About Real Spanish
Here you can meet the creative team at Real Spanish, learn how the idea came up in the first place, and read the opinions of some of our users.
About Us
We are a team of freelancers who create the lessons in Real Spanish. We live in various Hispanic countries and we are all native speakers of Spanish (except one, a dedicated student of Spanish who had the idea in the first place)
Elizabeth Coelho
teacher (Canada/Spain)
Gema Sánchez Benítez
teacher (Spain)
Marta Baonza Jerez
voiceover (Spain)
Salvador Gonzáles
voiceover (Spain)
Martín Quiró
voiceover (Spain)
Natalia Pisano Fernández
video editor (Argentina/España)
Ariana Acosta
video editor (Venezuela/Estados Unidos)
Martín Pisanno Fernández
video editor (Argentina)
Virginia Hernández
actor (Spain)
José Antonio García Jerez
actor (Spain)
Inés Alba
actor (Spain)
Miguel Ángel Conde
actor (Spain)
How I Improved my Spanish
Hi. My name’s Elizabeth and I’d like to tell you how I got the idea for Real Spanish.
When I came to live in Barcelona a few years ago, I had already taken quite a few Spanish courses. I had quite a good vocabulary and an intermediate-advanced level of grammar…
Although I have to confess that my pronunciation was terrible, and still leaves a lot to be desired.
Anyway, I was very disappointed when it came to talking with native speakers. They spoke so fast, and used so many expressions that I didn’t know! And I lacked confidence and fluency.
But one day I caught an episode of a TV series, and I was hooked. The series was really funny and used loads of colloquial language. I began to choose interesting scenes to analyse and study in depth. I watched the scene several times. This helped with my listening comprehension. Then, with the help of an online dictionary, I made a list of new words and phrases. I learned so many colloquial expressions! I also learned a lot about the history and culture of Spain.
I realised that the same approach could be used to develop engaging online Spanish courses to help other people who, like me, wanted to improve their ability to use everyday, colloquial language. And that’s how Real Spanish began.
For almost three years I’ve been working with a team of Spanish speakers, choosing short clips from films and TV, and developing learning materials and interactive activities based on the content of the clips. We also have some interactive pronunciation lessons to improve listening comprehension and fluency
Iglika Nikolova-Stoupak interviews Elizabeth about how she got the idea for Real Spanish, and about plans for future development of the project. Iglike has an eclectic interest in language and language learning
Iglika and her husband Alex Stoupak have their own channel, Monoglossia, where you can find videos on a wide variety of language topics; you may find us popping up on each other’s channels from time to time. If you are interested in language and languages, take a look!
Monoglossia: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYs4X…g/featured
Real Spanish: https://www.realspanish.eu/en
Puedes leer otra entrevista con Elizabeth Coelho en LearnOutLive.com
Interview with Elizabeth Coelho: How I got the idea for Real Spanish.
Reviews
***** Spanish for Perfectionists No.1
Thanks to the team at Real Spanish for making this new ebook of engaging Spanish lessons.Time flew by as I worked through the activities presented in Spanish for Perfectionists No.1. The quizlets and blogs enhanced my understanding of spoken Spanish and added to my colloquial vocabulary.
Amazon Canada September 8, 2024
***** An excellent resource!
““Spanish for perfectionists” helps me a lot to add to my academic language studies of Spanish exactly how it is described by the author: to recognize and train expressions, expand vocabulary, train my accent, understand native speaking without transcription or subtitles. What is precious and unique is that the author proposes strategies (for example, “the value of repetition”) of learning a foreign language – any language! The exercises are proposed in diverting and enjoyable ways, including flash cards/ Quizlet, and work with the video material is designed quite unique, supported by vocabulary notes, expressions, transcription and grammar notes.
Overall “Spanish for perfectionists” helps to dive into the Spanish language philosophy and comprehension and makes a great difference among the ocean of educational material of learning Spanish. Highly recommended!
Amazon España July 23, 2024
***** Perfect if you want to learn authentic Spanish
I found this book very useful for learning some commonly used expressions, which are normally what I am most interested in studying but which I struggle to find in usual textbooks. The focus here is not on grammar but on the practical use of the language. Nice to have the interactive exercises as well. The book also contains some explanations related to cultural aspects of the Spanish language. The instructions are in both Spanish and English. A very practical tool, I definitely recommend it!
Amazon Italia July 27, 2024
***** Great resource to help speak like a native
This book is easy to follow with videos and transcripts. Key colloquial phrases are identified and have translations that help you to understand the context. The self-test section after each lesson gives you the opportunity to check your knowledge in a fun way.
Amazon UK 28 August, 2024.
Lisa – USA
Realmente disfruté con Real Spanish. Alguna vez me regalaron Rosetta Stone, puedo decir que no tiene que ver. El contenido divertido, entretenido y relevante mantuvo mi interés y fue instructivo en cuanto a la cultura además del idioma. La página me pareció muy bien organizada, manteniéndome concentrada. Realmente disfruté de los clips. La experiencia fue muy agradable, un sentimiento que pocas veces se utiliza sobre el aprendizaje de un idioma.
Conchita- China
Muchas gracias por la introducción de esta página maravillosa. Lo que me gusta más es que el contenido es muy práctico, mucho en uso diario y que tiene muchas prácticas, para ayudar a recordar su uso correcto. Creo que a muchos usuarios como yo les van a encantar aprender el español con esta herramienta poderosa.
Simon- Inglaterra
La web de Real Spanish me ha parecido fácil de usar y puedo aprender a mi propio ritmo cuando quiera. Las lecciones introducen expresiones coloquiales que se usan a diario en español, lo que prueba que sea más útil que la gramática de los libros de texto. Viendo y escuchando los vídeos puedo mejorar mi comprensión auditiva de español a la velocidad normal. Obviamente, ser capaz de parar y volver a escuchar aumenta mi habilidad para aprender.
Alexandra – Francia
«I tried the Real Spanish site and I am happy to recommend it. There is a variety of fun exercises based on interesting topics. I am a student between B1-B2 levels, and I really enjoyed it.»
Pirkko- Finlandia
Probé Real Spanish y me gustó mucho. Aprendes y practicas expresiones y vocabulario muy útiles mientras aprendes cosas sobre la cultura e historia de modo divertido. Puedes hacer un ejercicio en diez minutos, o puedes perder la noción del tiempo y quedarte absorto en las historias y las actividades durante horas.
Sol, profesora de español
– España
Produce una gran satisfacción encontrar por fin un método de enseñanza de español para niveles avanzados; para todos esos alumnos que quieren ampliar y mejorar su uso de la lengua. Un método ágil, ameno y eficaz. Las conversaciones escogidas como complemento al contenido didáctico de las unidades, son una excelente aproximación al uso real de nuestro idioma y nuestra cultura. Se lo recomendaré sin dudar a las alumnas extranjeras de mis cursos de cocina para aprendices de español. Es una plataforma muy útil para quienes tengan interés no solo en aprender el español, sino también por familiarizarse con la sociedad y la historia reciente españolas.
