Spanish, the second most spoken language in the world, — Mandarin Chinese holding the top spot — is spoken by more than 559 million people globally. Around 460 million of them are native speakers. While a large portion of Chinese speakers are based in China, speakers of Spanish are more scattered around the world.
According to Udemy, Spanish is the official language in 20 countries, and Puerto Rico, a territory of the United States. And across the nation, 13 percent of the population speaks Spanish at home, which means it is the most common non-English language spoken. In fact, it is estimated that one in three people in the US will speak Spanish by 2050, including bilingual individuals.
That must be the reason why many of us have a history of taking Spanish classes or attempting to do so at some point in our lives. Some of us never made it beyond the beginner level, while some just didn’t get around to signing up for it because they were too busy or simply couldn’t find a language school that met their needs. Here is a list to help you select the Spanish classes in DC that best suit you.
Fluent City:
The popular language school offers online classes not only in Spanish but also French, Italian, Arabic, Portuguese, German, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Hebrew and English. Teachers use the latest AI and natural language processing technology. It has both private study plans and group study plans, for which you can pay each month as long as you continue the classes or opt for one of the prepaid packages.
Prices:
Private monthly study plans:
Starter: 1 hour/month – $49 per month
Basic: 4 hours/month – $189 per month
Plus: 8 hours/month – $299 per month
Premium: 12 hours/month – $399 per month
Prepaid Packages:
Starter: 12 hours – $47 per hour
Basic: 48 hours – $45 per hour
Plus: 96 hours – $36 per hour
Premium: 144 hours – $32 per hour
Group study plans cost $399 and include 20 hours of live instruction led by an expert instructor and access to activities, as well as resources. The online group classes focus on conversation, and “hands-on learning rather than getting lost in a textbook or sucked into perfection of grammar.”
Levels:
Beginner Spanish 1:
If you have never studied Spanish before or if you have taken a long break, this course is for you. By the end of these classes, you will have learned how to introduce yourself, ordering food, talking about your friends and hobbies, basic vocabulary and verb conjugations in the present tense.
Beginner Spanish 2:
If you previously took Spanish classes and are able to make simple sentences in the present tense, you can start this course and learn how to talk about preferences, responsibilities, and obligations, use reflexive verbs, direct object pronouns, imperative and the preterite tense to talk about past events. You will be equipped with what you need to ask someone out on a date, order drinks at a bar and chat up the bartender. You will also be able to explain main health issues to a doctor and talk about a past holiday.
Intermediate Spanish 3:
If you can confidently make sentences in the present tense, you can enroll in this level and learn por and para; comparatives and superlatives; preterite, imperfect, and present perfect tenses, as well as some slang. At the end of the course, you will be able to talk about your past and tell stories about your life, tell someone what you did over the weekend, and talk about your goals and accomplishments.
Intermediate Spanish 4:
Those who can confidently conjugate verbs in the preterite, imperfect, and present perfect tenses can choose this level to learn the future, conditional, and present subjunctive tenses. With this course, you will be able to tell someone what you would do in a hypothetical situation, talk about your future plans, give advice to your Spanish-speaking friends, and vent about your own problems.
Intermediate Spanish 5:
If you know all the major verb tenses, you can start this course that will teach you how to share your opinions and dreams, talk about past experiences, regrets, and frustrations, and use idioms and expressions used by native speakers.
Advanced Spanish:
This program promises to help you build confidence in Spanish with real-world scenarios and media.
No need to worry about enrolling in the wrong level. All you need to do is email help@fluentcity.com before your second class and get transferred to another level free of charge.
And if you are not sure about your learning style, Fluent City provides a free personalized learning plan for you after you tell them about your goals.
📌 Location:
Phone: (877) 284-5122
District Spanish:
Founded in 2016 by Gerardo Domínguez, a native of El Salvador, District Spanish boasts about having an entire team of native Spanish speaking teachers. In addition to teaching Spanish, the school promises to immerse students in the culture of Spanish-speaking countries. Online private classes and online group classes — ranging from two to six students with similar goals — are both available.
Their private classes are perfect for those with busy schedules as you are allowed to decide the day and time for the classes, as well as their frequency and even their length. And if you are willing to learn Spanish with your spouse, partner, friend or a co-worker, you may go for their “online couples classes.” They also offer online tutoring for your kid who needs help on Spanish assignments, homework or tests.
After you attend an intro class, the team determines your Spanish skills level, and guides you into which package you need to choose based on your goals and interests. Then they set up a date and time to meet an instructor that is right for you.
