I Used Lingopie for 73 Days [here’s what happened to my Spanish]
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Table of Contents
Why Lingopie was appealing to me
Choosing what content to watch
The Lingopie Language Learning features
How much did my Spanish improve after 73 days?
I have actually tried Lingopie briefly in the past.
And to be honest, I didn’t think that much about it.
I played around with it about a year ago for a few days, but it didn’t catch-on somehow.
I thought the idea was cool, but there are so many resources for learning Spanish that I somehow overlooked it. I was happy with what I was using at the time.
Now, after having used Lingopie every single day for the past 73 days, I have started to realize its depth.
How powerful this language learning platform really is.
Out of the languages I’m currently learning, Spanish is the only one they right now offer.
So naturally, that is the language I chose.
If you’re learning Spanish (or any of the other 9 languages they offer) my hope is that you’ll get a bit of an insight into what it’s like to learn languages with Lingopie.
What was my experience using Lingopie and how much did it improve my language skills?
Let’s dig into it to find out.
Why Lingopie was appealing to me
When you’re learning a foreign language the thought of being able to understand native content is a very attractive one.
To get to a level where you can just grab the remote control, flick on the TV, watch a TV show in your target language, and understand with ease.
Just like you would in your native language.
When we were in Spain for 3 months in 2022 me and my wife really enjoyed turning on the local TV.
Just to see what types of programs locals watched.
(I really like doing this in different countries. It really gives you a feel for the culture)
At the time, my Spanish level wasn’t very high and it was tough to keep up and understand (although I still very much enjoyed it).
In order to get to that level where we can understand native TV shows and movies, we need something to help “bridge that gap”.
Usually what we use is content adapted for language learners.
Content where they speak slower and easier, such as Dreaming Spanish (which I have used extensively). Or we use audio with transcripts, books, or apps like LingQ (which I’m a huge fan of) to improve our level of comprehension.
What makes Lingopie stand out is that they use real TV shows to create an immersive language learning experience.
Not content adapted to language learners, but for native speakers.
Lingopie also has a stack of tools to help you understand and learn the vocabulary of the shows you’re watching.
You can click on every single word in the subtitles and get an instant translation (instead of having to pause and look up the word with Google Translate. Which gets old quick).
That way, it combines binge-watching TV shows with effective language learning.
Choosing what content to watch
When first opening up Lingopie it’s obvious that is very much Netflix-inspired.
Which makes sense, since they say themselves that they aspire to be “the Netflix of language learning”.
When scrolling through the main page I quickly saw that there’s a variety of content in a host of different genres.
Definitely getting a strong Netflix-vibe by the design of the Lingopie platform
Not only that, I could filter to watch shows by different country, length, type of show, etc.
This was handy, because when I first got started with Lingopie, I wanted to watch mainly shorter TV shows.
I found web-series to be great for this as they are usually shorter (3-12 mins typically) than your regular 20-60 min TV show.
Watching local TV shows (Lingopie's own native content)
I didn’t want to spend too much time scrolling, so I just clicked on something that looked interesting.
I first picked a TV show from Uruguay called Hotel Romanov. It’s a comedy web-series about this bizarre hotel that some girls win a stay to. It was quite funny and entertaining.
I watched quite a variety of different things throughout my 73-day journey. Mainly just depending on my mood that day, and to get variety.
Just so you can get a taste, here are some of the shows I watched:
The Faithful Chef (Spanish web series about a chef trying out specialities around Spain)
The Night Shift (Colombian thriller)
Corpse Talk (cartoon fictitious talk show)
Pick up the Fork (Argentinian food show)
If I Were You (Thriller/Sci-fi web series)
Main Dish (Food show from Chile about Chilean specialties)
Freelancers (Colombian comedy web series)
Madman’s Suitcase: in the City (Argentinian travel show)
Traveling around Mexico (Mexican travel show)
Various short films
Looking at this list, I sure watch a lot of travel and food shows don’t I? (I’m such a foodie).
Not only am I interested in it, but I figured it’s very useful vocabulary for me to know for our next Spain visit (one of the best things about traveling is trying local food).
However, I found Lingopie to be especially powerful when watching something engrossing. Like a thriller that really pulls you in.
I would often lose track of time. I just wanted to continue watching the next episode to see what would happen next…
Using Lingopie to learn Spanish with my 2-year-old son
One thing I noticed was that Lingopie has a surprisingly large amount of kids' TV shows.
Our son has just turned 2.
What he can watch is still very limited.
