The short version
- The main options are paid tutors, free language exchanges, exchange apps, group classes and online communities. Each suits a different stage and budget.
- Choose based on what you need most: correction, lots of speaking time, low pressure or a routine.
- Prepare one topic before every session and send your partner a short brief. You'll get far more out of the same half hour.
Search for Spanish conversation practice online and you'll get hundreds of apps, platforms and websites, all promising to get you speaking. Most of them fall into a few types, and the type matters more than the brand. A tutor, an exchange partner and a group class are very different things, and each one is good at something the others aren't.
The other thing that matters is what you bring. An hour on a video call with nothing prepared often turns into the same small talk every week: where you're from, what you do, how long you've been learning. You can spend months there without getting much better.
So this post covers both: where to find practice, and how to make it worth the time.
The main options
| Option | What it is | Good for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paid tutor | One-to-one video lessons with a teacher or community tutor | Correction, structure, going at your pace | Cost adds up, quality varies |
| Language exchange | You speak Spanish for half the time, then help them with English | Free, real conversation, making friends | Less correction, partners can disappear |
| Exchange apps | Text, voice notes and calls with learners of English | Low pressure, practice in short bursts | Easy to only text and never speak |
| Group classes | A teacher with a few learners on a video call | Routine, hearing other learners | Less speaking time each |
| Online communities | Groups where learners post and reply | Support, voice note practice, accountability | Depends on how active the group is |
Tutors. Platforms like italki and Preply let you choose a teacher and book video lessons with them. Many tutors offer "conversation classes", where you mostly just talk. Prices and how you pay vary a lot, so check the current details on the sites themselves. If you live in Spain or are moving here, filter for tutors from Spain so you hear the accent and vocabulary you'll actually meet. There's more on the differences in Spain Spanish vs Latin American Spanish.
Language exchanges. You meet a Spanish speaker who's learning English and split the time. Tandem and HelloTalk are two well-known apps for finding partners, and they both let you message, send voice notes and call.
Communities. These are groups where learners share recordings, ask questions and practise together. They're less about one long conversation and more about speaking regularly and getting replies.
Which one is right for you?
It depends on what's holding you back. Most people do best with a mix: one option for correction and one for regular, low-pressure practice.
| If you… | Start with |
|---|---|
| Go blank as soon as someone speaks to you | A patient tutor, and short voice notes in a community first |
| Want to know what you're getting wrong | A tutor, and ask for correction |
| Want lots of speaking time for free | A language exchange |
| Get nervous on video calls | Voice notes in an app or a community |
| Keep skipping practice | A fixed weekly slot with a tutor or group |
If nerves are the main problem, don't jump straight into an hour-long video call. Start with voice notes, where you can record as many times as you like before sending. Nervous about speaking Spanish? has more on building up to it.
There are also apps where you talk to an AI in Spanish. They're handy for rehearsing a conversation before you have it with a person, and they're available at any time. They can also get things wrong, and they don't react like a real person does. Use them as practice for the real thing, not a replacement.
Prepare one topic before every session
This is the difference between practice that helps and practice that goes round in circles.
Pick one topic before each session. Your weekend, your job, a film you've seen, your plans for the summer. Learn the words it needs, practise a few sentences out loud, and prepare two or three questions to ask the other person. Then, in the session, steer the conversation there.
That way you're using and stretching Spanish you've just practised, instead of repeating the same introduction you've given twenty times. It's the same idea as rehearsing on your own, covered in how to practise speaking Spanish on your own. The online session is where you test it.
Before a session, send your tutor or exchange partner a short message in Spanish saying what you want to practise and how you want to be corrected. For example: Hola, el jueves me gustaría hablar de mi trabajo. Por favor, corrígeme solo los errores que repito mucho, no todos. It takes a minute to write, and it means the session starts with a clear plan, which most partners appreciate.
Being specific about correction helps a lot. Being corrected on every word stops you talking, and not being corrected at all means you don't improve. Asking for "the mistakes I keep making" usually gets the balance right.
Phrases for online sessions
Video calls come with their own problems: bad connections, frozen screens, and not being able to hear. These phrases keep things moving.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| ¿Me oyes bien? | Can you hear me OK? |
| Se te ha congelado la imagen. | Your screen has frozen. |
| Se corta un poco. | You're breaking up a bit. |
| ¿Lo puedes escribir en el chat? | Can you write it in the chat? |
| ¿Lo he dicho bien? | Did I say that right? |
| ¿Hay otra forma de decirlo? | Is there another way to say it? |
| ¿Cómo se dice… en español? | How do you say… in Spanish? |
| ¿Cambiamos al inglés? | Shall we switch to English? |
| ¿Lo dejamos aquí por hoy? | Shall we leave it there for today? |
¿Hay otra forma de decirlo? is one of the most useful questions you can ask a tutor. Your sentence might be correct but not what a Spanish person would say, and this is how you find the natural version.
In language exchanges, it's easy for English to take over, because it's the easier language for both of you. Agree on the split before you start, and use a timer. Thirty minutes each, and when the timer goes, switch. If you're both learning, you both benefit from sticking to it.
Get more from every session
Most of what you learn from a conversation disappears unless you do something with it afterwards. Five minutes is enough.
Write down three things
Straight after the call, write three words, phrases or corrections from the session. Not everything, just the three most useful.
Say them out loud
Make a sentence with each one and say it a few times. This is where it moves from "I've heard that" to "I can say that".
Use them next time
Bring the same three into your next session on purpose. When you use a new phrase in a real conversation, it tends to stick.
If your tutor agrees, recording the session (or just your part) is useful too. Listen back to five minutes of it. You'll notice things you didn't hear in the moment.
Common mistakes
Turning up with nothing prepared.
Pick one topic and practise it out loud first.
Staying on the same small talk every week.
Change the topic every session.
Letting the exchange slip into English.
Agree on the split and use a timer.
Asking to be corrected on everything.
Ask for the mistakes you repeat.
Forgetting everything after the call.
Write down three things and use them next time.
Recap
- Tutors, exchanges, apps, group classes and communities are each good for something different.
- Choose based on what you need most, and mix two if you can.
- Prepare one topic before every session.
- Send a short brief saying what you want to practise and how to correct you.
- After each session, keep three things and use them next time.
100 Spanish Conversations gives you a new topic every week, with the words, sentence patterns and questions ready to practise, so you always have something to bring to a tutor or exchange. It also comes with a community on Skool where you can post voice notes and get replies from other learners.
Leeroy studied Spanish for years before moving to Spain and finding he couldn't hold a conversation. He built Basically Spanish around the method that fixed it. Questions? leeroy@basicallyspanish.com