“I can understand any Spanish accent now” #BaseLangStories

Oron studied Spanish on his own with YouTube and Duolingo, he took some private lessons on Preply, and he even spent two months in Spain. Despite a good foundation in the language, he still had trouble understanding native speakers when they spoke. His breakthrough came thanks to conversations with BaseLang teachers from across Latin America. Let’s hear Oran’s story.

BaseLangStories series puts the spotlight on BaseLang students – asking them about their motivations for learning a foreign language, what impact learning Spanish has had on their lives, advice they have for fellow students, and more.

1. What’s your name and where you are from?

My name is Oron, I’m 28 years old, from Israel.

2. Why did you want to learn Spanish?

I wanted to learn Spanish to be able to travel and communicate with locals in Spanish-speaking countries. I love languages and I also think it’s a great way of self-development to speak several languages other than your native one.

3. In the past, what did you use to learn Spanish?

In the past I learned using private tutors on Preply, and also independently with YouTube and Duolingo.

4. Before BaseLang, which part of learning Spanish did you struggle with the most?

I struggled the most with comprehension and listening. I couldn’t quite make out what people were telling me in Spanish even though I could express myself relatively well.

In my opinion, the most important thing when learning a new language is to be able to understand when other people speak, because that’s the only time when you don’t have more time to think, you have to adapt to the speed of the person you’re speaking with.

When you speak, you can take a bit more time and usually people will have the patience to let you think of what you’re about to say, but native speakers would have a hard time changing the way they speak for you and not having their natural connected speech as they usually do.

5. What obstacle would have prevented you from signing up for BaseLang before?

I actually didn’t know BaseLang existed and that was probably the reason I didn’t use it so far.

The 7-day trial has been super helpful in convincing me BaseLang is the way to go, alongside a few very enthusiastic tutors giving me the motivation and confidence I needed even after some time in my learning journey.

6. What did you find as a result of signing up?

I found that I’m able to expand my vocabulary with every class and every tutor, that I’m learning daily and very common phrases, and that I’m also able to incorporate them into my conversations. It’s much easier for me to “pull” the right words into place because I’ve heard them in use so many times. I recognize patterns of useful words being used together so I don’t need to translate in my mind anymore, I just know the meaning immediately.

7. What specific feature did you like the most about the Real World program?

I like how spontaneous I can be when scheduling my lessons. If I have some free time during the day, odds are I’m gonna be able to find an available tutor even when scheduling 10 minutes in advance.

8. How has learning Spanish impacted your life?

I have much more confidence interacting with Spanish speakers. I’m no longer stressed when someone speaks to me in Spanish because I know I’ll be able to understand them and respond in a way that makes sense. I’m able to connect with people from different cultures which is one of the main reasons I wanted to learn Spanish in the first place.

9. Would you recommend this course, if so, why?

I would wholeheartedly recommend BaseLang for everyone in their Spanish learning journey.

I don’t think there’s any other way to immerse yourself in the language as well as with BaseLang.

Even if you’re living in a Spanish-speaking country, you wouldn’t be able to speak with people from different places across Latin America and get used to so many different accents, phrases, and words.

10. Complete the following sentence “After my first month of BaseLang, I realized that…..”

I’m able to communicate almost every idea I have in mind, in many different themes and subjects. I greatly expanded my vocabulary and I’m no longer afraid to get stuck as I know I will find some way to convey my message.

11. Anything else to add?

It doesn’t matter which level you’re starting from, immerse yourself in as many conversations as you can, experiment with different tutors until you find the ones you like best, and remember consistency is key. Every hour you practice accumulates and yields compound interest in the long run. Write down your mistakes from each class and try incorporating the correct form of your previously wrong sentence in the next class. Be sure to learn actively and take notes of your weaker grammatical areas to tackle them in your next classes.