Castilian Spanish · for advanced learners
Spanish that sounds like Madrid, not a textbook
You're past the basics. Now every sentence you write is graded against how it would be said in Madrid or Valencia — vosotros tenéis, vale, tío, mola — with the peninsular version shown next to yours.
Free plan · 10 graded sentences a day · No credit card, no install
What Spanish from Spain actually sounds like
Most courses teach Latin American Spanish. Bring it to Spain and it works, but it's obviously imported. Some of the differences the grader listens for.
| You want to say | Textbook Spanish | How it's said in Castilian Spanish |
|---|---|---|
| You all have | Ustedes tienen | Vosotros tenéis ustedes is formal-only in Spain |
| Okay | De acuerdo / está bien | Vale |
| That's cool / I love it | Es genial / me encanta | Es guay / mola mucho |
| Dude, mate | Amigo | Tío / tía |
| I ate this morning | Comí esta mañana | He comido esta mañana present perfect for anything earlier today |
| Car, computer, phone | Carro, computadora, celular | Coche, ordenador, móvil |
| To drive | Manejar | Conducir |
What changes when you set your variety to Castilian
- Vosotros comes back — tenéis, queréis, venid, ¿qué hacéis? — the grader expects the informal plural and marks ustedes-with-friends as Latin American.
- Present perfect for today — "Hoy he ido", "esta mañana he hablado" — the tense choice that instantly sounds peninsular.
- Vocabulary — coche, ordenador, móvil, piso, zumo, patatas, vale, currar, molar — and Latin American words like carro, celular or plata get marked as imported.
- Register and bluntness — Spaniards are more direct — fewer softeners, "¿qué?" instead of "¿mande?", and swearing that is normal in Spain and shocking elsewhere. The grader tells you which is which.
How RateMySpanish trains your Castilian Spanish ear
Graded against the local version
Translate a real sentence and get an instant 1–10 rating. The grader is set to Castilian Spanish, so correct-but-foreign phrasing loses points and you see exactly why.
See how a local would say it
One tap rewrites any sentence the way someone from there would actually put it — Castilian Spanish vocabulary, register and rhythm, not a neutral translation.
Sentences at your level, not a beginner's
Set B2, C1 or C2 and every prompt demands nuance — idiom, register, subjunctive — instead of ordering a coffee for the hundredth time.
A two-minute daily habit
Turn on the daily challenge email and get one sentence every morning. Sounding local is a hundred small corrections, not one big lesson.
Common questions
I'm already fluent. What does this add?
Fluent and local are different things. Most advanced learners write Spanish that is grammatically clean but placeless — every native speaker can tell. RateMySpanish grades each sentence against how it would be said in Castilian Spanish and shows you the local phrasing, so you close that gap one sentence at a time.
Is this Madrid Spanish or all of Spain?
The grader targets standard peninsular Spanish — what you hear in Madrid, on Spanish TV and across the center and north. It doesn't force Andalusian or Canarian features, and it flags slang as informal when it is.
Can I switch varieties later?
Yes — the Spanish variety is a setting you can change anytime (Mexican, Colombian, Rioplatense, Castilian, Chilean, Central American, or neutral Latin American). Your history and focus areas stay with you.
How much does it cost?
The free plan includes 10 graded sentences a day, every day. Paid plans raise or remove the cap. No credit card to start.
Learning a different variety?
Write Spanish a madrileño would claim as their own
Ten graded sentences a day, each one held to the local standard. Your first takes under a minute.