European Spanish

1. Import into Anki

Getting your deck into Anki takes about a minute. Your download link is in the receipt email from Lemon Squeezy, the payment service we use. It usually arrives within a few minutes.

Deck files are large, 130 MB or more depending on the deck, so use Wi-Fi when you download on a phone or tablet.

Another way: import the deck on a computer first, then sync it to your phone with a free AnkiWeb account. Your phone still needs the Anki app: AnkiDroid on Android or AnkiMobile on iPhone and iPad. The first sync can take a while because of the audio, so wait for it to finish.

European Spanish by Eidetic appears in your deck list with five sub-decks: Survival Spanish (A1), Daily Life (A2), Fluency (B1), Advanced (B2) and Pattern Drills. The file carries the audio and the tags too.

2. Recommended settings

Anki's defaults work, but these adjustments will give you better results with this deck:

• New cards per day: 10-15. That keeps the review pile small while the vosotros forms sink in.
• Maximum reviews per day: 200. The default of 200 is fine. If your daily reviews regularly exceed 150, reduce new cards for a few days.
• Learning steps: 1m 10m. Anki's default. Leave it.

To change these: click the gear icon next to the deck name, then "Options."

3. How the three card types work

Follow mola, 'it's cool' (Spain only, and used constantly), through the three card types. Recognition goes from the word to its meaning. Production goes from the meaning back to the Castilian word. Cloze leaves a gap in a sentence where mola belongs.

The deck holds 1,382 entries, which become 4,146 cards, plus 47 Pattern Drill cards in their own sub-deck. The drills are about the points that set Spain apart: vosotros, distinción and leísmo. Every entry has a pronunciation guide and an example sentence, about 40% carry a cultural note, and many carry a dialect variants note.

Feeling overwhelmed? Suspend the Production cards for the first week. Focus on Recognition and Cloze. Add Production back once your daily reviews feel manageable. To suspend: select cards in the browser, right-click, "Toggle Suspend."

4. Where to start

The 41 themes are numbered by level: 1.1 to 1.13 in Survival Spanish (A1), 2.1 to 2.13 in Daily Life (A2), 3.1 to 3.10 in Fluency (B1) and 4.1 to 4.5 in Advanced (B2). Each entry carries a theme tag, for example theme:1.3_Tapas_&_Eating_Out.

• Moving to Spain. Survival Spanish (A1) has Getting Around, At the Supermarket, Hotels & Accommodation, At the Pharmacy and Phone WiFi & Tech. Then add My Flat in Daily Life (A2) and Renting & Bureaucracy in Fluency (B1) for the forms and the offices.
• Studying in Spain. Education has a theme of its own in Fluency (B1). Add Going Out & Nightlife and Sports & Football from Daily Life (A2) for the social side of student life.
• Already know Latin American Spanish. The switch is small: adjust your accent, swap a handful of words and add vosotros. Start with Daily Life (A2) and give your time to the Castilian-only words, such as mola, curro, vale and ilusión. Dialect variants notes name the Latin American equivalent of each.
• Drawn to the culture. Spanish Culture & Fiestas, Spanish Kitchen & Food and Nature & Geography are themes you can start with at any level. Advanced (B2) adds Proverbs & Refranes and Regional Variations.

What is inside European Spanish

1,382 entries, 4,146 cards and 47 Pattern Drills, built for Spain from the ground up rather than adapted from Latin American Spanish.

• Four level sub-decks. Survival Spanish (A1) holds about 1,150 cards, Daily Life (A2) about 1,320, Fluency (B1) about 1,000 and Advanced (B2) 672. The A1 to B2 levels are our own estimate of when a learner needs each word, not an official CEFR placement.
• Pattern Drills. 47 cards in a sub-deck of their own, on vosotros, distinción and leísmo.
• Two voices. A male voice and a female voice, in a Castilian accent.
• Spain-specific vocabulary. Slang, idioms and proverbs that only exist in Castilian, with notes on what Latin America says instead.

One Castilian entry, field by field

The entry for mola is a verb, so it shows more fields than most.

• Spanish and pronunciation. mola and MOH-lah.
• English. 'It's cool, it rocks', a regular -ar verb.
• Conjugation. molo, molas, mola, molamos, moláis, molan. The vosotros form, moláis, is there.
• Example sentence. 'Tu camiseta nueva mola mucho, ¿dónde la has comprado?' means 'Your new T-shirt is really cool, where did you buy it?'
• Dialect variants. Not used in Latin America. Equivalents: está padre in Mexico, está chévere in Colombia, está piola in Argentina.

