You Need at the Town Hall
The padrón is the hinge everything else in Spain hangs off. What it is, the volante-versus-certificado trap, and the twenty words you need at the counter.
Travel & culture9 Sept 2026
The Spanish Subjunctive Without the Fear
The subjunctive is not a tense but a mood — and once you know what the main clause is doing, the rest follows. A practical guide to building it, the five triggers, and the one question to ask mid-sentence.
Travel & culture5 Sept 2026
The Teacher Who Painted a Miró
One of our teachers sent us a painting she’d made over the summer — a blue sky, a lopsided sun, a red moon. It got us talking about Joan Miró, and about how learning a language works a lot like learning to read his pictures.
Travel & culture26 Aug 2026
Crush It First: The Rules of La Tomatina
At noon today in Buñol, a rocket went up and around 22,000 people started throwing tomatoes at each other. There is one rule everybody forgets — and a whole vocabulary hiding inside the fiesta.
Travel & culture26 Aug 2026
Why Going to VIPS Is the Most Spanish Thing Ever
It is a diner. It was invented in Mexico. It serves club sandwiches under strip lighting. And it might be the most authentically Spanish place you can possibly go.
Travel & culture24 Aug 2026
Walking the Picos de Europa: Spain’s Best Place to Practise Your Spanish
Northern Spain’s limestone giants are the only national park in the country that people still live and work in — which makes them an unusually good place to actually open your mouth. The three sides of the range, the official routes with distances and ascent, and where the conversations really happen.
Travel & culture21 Aug 2026
Cooking a Full English on a Trangia: Camping Vocabulary for English Learners
A wet field, a small Swedish stove and a pan of sizzling bacon — one of the best English lessons you will ever have. Learn camping vocabulary, cooking verbs and the phrasal verbs that go with them.
Travel & culture14 Aug 2026
Sopocachi, La Paz: Where to Stay and Where to Drink Coffee
La Paz’s most liveable neighbourhood, decoded — the hotels and guesthouses worth booking, the cafés worth sitting in all afternoon, and what nobody tells you about caffeine at 3,600 metres.
Travel & culture13 Aug 2026
inDrive in La Paz: How to Haggle Your Way Around the World’s Steepest City
How to use inDrive in La Paz — the bid-your-own-fare app locals actually use. What to pay after Bolivia floated the boliviano, how to dodge the airport fare hustle, and the Spanish that makes it painless.
Travel & culture3 Aug 2026
Spanish Travel Phrases for Peru: Talk Like You’ve Been Before
The Spanish phrases that actually matter in Peru — from combis and ceviche to altitude and a little Quechua — grouped by the moments you’ll really use them.