· 7 min read
Learn English for Spanish Speakers: A Guide
By Language Lab editorial team
Learn English as a Spanish speaker: use the 3,000 words the two languages share, handle English spelling and sounds, and follow free courses, one in Spanish.
A Spanish speaker starts English with a large advantage: vocabulary. English and Spanish share many words of Latin origin, and the BBC's guide to Spanish puts the number of recognisable words at more than 3,000. The difficulty lies elsewhere. Spanish is a phonetic language, written the way it is pronounced, and English is not: its spelling has plenty of irregularities. So the plan for a Spanish speaker is to bank the shared words quickly, spend extra time on listening and pronunciation, and follow a structured course. USA Learns, a free site published by the Sacramento County Office of Education, offers its menus in Spanish as well as English. Cambridge English estimates 350–400 guided learning hours to reach B1 from beginner.
What you already have
Because the two languages share so much Latin vocabulary, you can recognise more than 3,000 words, by the BBC's count. One pattern alone gives you hundreds: most English words ending in -tion end in -ción in Spanish.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| atención | attention |
| publicación | publication |
| liberación | liberation |
| patio | patio |
| tornado | tornado |
| bonanza | bonanza |
The last three travelled the other way: they are English words of Spanish origin. Use this stock from the first week to read simple texts.
Where English is harder for you
- Spelling and sound. Spanish is phonetic. English spelling has plenty of irregularities, so you cannot read a new word aloud with confidence. Learn every new word from audio.
- Listening. Start with slow recordings: Voice of America reads its programmes one-third slower than normal speed.
- Small words. English beginner grammar begins with the verb to be, the present simple, question forms and the articles a, an and the.
Where English is lighter
The BBC's guide names the biggest differences in Spanish grammar for an English speaker: gender, agreements, and verbs with six different endings for each tense. Turn that around. English nouns have no gender, so there are no agreements of that kind to learn.
Free courses, including one with Spanish menus
| Resource | Who makes it | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| USA Learns: 1st English Course | Sacramento County Office of Education | A complete first course: speaking, listening, vocabulary, pronunciation, reading, writing and grammar |
| Let's Learn English, Level 1 and Level 2 | Voice of America | A beginners' course designed by certified American English teachers |
| LearnEnglish: A1 speaking and A1–A2 grammar | British Council | Useful phrases with video, and short grammar lessons with exercises |
| Learning English: easy level | BBC | A programme to follow every day |
| Learning English activities, A1–A2 | Cambridge English | Short practice by skill; many take ten minutes or less |
USA Learns lets you choose English or Spanish as the site language, which helps at the very beginning. Voice of America's programmes are read one-third slower than normal English speed, which is the best answer to the listening problem. If you do not know your level, take the British Council's free level test.
A study order for Spanish speakers
- Week 1: the sounds. Listen to slow English every day and repeat aloud.
- Weeks 1 to 4: one complete beginners' course, in order.
- Daily: five words you recognise from Spanish, checked for their English pronunciation.
- Daily: one British Council grammar lesson, starting with the verb to be.
- Throughout: test yourself, and review after a day, a week and a month.
A 2013 review of ten learning techniques, led by John Dunlosky, rated two as high utility: practice testing and distributed practice. Rereading and highlighting were rated low.
How long it takes
Cambridge English estimates approximately 200 guided learning hours to move up one level of the European framework, and 350–400 hours to reach B1 from beginner. It notes that the figures vary with your language background, and a Spanish speaker's shared vocabulary is exactly that kind of background. Free courses give you reading, listening and grammar. Speaking needs practice of its own. Language Lab's English course is built around voiced real-life scenarios with an AI tutor, which supplies spoken practice.
Frequently asked
Is English easy for Spanish speakers?
The vocabulary is a real help: the two languages share many words of Latin origin, more than 3,000 by the BBC's count. Pronunciation and spelling are the harder part, because English is not written as it is pronounced.
What is the hardest part of English for Spanish speakers?
Spelling and sound. Spanish is phonetic; English spelling has many irregularities, so new words should be learned from audio.
Are there free English courses in Spanish?
USA Learns, a free site from the Sacramento County Office of Education, offers Spanish as a site language alongside English.
How many English words do Spanish speakers already know?
The BBC's guide to Spanish says the two languages share so many words of Latin origin that more than 3,000 Spanish words are recognisable to an English speaker. The same shared words help a Spanish speaker reading English.
How long does it take a Spanish speaker to learn English?
Cambridge English estimates 350–400 guided learning hours to reach B1 from beginner, and says the figure varies with language background.
Which words are the same in English and Spanish?
Many words ending in -tion in English end in -ción in Spanish, such as attention and atención. Patio, tornado and bonanza are Spanish words used in English.
Sources: British Council, LearnEnglish: A1 speaking, A1–A2 grammar and home page; BBC Learning English; Voice of America, About Learning English; USA Learns; Cambridge English, Learning English and Guided learning hours; BBC Languages, A Guide to Spanish: 10 facts, and A Guide to Urdu (archived pages); Dunlosky et al., Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 2013. Checked on 13 October 2026. Photo: Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, Rich Niewiroski Jr. / CC BY 2.5 (Wikimedia Commons).