Two more Castilian entries

A small plate and a famous false friend.

• tapa. 'Tapa (small dish/appetizer)', in Tapas & Eating Out. The note says that in the south, in Granada and Almería, you get a free tapa with every drink, and that in Madrid you pay but the variety is staggering.
• ilusión. 'Excitement, hopeful anticipation; illusion', in Fluency (B1). The note calls it one of Spanish's most famous false friends. In Spain it means excited anticipation, not illusion, while in Latin America it leans toward false hope.

What sets Spain apart

Castilian and Latin American Spanish are one language. A few habits tell them apart, and the deck turns the main ones into drills.

• Vosotros. The informal 'you all' has its own endings: habláis, coméis, vivís. It turns up constantly in daily life in Spain, and the Pattern Drills have cards on it.
• The th sound. In most of Spain, c before e or i and z are said like the th in think. A Mexican says the same letters as s. The drills have distinción cards.
• Leísmo. Much of Spain uses le where a textbook expects lo for a man, as in 'le veo' instead of 'lo veo'. It is normal in Spain and rare in Latin America.
• The recent past. Spain often uses the present perfect for today: 'esta mañana he desayunado tarde'. Latin America tends to say 'desayuné tarde'.
• Everyday words. 'OK' is vale, 'cool' is mola and a friend is tío in Spain. In Mexico you hear órale, chido and wey.
• Coger. In Spain coger is an ordinary verb for taking or catching a bus. It is the one to avoid in Mexico and Argentina.

A tour of the themes

The themes follow life in Spain. Here are some of them in groups, with the deck's own names.

• Out and about. Tapas & Eating Out, Going Out & Nightlife, Sports & Football, Travel in Spain.
• Getting things done. Renting & Bureaucracy, At the Pharmacy, Driving in Spain, Hotels & Accommodation.
• Culture and country. Spanish Culture & Fiestas, Spanish Kitchen & Food, Nature & Geography, News & Politics.
• The language itself. Proverbs & Refranes, Humor Slang & Wordplay, Regional Variations, Formal Register, Idioms & Expressions.

Common questions about Spain's Spanish

Three more short answers from the same Castilian guide.

• Is Castilian the real Spanish? No, and that is a common myth. Castilian is the variety from Spain, where the language began. No national variety is more correct than another.
• What is the difference between Castilian and Spanish? They often mean the same thing. Castellano is the historical name for Spanish, from the region of Castile. Many people also use Castilian to mean the Spanish of Spain, as opposed to Latin American Spanish.
• Is Castilian harder? Neither variety is meaningfully harder. Castilian adds vosotros and the th sound, two extra things to learn, but the grammar and most of the vocabulary are shared.

Setting a Castilian pace

A daily intake of 10 to 15 new cards is 3 to 5 new words, since each word makes three cards. Survival Spanish (A1) holds about 1,150 cards, so expect roughly 75 to 115 days of new cards there. Follow the level sub-decks and add themes as your life in Spain asks for them. The 47 Pattern Drills can wait for their own short session.

Practice and reading, Spain

None of this costs anything.

• Free browser preview. Twenty Castilian cards in the browser, with audio and no setup.
• Castilian vs Latin American Spanish. How vosotros, the th sound and the vocabulary differ, with a table.
• How to Use Anki for Language Learning. Daily habits for a deck this size.
• Learn Spanish. Latin American, European and medical Spanish compared.

The "Again" button is your friend

When Anki shows you a card and you don't know the answer, hit Again. Not "Hard." Not "Good." Again.

Spaced repetition works best when you're honest about what you don't know. Cards you mark "Again" come back sooner. Cards you know well space out further. The algorithm adjusts to you. Trust it.

Audio on every word

Every word card has professional audio. On desktop, audio plays automatically when the card appears. On mobile, tap the speaker icon.

Every entry has audio in two voices, one male and one female, in a Castilian accent, for the word and the sentence. The audio uses distinción, so c before e or i and z come out like the th in think. If you are coming from Latin American Spanish, listen for that sound first. It is the quickest way to hear which Spanish you are studying.

Lifetime updates

Your purchase includes free updates for the life of the product. When we add new cards, fix audio, or improve translations, you can re-download the latest version from Lemon Squeezy at no extra cost.

When we release a new version, it appears on your original Lemon Squeezy download link; download it again to get it.

Need help?

Reply to any Eidetic email or reach out at hello@eidetic.cards. We read everything and respond fast.