Frequently asked questions

No. Our teachers work with complete beginners every day, and the first class is partly about finding out where you are. You will still speak in that first class, just with more help. Nobody starts fluent.

Regular one-on-one conversation with a native Mexican teacher, plus short daily practice between classes. Apps are good at teaching you to recognise Spanish, but they cannot hear you hesitate, and recognising is not speaking. Whoever you learn with, look for three things: a teacher who is actually Mexican, so you learn ustedes instead of vosotros and carro instead of coche; sessions where you talk more than the teacher does; and something to keep the habit alive on the days you have no class. At ChidoLingo that combination is 60-minute 1-on-1 Zoom classes with Mexican teachers and Señor Chip, an AI tutor you talk to out loud, included with every pack.

Señor Chip is ChidoLingo's AI Spanish buddy: Spanish speaking practice on demand, at any hour. You talk to him out loud, he answers in Mexican Spanish, and he tells you right away what to fix in your pronunciation and word choice. He is up 24/7, has 56 real-life scenarios to practice, and comes included with every class pack. You can try him for 2 minutes free at chidolingo.com/try-chip, no signup.

ChidoLingo private classes cost $18 to $22 USD per 60-minute class, sold in packs of 10 to 50 classes. The first 30-minute class is free, classes are valid for one year from purchase, and every pack includes 150 to 500 bonus minutes with Señor Chip. In-person Immersion Excursions in Mexico City start at $150 USD for one person, plus $50 or more for each extra person depending on the day.

On marketplaces like italki and Preply, native Mexican tutors generally run somewhere between $10 and $30 USD an hour, and the figure depends entirely on which individual you pick: a certified teacher costs several times what a conversation partner does. Small schools tend to sit between $20 and $35. ChidoLingo private classes cost $18 to $22 USD per 60-minute class, sold in packs of 10 to 50 classes. The first 30-minute class is free, classes are valid for one year from purchase, and every pack includes 150 to 500 bonus minutes with Señor Chip. The price is the same whichever teacher you get, because they are hired and trained by the school rather than listed on a marketplace.

You buy a pack of class credits: 10 classes at $22 each, 25 classes at $19 each, 50 classes at $18 each. Classes are valid for one year from purchase, you book each class from your dashboard whenever you want, and every pack adds bonus minutes with Señor Chip.

Classes are 60-minute 1-on-1 video sessions on Zoom with a native Mexican teacher. You pick the schedule and the focus: conversation, grammar, travel Spanish, DELE or IELTS exam preparation, whatever you need. Yes, there is homework. Every class ends with personalized exercises based on what you covered, you submit them on the platform, and your teacher reviews them. It is how the class sticks.

With 30 to 60 minutes of practice a day, most ChidoLingo students hold basic conversations after about 3 months and reach conversational fluency in 6 to 9 months. Consistency beats talent every time, which is why every class comes with homework and Chip is there between classes.

Yes, any time and without explaining yourself. Getting used to different voices and accents is part of understanding real Spanish, so switching is encouraged, not frowned upon.

Reschedule or cancel up to 24 hours before the class at no cost. Subscriptions can be paused or cancelled whenever you want. Nothing locks you in for months.

Yes, in three ways you notice immediately. Mexico uses ustedes where Spain uses vosotros, so there is one fewer verb conjugation to learn. The letters c and z are pronounced as an s, not the th sound of Spain. And everyday vocabulary diverges constantly: carro not coche, celular not móvil, jugo not zumo, papas not patatas. The grammar underneath is the same language, so learning Mexican Spanish still lets you read, watch and travel anywhere in the Spanish-speaking world. You will simply sound like you learned it in Mexico, which is the point if Mexico is where you are going.

That is the whole point. Every teacher is Mexican, and Señor Chip speaks and reads in a Mexican voice. You will understand other varieties just fine, but you will sound like you learned it in Mexico. Chido.

They are three different things. Duolingo is an app: you tap the right answer, and it is genuinely good for vocabulary and for keeping a daily streak, but you never speak and nothing corrects your pronunciation. italki and Preply are marketplaces: an enormous catalogue of independent tutors, excellent if you enjoy shopping for the right one, and the quality, the price and whether they prepare anything for you vary from tutor to tutor. ChidoLingo is a small school in Mexico City. Every teacher is Mexican, the price is the same whoever you get, homework comes after every class and a person reviews it, and Señor Chip covers the days in between so the habit does not break. It also runs in-person days out in Mexico City, which a marketplace cannot do. If you want the widest possible choice of tutors, use a marketplace. If you want Mexican Spanish specifically, taught the same way every week by people who live there, that is what this is.