Prices:
Online private classes:
Trial: One hour – $60 per hour (You have one month to schedule your class after purchase. You can also cancel or reschedule classes within a 24-hour period.)
Basic Package: Two to seven hours – $50 per hour (You have three months to schedule your class after purchase. You can also cancel or reschedule classes within a 24-hour period.)
Value Package: Eight hours or more – $45 per hour (You have six months to schedule your class after purchase. You can also cancel or reschedule classes within a 24-hour period.)
The good news is District Spanish is keeping all rates at $45 during the pandemic regardless of the amount of classes purchased. And the $20 introduction lesson is now online and free.
Online group classes:
Group classes package: 1.5 hours once a week, nine hours per package, six weeks per package – $30 per hour – $270 per package.
The $20 introduction lesson is online and free for the group classes, as well.
Couples classes package:
Flexible pace and hours – $70 per hour ($35 per person)
Online tutoring:
Trial: One to four hours – $50 per hour
Value Package: Five hours or more – $45 per hour
District Spanish also offers gift cards that you can buy for your loved ones or yourself.
📌 Location:
1250 Connecticut Ave NW Suite 700 Washington, DC
Phone: (202) 670-7415
International Language Institute in DC (ILI):
The International Language Institute is another downtown language school that features a full team of native speaking and experienced instructors. You can take Spanish classes in their DC location or simply online. The school’s Spanish program consists of four 10-week terms throughout the year, offering eight levels from beginner to advanced.
Group classes consist of a maximum of 12 students. They hold regular Spanish classes once a week in the evenings or on Saturday mornings. If you are looking for a faster pace, you can opt for accelerated classes that happen twice a week in the evenings. The duration of every session is 2.5 hours. In addition to Spanish, the company provides classes by native speakers in these languages:
Albanian, Amharic, Arabic, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Bengali, Bulgarian, Cantonese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Kazakh, Korean, Mandarin, Mongolian, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Slovak, Swedish, Tagalog, Thai, Turkish, Turkoman, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uzbek, Vietnamese, and Wu.
They do not offer placement tests. But there is a self-evaluation guide on their website.
Prices:
10-week one level class $380 per student
10-week accelerated class $760 per student
$50 per hour for one student, minimum of two hours per session
$48 per hour for pre-payment of 40 hours for one student
$30 per hour per student for two students, minimum of two hours per session
$75 per hour for three students or more
The International Language Institute offers a 10 percent discount for au-pairs who can provide proof of their status.
Levels:
Basic 1:
Through this course, students who never took Spanish at school will learn to express basic ideas, sentences and desires in the simple present tense, to tell time and ask basic questions. Topics include regular and irregular verbs in the present tense, informal vs. formal, gender of nouns, alphabet, colors, numbers, definite and indefinite articles, prepositions, pronouns, expressions of time and season, and imperatives.
Basic 2:
Students who are familiar with Spanish via previous formal instruction or exposure to the language can take this course. They will learn to express their ideas in the simple present tense, using the most common regular and irregular verbs, and hold basic conversations about themselves, others and their immediate surroundings. Topics include the definite article, plurals, the present indicative tense (simple present tense); regular conjugations of verbs, and more.
Basic 3:
Students who completed at least one semester of college-level Spanish or the equivalent in a language institute will be able to express their ideas by using more complex vocabulary and grammar.
Intermediate 1:
Students will be introduced to strategies for learning Spanish at home or office and practice at the institute. This level focuses on common expressions, idiomatic expressions and phrasal verbs, as well as strengthening previously learned grammatical structures.
Intermediate 2:
Instructors will teach more advanced thematic vocabulary and Spanish and Latin American civilization topics, while focusing on the use of possessive, demonstrative, and indefinite pronouns, adjectives, and irregular verbs, along with improving listening, reading, speaking and writing skills.
Intermediate 3:
This level is both a final review of Intermediate classes and an introduction to the advanced levels. Topics include the present progressive and imperative tenses. By the end of the course, students will have full command of the spoken language in most common daily occurrences and real-life situations.
Pre-Advanced:
Teachers will introduce students to current social, economic, historical, political issues relating to various Spanish-speaking countries. New topics include reflexive verbs and the preterit and future verb tenses, as well as more sophisticated vocabulary.
Advanced:
Topics include complex grammar such as the impersonal se, various forms of the conditional, imperfect, and subjunctive verb tenses and more sophisticated vocabulary and themes. Through this level, students will be able to communicate in a sophisticated way.
📌 Location:
1717 Rhode Island Ave NW Suite 100 Washington, DC
Phone: (202) 362-2505