It easily becomes too scary for him.
(TV shows with no bad guys are the best for him, otherwise his face and eyes will turn into that of a mild shock)
I was pleasantly surprised that Lingopie had a bunch of content that is totally appropriate for him, even at his young age!
So I thought:
“Why not try to find something in Spanish that he likes and watch it with him!”
He would be able to watch a fun kids show, and I could improve my Spanish.
We tried several different shows, but one show especially caught his interest.
It was called “Invention Story” that is about a fox that invents helpful gadgets and things for a village of rabbits. With quite comical outcomes.
It didn't take long before our son started regularly requesting "ying goo goo pie!".
(Aren’t kids cool in that don't care what language something is in? Our son watches shows in multiple languages such as Finnish, Swedish, and English - and enjoys all of it.)
It became a time of fun connection for him and me. We plowed through tons of episodes together.
And honestly, cartoons are great content to learn from (if you enjoy them). Because they tend to have a lot of talking and not much silence = immersion dense material.
Watching “Stranger Things" (Lingopie with Netflix)
Even though I felt I had plenty to watch in Lingopie’s own native library (they add new shows quite frequently), I was also excited to try its Netflix feature.
(Note: You don’t have access to ALL Netflix shows. Lingopie use their own subtitles to make sure they match the audio, so it’s a selection of shows that they keep adding to)
Using Lingopie with Netflix works very well.
It’s just like any other show you watch on the Lingopie platform.
You can use all different functions such as save words to flashcards, use Grammar Coach, slow down the audio, and so on.
I decided to watch the show “Stranger Things”.
I had seen the first 5 episodes years ago in English. So I just picked up where I left off on episode 6 and started watching.
Definitely an immersive and fun experience.
Time just flies and you forget you’re even learning a language when you get lost in an engaging TV show like that.
I find dubbed shows to be great for language learning (something I have done a lot in Cantonese).
That’s because dubbed shows are often a bit easier to understand, since they tend to speak more clearly compared to non-dubbed ones.
Side note about their support:
At one point, I had an issue where I couldn’t watch a particular episode of Stranger Things. I told the support about this error. They thanked me for making them aware of this and it didn’t take long until this episode started working again. That’s the kind of support I appreciate.
The Lingopie Language Learning features
Lingopie has several different features that makes it very effective and convenient for language learning.
Some of them I found really helpful. Others I didn’t really use that much.
The subtitles - how I used them
For some shows (like a show from Chile called “Main Dish”, or “Plato Único”) I used Spanish subtitles.
Because they were speaking a type of Spanish that was much more difficult for me to understand.
For other shows, like “Stranger Things”, that had more standard Spanish, I watched without subtitles.
To really stretch my ears and train my listening ability.
(I want to be able to understand natives with no effort, and there are no subtitles in real life)
I still used the subtitles though. Whenever I wasn’t sure of what they said I often turned on the Spanish ones.
If I needed the full sentence to understand, I turned on the English subtitles too.
(some things only make sense when you see the full sentence)
I could be that I didn’t know a certain word. Or that I couldn’t hear it, or misheard it.
Then I turned them off again and went back to watching.
(Being able to switch back and forth with the click of a button makes this very convenient to do - keys “x” and “c” on the keyboard)
It’s been really helpful and convenient to be able get that feedback right away and know what is being said.
It honestly felt like such a luxury to have high quality subtitles that match the audio word for word.
It’s also great to be able press a button and go back to the last caption. Or go forward to the next. It made it easy to quickly repeat something I needed to hear again.
In general, I didn’t have a hard rule for when I looked up words.
Sometimes I looked up more.
Other times I just let the words I didn’t understand pass me by (like when I was just casually watching something).
I generally try to avoid falling into the trap of “trying to understand everything”.
The way I see it:
If you learn even a few new words from an episode - that’s a win.
Your brain can only learn so many new things at once.
The main thing for me is to just keep watching. Letting the language wash over me while I’m having a good time.
A unique TV screen sharing function
A cool function that I discovered was that not only could I screen by mirroring my phone to the TV (using the regular iOS built-in screen share function), but you can also screen share directly from the Lingopie app.
A language learning remote
By doing this, it integrates much better with the TV.
You can have different settings on the TV than you have on your phone.
What I liked doing was to have no subtitles on the TV, and have the Spanish ones in a flowing format on the phone.
That way, your phone becomes a language learning remote!
A remote you just pick up whenever you want to look up words. Or get visual confirmation about what was said.
