When it comes to learning Spanish as a second language, there are a fair number of Spanish language courses you can try.
However, few of them are as detailed and comprehensive as Spanish Uncovered by Olly Richards (I Will Teach You a Language) featuring his method: StoryLearning.
🏆 Our top Spanish pick for 2021!
Our Verdict
The Uncovered series provide a truly amazing self-study experience at a very competitive price.
If you follow the instructions and put in the hours, this course will teach any beginner Spanish – without a doubt.
In this review I'll be diving into the Spanish version of Uncovered to give you a complete picture of the course.
The other Uncovered courses: German, French, Japanese, and Italian follow the very same model (and even the same story!) so if you liked any of those you're going to love Spanish.
Plus, knowledge of the story will greatly accelerate your success in learning Spanish.
Hopefully by the end of this post you will have learnt enough to answer the question: “Is Spanish Uncovered worth it?”
Let's dive in.
TL;DR Spanish Uncovered Review
In my opinion, Spanish Uncovered is a great self-study course for learning Spanish. If you're a beginner and you have the discipline to put in the work you will learn Spanish really fast.
Compared to traditional language schools or night classes, you save a bunch of money too, which you can then reinvest in a private 1-on-1 teacher to go over the materials from Spanish Uncovered, and learn even faster.
PROS
- Completely free to try for 7 days
- Extremely Comprehensive
- Learning with a written story throughout the course is fun and practical
- Takes a beginner all the way to lower intermediate levels (B1)
CONS
- It's a self-study course, so you're relying a lot on your own self-discipline
- It's not cheap
- Grammar/Language lessons need to be repeated a few times to fully absorb
- Student will have to arrange for their own speaking practice outside the course
Update: February 2021 – Free trial now available
All Uncovered courses now feature a full 7 day trial so you can try out the method before deciding to commit fully. The creator Olly Richards says that this is the best way to figure out of the StoryLearning method is suitable for the individual learner first.
He always offered a 30-day refund window, but this makes it even easier to try the product.
What is Spanish Uncovered?
Spanish Uncovered is a self-study Spanish course for beginners. This means you can start this language course without any prior knowledge in Spanish.
Completing the 20 modules according to the instructions gets you to a solid upper beginner, lower intermediate level in Spanish – and can be done within about 100-150 hours of study and repetition time.
The text and audio features both Latin American and Spain Spanish versions, so you will be able to use your new Spanish skills to communicate with the whole world.
People with some experience (pre-intermediate) would also benefit, but might find that it becomes too easy if they are above the upper beginner levels.
Not a beginner? Check out my review of Grammar Hero instead, which is suitable for intermediate learners of Spanish.
The StoryLearning method
Olly Richards always loved learning Spanish through books and stories, so when he started creating books and courses himself he used stories as a pivotal part of the products.
Recently he started using the name “StoryLearning” to describe his methodology.
He believes that stories are the best to learn from, as you see the actual language in context. Cognates, vocabulary, and grammar are all easier to learn as they appear together.
Video: A look inside Spanish Uncovered
I'll be going into details about what you can find inside the course in the paragraphs below, but if you prefer you can also check out a short 5 minute video I recorded where I dive into the dashboard:
Course Overview
The course contains 20 full chapters that all follow the same structure.
In the course you are taught by native speaker Angela Moreno, and Olly Richards himself.
In each chapter you'll be explore a new part of a funny short-story called “The Man with the Hat” or in Spanish: “El Hombre Del Sombreo“
The story section is available in PDF and MP3, so you can listen to a native speaker reading it out while you follow along in the PDF.
Let's take a closer look into a chapter of the course, and see how the actual learning takes place.
What you can learn in each of the 20 modules
Here's what you'll be doing in every chapter of Spanish Uncovered, all chapters follow the same structure.
Let's break down each Spanish lesson of Uncovered step-by-step:
1. Syllabus
A brief introduction to the module, as well as what you will learn in the chapter.
2. Read and Listen
In this lesson you'll be going through the next part of the story “The Man with the hat“
In this lesson, you only read and listen to the Spanish version.
Both Latin American and Spain Spanish versions are provided, so you can pick whichever is more relevant to your language learning.
3. Cognates and Translation
In this lesson you get to see the English translation, and Olly takes you through a video lesson where you discover the most useful cognates of the chapter you just read in the short story.
