BaseLang Review | Best Way to Learn Spanish or Scam?
Before we dive into my BaseLang review, I’ve got to be honest…
I traveled at least two full years in Latin America without making any effort to learn some Spanish.
I was that gringo. The dude rolling up to chicks at the bar mumbling, “Hablas ingles?” to any girl that batted her big brown eyes at me.
I was the guy pointing at the menu when the waiter returned and stumbling to say, “Quiero eso.”
You know the dude I’m talking about if you’ve been in Latin America for more than a month or two. Every sentence starts with “Quiero” or “Estoy” — because that’s about the extent of verbs found in his Spanish vocabulary.
Looking back on those times, it’s embarrassing. I was living in Spanish-speaking countries for years on end and hadn’t taken a minute to study Spanish since high school.
I’d gotten tired of having the same elementary school conversations about the exact same topics – time and time, again. I knew if I was going to spend a little more time in Latin America, I’d need to learn a little Spanish.
Then I heard about BaseLang from a buddy living in Colombia. His Spanish speaking ability had gone from complete garbage to conversational in a little under three months.
We were sitting at the bar catching up and he began rattling off a little Espanol with the waitress. She was damn cute, laughing, and giving him the naughtiest smile. A little jealousy began to stir inside me.
When she left, I looked at him perplexed, “When did you learn Spanish?”
He chuckled and instantly began hyping BaseLang up to epic proportions. He claimed the service was the absolute best way to learn Spanish.
Point. Blank. Period.
It didn’t take long before I was sold. I typed “BaseLang” into the notepad on my phone and made a mental note to sign up as soon as possible.
Luckily, I checked that note and was taking my first Spanish lesson within days of that conversation.
Hell, it’s why I’m writing this review right here and now. A review that covers things like:
- What is BaseLang?
- My Full Review of BaseLang
- The Positives
- The Downsides
- In-Person Classes and Programs?
- One Gringo’s BaseLang Review | Best Way to Learn Spanish or Scam?
If any of those specific topics are of interest to you, simply click the exact link above and you’ll be taken to that area of this review.
Or just keep on keeping on…aka keep on reading this in-depth BaseLang review. Everything you need to know about the absolute best way to start learning Spanish can be found below…
¡Vamos!
What is BaseLang?
Alright, let’s talk a little bit about what BaseLang is and how the service works.
BaseLang is a service that offers unlimited one-on-one online Spanish tutoring lessons with professional teachers – for one low monthly price.
You pay $129 USD for a month of BaseLang and you can take as many 30-minute lessons as you want from Spanish teachers, who are usually from Venezuela.
There are hundreds of BaseLang teachers working with the service right now, so you can find lessons at any time of the day. BaseLang classes are available from 6 am to midnight U.S. Eastern time.
The service offers a custom-made curriculum that’s been created to “hack” learning the romance language. BaseLang takes out all the fluff and starts teaching you how to have real Spanish conversations from the first day.
Due to the unique structure of BaseLang, the service is ideal for beginners and advanced Spanish speakers. The curriculum features 10 levels and hundreds of lessons.
To begin, the teachers test your Spanish speaking ability and then place you in the proper level. Then you’re off to the races.
You schedule classes each day and it’s as simple as turning on your Zoom application at the right time. Your BaseLang teacher will be waiting for you to begin.
Spanish speakers in Iquitos, Peru.
My Full Review of BaseLang
I wouldn’t be writing this BaseLang review if I didn’t have such a great experience with this company. Honestly, I’m not sure I would have ever learned much Spanish without the service.
See, some people do great with self-study programs like Rocket Spanish or Pimsleur. Programs and audio courses can work well, especially for certain types of people, especially when just starting to learn.
Sadly, that’s not me. Hell, I even tried Rosetta Stone for a bit, but just got so bored with the program. Too much vocabulary and not enough actual conversations.
Once my buddy told me about BaseLang, I was excited. Unlimited individual lessons for one low monthly price with professional teachers from Venezuela sounded like a great deal.
I went back to the United States after my trip to Colombia and instantly signed up. My Spanish was complete trash, but I had some Spanish speaking ability and was hoping I could pick things up quickly.
I wanted to study for a few months before making my triumphant return to Latin America, as a stunningly handsome gringo with great Spanish speaking abilities.
Thanks to BaseLang, at least half of my goal came true.
I started taking lessons for one hour a day my first month with BaseLang. A few teachers tested my Spanish level and I was placed in the second level on the BaseLang curriculum.
After a few weeks of studying, I found one teacher I really enjoyed taking lessons with and began booking all my lessons with him.
Wilver was a Spanish professor from a smaller city in Venezuela. I loved how he was strict with pronunciation. Anytime my accent was off or my annunciation was incorrect, he immediately corrected me.
He was fluent in English, too – which allowed him to explain difficult concepts, like por vs. para, with ease.
