Visual Spanish was developed for beginner and intermediate Spanish students between 18 and 80 years old. Beginning students might have to spend more time on the first classes to get up to speed, but intermediate and even advanced students will learn new expressions and grammatical concepts as early as the first class. The format is fast-paced and challenging, meant to be watched over and over again until everything is absorbed - and funny enough that students WANT to repeat the classes until they understand everything. We’ve listed just a few of the possible uses for Visual Spanish below – have a look...

Already taking Spanish classes?

Visual Spanish is a great way to help you apply what you’re learning in the classroom to a more realistic, conversational format. This is a great supplement to the vocabulary and grammar that you’re studying in class, because after all, you’re studying to be able to speak Spanish, right? However, if you are looking for a study guide for a formal, written exam, you may want to look elsewhere.

Preparing to study, volunteer, or travel abroad?

This is the perfect tool to prepare you for real Spanish conversations, at the speed at which you will have to have them. As you already know, speaking Spanish in class, and speaking on the streets of Latin America or Spain are two very different things, and Visual Spanish will prepare you to speak, understand, think, and respond in Spanish at the rate of normal conversation, whether you’re a beginner or an intermediate speaker.

Headed to Latin America or Spain for business?

You have come to the right place. Visual Spanish is great as an introductory course or for refreshing your existing ability to speak – it will help you chat with your partners and clients in their native tongue, as well as navigate the streets after work. If you are looking for specialized medical, legal, or other industry-specific jargon, you may want to supplement this class with something a little more specific to your needs.

Just want to be able to communicate with more people?

This is exactly what you’re looking for. Visual Spanish focuses on enabling you to communicate in Spanish. While we cover grammar, sentence structure, and some of the finer points of the Spanish language, the course stresses the ability to speak and understand Spanish.

Visual Spanish covers a lot of ground, from the most basic words, rules, and phrases, to complex concepts usually reserved for advanced Spanish courses, so have a look at the options below, and read over the one that best describes your Spanish.

I can say "Hola" and "Gracias"...but that’s about it

Visual Spanish will be challenging for you, but very valuable, as the engaging nature of the course makes the classes easy to repeat. In order to be able to follow along with the story, we recommend viewing the first few episodes multiple times as an introduction to Spanish.

I’ve picked up a few words and phrases, and can communicate basic ideas

Great! Since you already know a little Spanish,Visual Spanish will reinforce basic vocabulary and grammar as well as build on any previous knowledge to the point of conversational Spanish. You’ll go from hacking together words in Spanish to communicating smoothly constructed sentences in 5 weeks.

I studied Spanish in high school or college, but don’t get to speak it very often

Visual Spanish is perfect for you, as it covers the basic concepts of Spanish I & II as well as more advanced concepts that come up during the course of normal conversation. The course set (30, 35-minute classes) will build on previous knowledge all the way to a conversational level. The same is true for students who understand but have trouble speaking.Visual Spanish provides cultural and language immersion - the 30-class series will improve both comprehension and communicative abilities.

The Visual Spanish method to teaching a foreign language is based on the following 5 principles:

1. Make the Classes Interesting & Engaging

Engaging students is crucial to learning and remembering material. Using wit and charm, Visual Spanish not only engages; it keeps you thinking about the last lesson and looking forward to the next one. Like your favorite teachers, David & Jimena know learning doesn’t have to be dry and boring.

2. See The Words On The Screen.

Some people are audio learners; others learn visually – most people need both, absorbing different concepts in different ways. With Visual Spanish every word is on-screen so you see the spelling while hearing it pronounced.

3. Color-Coding.

Words on-screen are color-coded in Spanish and English to help you understand word usage and sentence structure. You’ll quickly see, hear, and understand how words in Spanish correspond with English ones, and how they are used in sentences.

4. Symbols & Illustrations.

Verb tenses and grammatical concepts are represented by clear symbols so you quickly learn and understand their usage. Iconic illustrations easily associate images and words, burning vocabulary into your brain.

5. REPETITION - The Key to Languages

Any teacher will tell you this, and here’s the problem with old audio books and language software – they’re mind-numbingly boring, making them painful to use, and unbearable to repeat.Visual Spanish is engaging, fast-paced, and fun. You’ll repeat all 30 classes over and over, learning more each time – as your Spanish progresses, you pick up more of the humor, making it easier to repeat.

Visual Spanish incorporates all the necessary grammatical and vocabulary concepts covered by traditional Spanish learning programs like Rosetta Stone ® and Pimsleur ®, but the information is presented in a fresh and interesting way so that you will enjoy the classes and retain what you learn. The set of 30 classes is entertaining and designed to teach you conversational Spanish, which you can use immediately, not textbook Spanish, which is rarely applicable to real life.

