Preply Review: Can a Real Tutor Finally Get Me Speaking Spanish?

This post is sponsored by Preply. We were given access to the platform to try it for ourselves, but all opinions and experiences here are our own.I’ve been trying to learn Spanish, on and off, for years. And when I say trying, I mean I’ve done a little bit of everything.I’ve used language apps, taken formal classes, memorized vocabulary, and picked up bits and pieces simply from spending a lot of time traveling in Mexico, Spain and numerous Spanish speaking countries over the years. A surprising amount of it has stuck, too. Give me a menu, a sign, or something simple to read in Spanish and I can often figure out what’s going on.Then an actual person talks to me.That’s usually where things start to fall apart.There’s a surprisingly large gap between recognizing Spanish words on a screen and having another person look at you and expect an answer. I might know some of the words I want, but putting them together quickly enough to have an actual conversation is another thing entirely.It had also been about three years since I’d spoken much Spanish out loud, so when I signed up to try Preply, I was rusty. Very rusty.My goal wasn’t to become fluent overnight or start discussing complicate...