To me, it’s the best of both worlds.
I can watch without subtitles, but still use them (whenever I need them) in a convenient way when I just want to chill and watch something from the couch.
Download my guide “Intuitive Language Secrets” (currently available for free)
and learn how to learn a new language intuitively:
Reviewing words through "Flashbacks”
Whenever you save a word by clicking on them in the subtitles, you have the option to review them later in any of the Lingopie mini-games.
This feature really impressed me. Because when you review the word, the audio that’s played is taken from the actual scene.
Like a “flashback” to that particular moment in the episode.
This makes it more memorable and will make new vocabulary stick faster. Because there’s more of a connection to a memory and it makes it more alive.
It’s also great for those words you have a difficult time hearing (if they were spoken in a fast and unclear way for example).
Sometimes I would save words to flashcards just to be able to train my ears to “hear it”, and not necessarily because it was new vocabulary.
Now to be honest, I didn’t used the Flashcards or other word games that much.
Because:
I read every day with LingQ, so I get a lot of natural review of words that way.
My current level of Spanish (new words stick easier than when I was at a lower level)
The language I’m learning (I used Flashcards extensively for Cantonese. Because it’s a lot more distant from my native language. I might use them a lot more if I was learning Japanese).
Also, it’s also just my current preference.
I don’t mind clicking on a word, seeing its meaning, clicking on the same word again later in a different context to be reminded of the meaning.
I generally prefer when the reviewing happens naturally. By just being exposed to the words in different contexts in the shows I’m watching.
That being said, flashcards definitely are effective. They are perfect for doing some review of the episode you watched last night when you’re on your way to work the next day.
For those of you who like to use Flashcards and different types of mini games to review vocabulary, they work amazingly well on Lingopie.
Gettin’ grammar coached in “The Night Shift”
When I was watching the show The Night Shift (which is about a desperate engineer who invents a pill that removes the need for people to sleep) I kept bumping into the word “se” in contexts where I didn’t understand what it meant.
(I find it one of the most challenging things to really “get” in Spanish. Because of its many uses).
In a particular scene, I wasn’t sure who “se” was referring to in that context.
It was bit confusing.
So I turned this feature called “Grammar Coach” and it right away gave me an explanation.
Now it made complete sense!
I realized “se” can be used to refer to “you”!
I personally don’t care about the fact that it’s a reflexive verb (I don’t even know what it means, and I don’t care to find out either lol).
But the main thing was that it was a different way of addressing someone.
That’s all I needed to know.
The rest isn’t important to me.
This is very different from studying grammar rules the traditional way (which I personally don’t do. I prefer learning a language intuitively).
You’re just watching a show. A question pops up. You’re curious to know the answer. And then the Grammar Coach help clear things up for you.
Learning this helped me to notice that same usage of “se” in other episodes and contexts.
(I started noticing it all over the place)
How much did my Spanish improve after 73 days?
A big thing Lingopie has given me these past few months is a fresh wind to my Spanish learning.
It has made it more fun and entertaining.
What about my Spanish ability? How much has it improved?
After these 73 days, I definitely notice a difference in my ability to understand Spanish.
I still have ways to go to have 100% comprehension, but I can see a noticeable difference in a short time.
For those of you who have followed my journey, you know that I’ve used Dreaming Spanish extensively.
Now, after having used Lingopie, when I watch videos in Dreaming Spanish, I often find them too easy.
I often have this feeling that I would like them to speak a bit faster and not as simplified (now that’s a great thing).
I attribute this to having gotten used to more challenging and natural Spanish. By watching real TV shows every day.
This comes from an average use of about 30 mins of Lingopie (around 39 hours total) so it’s not like I have watched for hours and hours every day.
(After all, 39 hours is not that much time, so I consider my progress to be very fast)
I like that Lingopie focuses on what’s important.
The language learning tools are there for when you need them, but everything centers around the main thing:
Immersing in real TV shows and movies.
Lingopie is also constantly adding more content, so I never felt a lack of content to watch. I always found new shows popping up in their library.
Lingtuitive readers can get an amazing discount on Lingopie:
$175 for a Lifetime plan (including all languages!) for a platform like this is a heck of a deal if you ask me
It’s possible that they will raise their prices at any moment (so now is a good chance to jump on it if you want to try it).
You get a free 7-day trial to test it out with all of its features before deciding if you want to keep it.
(if you try it, let me know in the comments what your experience was!)
As for me, I’m for sure going to continue using it.
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