Spanish shares a huge amount of vocabulary words with English, so these lessons are really helpful to supercharge your vocabulary and learn more words in each chapter.
4. Vocabulary
In this lesson you learn some of the vocabulary words that you were just introduced to in the short story. This is a great section if there is a word or phrase that you're struggling with understanding.
5. Grammar
Just like the German language, Spanish has quite a lot of grammar that can be quite complicated for language learners (like any other foreign language!)
So, to help the student each module features a grammar section where specific points are explained with examples from the text, so the grammar rules of Spanish make more and more sense to you as you programms through the course.
6. Pronunciation
In this lesson Spanish teacher Angela comes on and helps you improve a specific part of the Spanish sound system, so you can sound more like a native Spanish speaker.
7. Speaking
Being a self-study Spanish course, Uncovered doesn't feature any direct interaction with a Spanish-speaking tutor or person.
The course compensates by providing this lesson, which provides a text document you can use to practice what you have learnt with a tutor or speaking partner.
Just bring the document to your tutor, and you'll quickly be practising the new language you have just learnt!
8. Quiz
Finally, the last part of each chapter is a test on how well you have understood the materials and individual words of the lessons.
There are also quizzes throughout the course for making sure you understand what's happening in the story. If at any point you are struggling to follow the story, it's time to go back and revise that particular module once again.
Spanish Uncovered: Price and Guarantee
What does Spanish Uncovered cost?
Spanish Uncovered costs $297 and comes with a 30-day money back guarantee as well as full 7 day free trial.
Try it for free for 7 days, and if you don't like it you don't have to pay anything, and you won't have to request any refunds later.
However, even if you do decide to get the course the guarantee still allows you to try it for 30 days total, and if you for any reason don't like it at that point, you can still get a full refund, no questions asked.
This is a higher price than other beginner courses, but way cheaper than a comparable in-person Spanish class (like at the Cervantes Institute)
It's also a lifetime offer, so you don't have to keep paying monthly fees over and over to access the content like other subscription language services.
New: Try Spanish Uncovered for free
The creator, Olly, has recently launched a free trial offer across all of the Uncovered languages. Now you can try the courses for free for 7 days before you decide if you want to commit to it long-term.
This means you can get started with Spanish Uncovered for free.
Olly always offered a 30-day guarantee, which you still have under this new 7-day free trial scheme. Now you just get a bit of extra time to commit.
What I like
- Incredibly comprehensive with 100+ hours of study materials
- Free trial to see if method suits the learner
- Great variety in the learning mediums (not just an audio course!)
- Exciting new language learning method
- Working through the story is fun, and you really feel like you progress as the story gets harder.
- Probably the best language course out there today for the aspiring Spanish learner
- Lifetime access, no subscription required
What I don't like
- Some of the lessons can get a bit heavy and requires a lot of focus to get the maximum value out of
- Additional resources like exercises, and quizzes aren't super exciting
- It's a significant investment for a Spanish course, and might be out of budget for many Spanish learners.
- Doesn't have a way to practice speaking directly, but does provide resources to go over the materials with a tutor or speaker.
Spanish Uncovered FAQ
Can you try Spanish Uncovered for free?
Yes – Spanish Uncovered has a 7 day free trial so you can test out the course for yourself, before deciding to commit fully to it. Just click any link or button on this page to access this free offer.
Are there any Spanish Uncovered discounts or coupons available?
Unfortunately there are no evergreen Spanish Uncovered discounts or coupon codes available. Olly Richards very rarely discounts his courses, so your best bet is to keep an eye out for the big seasonal sales such as Black Friday.
If you are part of the Actual Fluency email club I always email out when there are big sales you should check out.
Does Spanish Uncovered teach Spain Spanish or Latin American Spanish?
Spanish Uncovered's text and audio are available in both Spain Spanish and Latin American Spanish. Olly and the pronunciation specialist (Angela) are both Spain Spanish speakers, but the differences will be limited and you will have no problem communicating with Spanish speakers from around the world with what you learn in Spanish Uncovered.
What's the difference between spanish uncovered and the fluent spanish academy?
Spanish Uncovered is a beginner's course that is useful up to the intermediate levels of Spanish. The Fluent Spanish Academy is designed for an intermediate learner who have progressed through the beginner levels of Spanish already.
