Your Spanish tutor doesn't have to be native

A few notes to start with:

• my wife is a Spanish tutor,
• she doesn’t teach me, because she has no capacity for that outside of her paid work,
• we tried some years ago but teaching and being taught partners was difficult,
• I want all tutors to thrive in their work, and I’m not writing this to rebuke other tutors and promote her work. I’m just reflecting on my experience looking for a tutor.

After becoming unemployed earlier this year, I had more time to improve my Spanish. I had 2 goals:

• be able to express myself with richer vocabulary and with more correct grammar (tenses),
• be prepared in case the market situation steers my career to a Spanish company. This was weaker motivation, but it was at the back of my mind.

In late 2023 I took 7 online classes through Preply. It was okay, but the tutor was a complete stranger to me and I wasn’t looking forward to the classes. I stopped with the Christmas break.

In my new 2026 search, I didn’t want online classes at first. After Preply experience and 4 years in a remote job, I wanted in-person classes. So I turned to Google Maps.

The results were promising with at least 2 native Spanish speakers having perfect 5-star scores. Their websites had good vibes.

I started with the more affordable tutor, in a group class. I tried with 2 different groups and in both cases it wasn’t a good match for my level. I spoke very little in a group, which was a sign that 1-on-1 classes would suit me better. All that mixed with the teacher’s inappropriate comments calling a specific group of people tontos made me go look elsewhere.

I was excited about starting with 1-on-1 classes with a new tutor. She seemed to be further in her career than the first one. Then a day or 2 before the first class I received a message asking:

• can you bring cash to the first class
• can we meet at McDonald’s tables

That raised some flags so I started second-guessing the cooperation and asked if the first class could be a trial. After some strange and not very customer-centric conversation we made a compromise and had a few classes. Yes, most of them at McDonald’s tables. At least I didn’t have to withdraw cash. Bizum (Spanish mobile payments system) was fine.

The content of the classes was okay, I got to talk much more than in a group and I somewhat improved. But again, I ended up not looking forward to the classes. In fact I dreaded seeing it on my calendar.

I was frustrated that I want to learn Spanish but can’t find the right tutor. I decided I’m not paying any service in my town any more money.

I was lucky that my wife had a great Spanish tutor Tereza in her network. Ter is Czech and lives in La Rioja when I’m writing this. I took weekly, 30-minute conversation classes and a weekly asynchronous mentoring with her. The quality was 10x better than my previous experiences. I finally found the right tutor for me.

Here is why I think non-native tutors can be an awesome choice:

1. Not tying the search to a specific location (town, country) and to the tutor’s native language expands adds a lot of amazing humans to the pool of potential tutors. The tutor and the teacher don’t even have to share the language they speak very well. A great tutor speaks Spanish almost 100% of the time also to a beginner.
2. In my experience finding a tutor from the same country or region (Scandinavia, Central Europe) changes the whole dynamic and atmosphere. Being from a similar culture proved to be very important factor in my cooperation with Tereza. We were on the same wavelength from the first lesson. I understand if people want Spanish tutor in Spain. It might feel more authentic. It can show you what are Spanish people and culture like. They might share great insights about your town and life in Spain. But if the goal is to learn a language, the authenticity factor is overrated.
3. At some point in their lives, non-native Spanish tutors were where you are now. They couldn’t speak Spanish. They didn’t know much about culture and life in Spain or Latin America. That helps them put themselves into your shoes and see things from your perspective. That’s useful when explaining a grammar tense (which the native speaker didn’t have to learn), visiting the country as a foreigner, and emphatizing with the challenges of being a tourist, expat, or immigrant.

Finding the right tutor is a journey. It might take a few tutors before finding the right fit. Listen to what you like and don’t like. If you spot issues, communicate them to the tutor early and see what they can do about your feedback. If you are not comfortable giving feedback, or you see no prospect of things improving, go find a new tutor. Don’t burn money,time and energy with a tutor you don’t love working with.