Plus, he was just a cool dude to chat with in English or Spanish. We chopped it up about Venezuela, Colombia, girls, beaches, traveling, and even talked a little about hunting, too.
In a month of studying with Wilver, I learned to speak more Spanish than nearly two years traveling around and having Google Translate conversations on What’s App.
After my second month of studying with BaseLang, I headed back to Colombia. I met up with some old Colombian friends in Bogota and they were baffled.
The last time they saw me I could barely mumble “Hola, como estas?” without sounding super gringo.
Now, I was having conversations in Spanish with ease.
Upon my return to Colombia, I instantly noticed how comfortable I felt talking and listening in Spanish. Conversations that used to leave me saying, “Que?” weren’t a problem any longer.
I was understanding things I never had before and holding real conversations. I was actually speaking and understanding Latin American Spanish. Soon, I started enjoying communicating in the native tongue and speaking Spanish became a lot of fun.
BaseLang Review | The Positives
Enough with my experiences, let’s get into the rice and beans of this BaseLang review.
Here are just a few of the things I loved about BaseLang:
-
You Will Learn Spanish
The most important thing about BaseLang is…
It works!
If you study Spanish with BaseLang teachers for 20-30 hours a month for 3-4 months, you’ll be baffled by how well you speak Spanish after.
If you truly want to learn Spanish and you have time and energy to dedicate to studying, BaseLang is the first place I’d start.
I’m not trying to hype the service up or anything. I just know from personal experience that you will greatly improve your Spanish speaking abilities if you use BaseLang consistently.
My Spanish got 10X better while studying with BaseLang, and I have two other buddies who have used the service with great success, too.
-
Great Teachers
One of the reasons BaseLang works so well is the teachers. Like Wilver, there are many amazing teachers on BaseLang.
While Venezuela’s economic situation is in shambles right now, some of the great people in the country have been forced to look online for work.
This has led to many university-educated, bilingual Venezuelans working for BaseLang. I’ve had teachers who have degrees from the United States and university professors teaching me Spanish with this service.
Heck, some of these individuals used to teach Spanish lessons in Venezuela, when the country had a thriving tourism industry.
Now, you do have to search around and test out what Spanish teachers work well for you. Some are certainly better than others.
But overall, I’ve been thrilled with the level of instruction most BaseLang teachers provide.
-
Impressive Curriculum
Now, I’m no Spanish language curriculum expert here, but I was pleasantly surprised with all the materials provided by BaseLang.
Inside the program, you’ll find 10 different levels. Each level has around 20-30 different lessons inside.
Inside each lesson, you’ll find slides that detail the full lesson. Most lessons are anywhere from 5-50 slides long. It all depends on the lesson and what’s presented in the material.
In certain lessons, especially vocabulary heavy ones, you’ll find a link to online flashcards, too. The online flashcards are ideal for studying a little more once the lesson is over.
A simple interface that’s ideal for studying alone, too.
What makes BaseLang’s curriculum even better? You don’t actually have to follow it – if you don’t want to.
See, you’re in control of what you study with BaseLang. If you have some specific situations you want to cover, just let your teacher know and off you go.
You can ask your teacher to study anything you like with this service. You aren’t forced to learn certain things, like in a high school classroom or audio course.
Plus, you can also request moving forward to a certain lesson and redoing an old one from the past. The flexibility makes the curriculum ideal for Spanish learners of all levels and backgrounds.
-
Easy to Use Interface
BaseLang is super easy to use. Once you’ve signed up, you’ll just click the calendar tab in their online portal.
You’ll be taken to a page that looks like this:
Then you just click the “New” button on the left side of the screen and a new page will pop up.
On this page, you’ll be able to see what times and/or teachers are available for your next classes. Once you find the time or teacher you want, booking a class just takes a couple of clicks.
I try to book classes a few days out because many get filled up the day of and the day before:
It’s super easy to schedule classes with BaseLang.
This isn’t a huge deal. You just have to remember to book new classes before or after your lessons every couple of days.
Once you’re ready for the class, just log into your Zoom application and your teacher will be waiting for you to begin the lesson. It’s super easy to use and makes taking classes online easier than ever before.
-
No Pressure Bookings
One thing I love about BaseLang is the relaxed atmosphere and no pressure bookings. Life happens and sometimes you can’t make it to a lesson.
With BaseLang, that’s not a big deal. You’re paying for unlimited lessons, so if you have to cancel one the day of, it’s not a problem. This is especially helpful if you wake up one day feeling sick or hungover.
While I doubt BaseLang will be happy about me saying that, I love the flexibility of being able to move my schedule around when life happens.
Sometimes I have to cancel a lesson 5-6 hours before it happens. Sometimes I book a lesson an hour before it begins.
With the unlimited lessons BaseLang offers, you have this type of flexibility to learn when you have time available.
-
Truly Unlimited
Last, but not least…
BaseLang is truly unlimited personal Spanish tutoring.