They are also radically different in design, with the Fluent Spanish Academy being a membership site with hundreds of video lessons that can be viewed in any order. Spanish Uncovered on the other hand follows the same story in a chronological order through its 20 extensive modules.
How is spanish uncovered different from the many other courses out there?
Spanish Uncovered is a different kind of Spanish course that differs from other courses in the way the course is built around a written story in 20 chapters, equal to the 20 modules of the course.
As the course participant gains more knowledge and confidence in Spanish the story gets more difficult as well, but because it has a chronological series of events it's easier to keep on track, and to get practical Spanish out of it.
Apart from the story, Spanish Uncovered also features more traditional video lessons by the teacher: Angela, and Olly himself. These serve to help you understand specific words and grammar in the text at a higher level or to improve your pronunciation of certain words.
Spanish Uncovered Reviews
Here is a selection of reviews of Spanish Uncovered, from people who have taken the programme:
“These courses are worth every penny!”
“The Spanish Uncovered course is exceeding all my expectations. You make the grammar section so clear and easy to assimilate. Moving on effortlessly in the stories is pleasureable and quite exhilarating as I understand what I am hearing much more easily.
These courses are worth every penny!”
David
“Olly's materials are astounding to me. “
“In all my many years of frustrated foreign language learning,I never before had access to such comprehensive materials,which in my book are truly inspirational!“
Michael
Conclusion
In my opinion, Spanish Uncovered is a great self-study course for learning Spanish. If you're a beginner and you have the discipline to put in the work you will learn Spanish really fast.
Compared to traditional language schools or night classes, you save a bunch of money too, which you can then reinvest in a private 1-on-1 teacher to go over the materials from Spanish Uncovered, and learn even faster.
If you follow the instructions and put in the hours, this course will teach you Spanish – without a doubt.
It will take even complete beginner language learners well past the upper beginner levels, if you do the materials according to the instructions.
So, if you want to learn a new language there's really no reason not to give it a try, as it also comes with a 30 day no-questions asked refund guarantee.
The only people I wouldn't recommend it to are people who are not good at self-studying. You do have to put in the work yourself, and there's no teacher to make sure you actually do the work.
But, if you do and take the time to complete all 20 chapters, I promise you, your Spanish will be amazing.
Spanish Uncovered Alternatives
There aren't many comprehensive beginner-friendly Courses for learning Spanish out there that you can use to go from nothing to intermediate.
One alternative is Rocket Spanish, and although it features a ton of audio lessons it's not as structured as Uncovered. You can see our review of Rocket Languages here for more information about it.
You can also use Pimsleur Spanish, but to me that method is boring, old-fashioned, and still quite pricy to get an equivalent amount of content as Uncovered.
If money is an issue then I would consider looking into SpanishPod101, which you can start using for just a few dollars per month (or check your local library for free courses!)
For free solutions I would use Duolingo, Memrise, or even YouTube! – they are pretty basic, mostly vocabulary-based apps – but they'll get you started nicely.
Finally, although it's not a direct comparison I would always share a word of advice to use tutors or teachers to accelerator your Spanish. For this you can use websites like italki, live lingua, preply, or even baselang which we reviewed in great detail here.
Other Spanish language learning products by Olly Richards
Courses
Conversations Spanish – an intermediate course for practising listening and conversational ability.
Grammar Hero Spanish – an intermediate course on how to learn the most tricky aspects of Spanish grammar, uses the similar story-based format as Uncovered.
Fluent Spanish Academy – a great continuation of Uncovered with a ton of lessons for intermediate-advanced learners.
Books
Spanish Short Stories for Beginners – Short stories in book format, with free audiobook. Uses a similar learning method as Uncoverd, but without the spanish teacher and olly explaining the target language used in the stories.
Short Stories in Spanish for Intermediate Learners – the continuation fof the book series for intermediate learners.
101 Conversations in Simple Spanish: Short Natural Dialogues to Boost Your Confidence & Improve Your Spoken Spanish.
101 Conversations in Intermediate Spanish: Short Natural Dialogues to Boost Your Confidence & Improve Your Spoken Spanish.
I hope you enjoyed the Review! Have you tried Uncovered before?