We developed Visual Spanish in response to the boring 10-20 year old audio books that are still on the market today, not to create another one. Those products were designed to meet government ISO standards, whereas Visual Spanish was designed to be effective, user-friendly, and entertaining. Your day at work or at school is long enough without subjecting yourself to an hour of painfully dry language-instruction. Like the treadmill in your grandma’s basement - big, yellow boxes that collect dust on a bookshelf won’t teach you anything.

In addition to being comprehensive and entertaining, Visual Spanish was specifically designed to teach you conversational Spanish. This is not a computer program, developed by a scientist in a basement somewhere, then applied to 100 different languages. Visual Spanish was developed by leading linguists in the US and Latin America, whose job is to teach real people Spanish, not by a computer programmer who has never attempted to teach someone a foreign language.

Visual Spanish fulfills all requirements set forth by the American Council for Teaching a Foreign Language. at Spanish levels 1 & 2, as well as by the Common European Framework Reference for Languages– Spanish A1/B1. These two organizations provide well- respected, internationally-recognized guidelines for language learning. However, due to the conversational (rather than academic) nature of Visual Spanish... you will also learn more advanced Spanish concepts usually limited to upper-level academic courses.

The bullet points below cover the major concepts taught:

• Tens of thousands of color-coded vocabulary words (nouns, adjectives, adverbs, articles and pronouns) and their uses.
• Thousands of verb conjugations (complete with root verb, pronoun and tense indicator).
• How to interpret spoken and written Spanish in varying contexts.
• How to introduce yourself and others, and how to ask and answer personal questions.
• How to understand and utilize familiar everyday expressions and phrases.
• How to express feelings, emotions, and how to exchange opinions.
• Pronunciation from native speakers of 3 different countries.
• Slang words, phrases, and customs from multiple Latin American countries.
• How to engage in real conversations!

All in 30 classes of Spanish language and Latin American cultural immersion!

Visual Spanish is based on the Argentine dialect of Spanish, but strongly emphasizes universal grammar and vocabulary concepts. As Argentine Spanish is amongst the fastest and more difficult to comprehend, these classes will prepare you to quickly understand and acclimate to any of the many variants of the Spanish language.

21 Countries in the world list Spanish as their official language, and multiple variants of the language are spoken in each. Most multimedia classes on the market are created to teach Spanish from Spain, which differs greatly from the dialects of Latin America. Others teach “neutral Spanish”, which was invented in an attempt to combine the variations so that only one Spanish soundtrack for films or television shows would be necessary. Yet, "neutral Spanish" is not actually spoken anywhere. So, even if you had mastered "neutral Spanish," you may not be able to communicate with any one local community. In order to truly speak Spanish conversationally, you have to study a variant actually spoken somewhere.

Visual Spanish teaches you Spanish in an immersion-style format, as it is spoken, so that you will be able to understand and communicate conversationally at the speed of a native Argentine. Additionally, we notify students when using language specific to Argentina, and explain the usage of similar words used in other countries. No matter your reason for learning Spanish, your goal is most likely to hold an intelligent conversation. Immersion is a key step in reaching that goal in any language, so, get immersed with Visual Spanish and be on your way to learning conversational Spanish!

Don't expect to get everything the first time through – we designed the classes to be funny and interesting enough to watch multiple times - the more you watch them, the more you learn. Beginners will need to watch all of the classes multiple times, whereas intermediate students may be able to watch the first few classes just once.

The classes were actually translated by native English speakers (who are also fluent in Spanish) with the idea that the translation would help users understand the way a phrase or word is used. Like many components of the Pizarra Mágica (Magic Whiteboard), the English translations are meant to be used as a guide. Many times there is no direct translation from Spanish to English, so we chose to translate the phrases in such a way that you will understand the difference in sentence structure and word usage. Although they may not always be written as a native English speaker would write or speak, the translations were developed by language professionals who learned Spanish as a second language and understand common misperceptions and difficulties of learning Spanish.

The colors will help you figure out how to use certain words. Memorizing them isn't necessary when starting the course. As you progress through the 30 classes, you will realize that you have learned how a word is used in a sentence by its color. If you need help, you can always refer to the color & symbol key for a refresher.

Don’t be intimidated by the number of symbols you see. They will appear on your screen to assist you and will help you contextualize the usage of certain verbs and forms of speech. You can always refer to the color & symbol key for help understanding the symbols.

Not right away. The "Professor" is there to help students who are particularly interested in knowing how Spanish grammar works. We understand that for most students, they are finer points, a bit too theoretical to grasp at first. Give it time, and you will find yourself going back to listen to The Professor’s explanations as you progress. Feel free to watch our explanation of the Pizarra Mágica here.

As we mention, spicy Spanish classes are a part of Visual Spanish. David is fairly obnoxious, and, for lack of a better term, a jackass. A natural performer, he is witty, funny and outrageous. Jimena is a classically trained actor and a real Spanish teacher. Between the two of them, they push the boundaries of appropriate discourse, and sometimes break it. The rule is if you’re worried about being offended, you probably will be. If you think you can't be offended, you will enjoy following the witty banter - and you won't be able to wait to find out what David says next.