You could book 5-6 hours of lessons a day with this online Spanish tutoring service. Hell, I’ve known one guy who tried to.
His goal was to study Spanish 129 hours in one month, so he was only paying $1 USD per hour-long lesson.
I don’t think he achieved his goal, but there’s no doubt he got his money’s worth with BaseLang.
While audio courses and online programs have great value for novice learners just looking to pick up a little Spanish, BaseLang is the best for serious learners.
If you’re willing to put in 20-40 hours of Spanish study per month, you’ll find BaseLang is an incredible value.
There’s nowhere else you’ll find one-hour long Spanish lessons with a detailed curriculum for $3-6 USD an hour.
Trust me, I’ve tried! Even learning Spanish in cheap countries, like Guatemala and Nicaragua, is much more expensive than BaseLang – if you’re seriously studying.
BaseLang Review | The Downsides
Now, no Spanish language learning course or program is perfect. Hell, no product is perfect. BaseLang certainly is no different in this regard.
While I’m writing this BaseLang review because I’m a huge fan, it should be noted that there are a few downsides to the program.
A few things I don’t like about BaseLang are:
- 30-Minute Bookings: I wish you could book hour-long classes with teachers instead of just 30-minute lessons. The first five minutes of each lesson is pleasantries, which adds up when you switch teachers every 30 minutes. I’ve found I get way more out of a one-hour lesson with the same teacher – than with two 30-minute lessons with different teachers.
P.S: It should be noted that you can book lessons for as long as you like with BaseLang, but teachers may switch every 30-minutes. It just depends on availability. Sometimes I book two-hours straight of lessons and it’s with one teacher the whole time. Other days, I book two-hours of lessons and it’s with 2-3 different professors.
- Not a One Time Fee: You pay for BaseLang every month. If you’re not studying seriously each month, you’ll end up wasting your money. That’s the benefit of courses like Rocket Spanish and Pimsleur. You pay one time for all the material.
- Some Professors Better/More Popular Than Others: The best professors on BaseLang often get booked up pretty quickly. It’s frustrating to find a professor you really learn a lot from – only to find out he/she is booked up for the next week straight. Luckily, you’ll find 2-3 teachers you vibe with after a few weeks and this becomes less of a problem.
In-Person Classes and Programs?
BaseLang used to be an online only operation.
They didn’t offer an in-person classes. You took classes from the computer and nothing more.
That has changed as of late, as BaseLang recently began offering two in-person programs for individuals in Medellin, Colombia.
While you can take the same classes online with BaseLang, there’s now an in-person option for individuals who prefer immersing themselves the culture while learning a language.
If that sounds like something you’d be interested in, then…
There are two courses that you can take in-person while in Medellin Colombia.
The first is the traditional BaseLang course, called “Real World”
The course is basically the in-person version of their award-winning online program for Spanish language learners.
This course allows you to take up to 48 hours of one-on-one Spanish lessons per week with an in-person teacher in Medellin, Colombia.
Talk about value!
Now, obviously you might not take nearly 200 hours of lessons in a single month — but you could if you wanted to.
The price is $599 per month for this program, and includes a full curriculum that’s tailored to your Spanish level. This curriculum is similar to the general online BaseLang program.
The other program is for people who cannot speak any Spanish at the moment outside of “Hola” — for true beginners.
This program is called:
–> Grammarless
The program has only one goal…help you become conversational in Spanish in just 4-6 weeks of study.
Here’s what BaseLang has to say about it’s new in-person program:
Our revolutionary “Grammerless” course lets you learn Spanish like a child does, without any grammar – and have a 30-minute conversation confidently after just four weeks.
The in-person program costs $1,200 USD for a month – where the online immersion program costs $900 per month.
For individuals in dire need of learning Spanish quickly, this is the BEST option — if you can dedicate 60+ hours a month to studying.
It’s worth noting that…
The “Grammarless” program carries a unique guarantee – BaseLang guarantees that anyone who completes the program will be conversational at the end.
As of writing, they’ve had a 100% success rate with the program guarantee. Everyone who completes at least one month can hold conversations in Spanish afterwards.
Click here to learn more.
One Gringo’s BaseLang Review | Best Way to Learn Spanish or Scam?
That was quite the BaseLang review.
But I wanted to give you guys a full overview of what you’ll get if you decide to invest in BaseLang and learning Spanish.
While you can travel Latin America without learning Spanish, the experience changes completely once you’re able to communicate with locals in their native tongue. Travel becomes more fulfilling and life down south just becomes less stressful.
Plus, it’s always fun to be able to flirt with that sultry Latina in a manner she can actually understand 😉
Overall, I can’t recommend BaseLang enough for anyone who is serious about learning Spanish.
Whether you’re about to take a trip or already in a Lat American country, BaseLang is a surefire way to improve your Spanish over the course of a few months – not a few years!
