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Spanish Uncovered Review

Spanish Uncovered Review (Story Learning)

This Spanish Uncovered review is up-to-date as of December 13, 2024.

If you’re a relative beginner in Spanish and wondering which course is right for you, check out our review of Spanish Uncovered—one of the most unique, fun, and effective self-study language resources we’ve come across in recent years.

What is StoryLearning? And Who is Olly Richards?

StoryLearning (formerly I Will Teach You A Language) is a language learning brand created by Olly Richards and his team. The brand is built around a blog/website, podcast, youtube channel. Olly and his Story Learning team produce self-study language courses in many languages including Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Russian and many more.

Olly Richards BioWith this language course, Olly claims to not only be able teach you a foreign language but also master the art of language learning. Relying on the nature of human communication, Olly created a course that rejects the boring, outdated textbooks and puts the power of story in the spotlight.

As someone who fluently speaks 8 languages, Olly Richards is the guy you want to learn from. Olly’s language learning insights are based on the best of what we know from neuroscience and cognitive psychology about how to learn effectively.

Spanish Uncovered Review: Overview

Today, we are reviewing Spanish Uncovered, a comprehensive online beginner Spanish course that takes you from complete beginner to an intermediate level.

Like other online Spanish language courses, it offers you the convenience of learning Spanish at your own pace with its collection of fully downloadable audio, video, and pdf lessons. Olly Richards’ courses are a natural, brain-friendly way to learn a new language.

Spanish Uncovered Review

Before you decide to purchase Spanish Uncovered, you can enroll in a 7-day free trial of the course (credit card required). They also offer a 30-day money back guarantee if you do purchase and decide it’s not for you.

Spanish Uncovered Features

Some of the notable features of Spanish Uncovered include:

  • A Complete 20-module course that takes you from Beginner to Intermediate 
  • The story runs through every module
  • Downloadable audio, video, and pdf lessons
  • Audio and pdf lessons in both Iberian and Latin American accent
  • Useful tips about learning a language in general
  • Expert pronunciation training videos
  • Extra-large and engaging community of learners
  • 60+ video lessons with host Olly Richards

Besides Spanish Uncovered, StoryLearning also offers a variety of other Spanish courses based on your starting proficiency level. You can choose between intermediate, conversational (Intermediate), grammar course, or survival Spanish.

Spanish Uncovered 100 Most Common Spanish Words
Spanish Uncovered Bonus: 100 Most Common Spanish Words

Spanish Uncovered Pros

Pro #1: Learn Spanish naturally through the “StoryLearning” method

The StoryLearning methodology consists of listening and reading, which allow you to acquire language passively in a brain-friendly way. For thousands of years—even when we were cavemen—we have communicated through stories.

Scientists have proved that learning through stories improves long-term memory. Olly Richards’ StoryLearning method uses the power of story to teach you Spanish by immersion and passive learning. Each module begins with an audio story, followed by a reading activity in Spanish. Later, Olly helps you understand cognates and other words in context, analyze sentence patterns, and enables your brain to grasp the connections. Instead of relying on a vocabulary list, you will understand new vocabulary from context.

Spanish Lesson - At the bar
Spanish Lesson – At The Bar

Pro #2: Immersion-first study

The essential Olly Richards mantra is: MOVE ON BEFORE YOU LEARN THE GRAMMAR.

The StoryLearning method means you learn a language the same way children do. That’s why each module starts with an audio story, followed by explanatory videos that analyze the text in more depth.

Pro #3: Useful tips about learning a language in general

Before you even start learning Spanish with Spanish Uncovered, you’ll find one chapter dedicated to different methodologies and tips on how to effectively adopt a language. You’ll finish this language course with a much better understanding of the language learning process.

Pro #4: Suitable for Iberian and Latin American Spanish accent

Spanish Uncovered includes each story recorded in both Iberian and Latin American accents. This is a big plus for learners who want to hear the differences in dialects side by side.

Spanish Uncovered Lesson Screenshot Iberian and Latin American
Spanish Uncovered includes both Iberian and Latin American pronunciation

Pro #5: Fully downloadable material

You can access Spanish Uncovered online or download the material to use while offline. This gives flexibility to those who want to study on their commute or away from the distractions of wifi.

Pro #6: Expert pronunciation training videos

Another important feature of the Spanish Uncovered language course is the set of pronunciation videos with Angela Moreno, a native Spanish teacher and expert in pronunciation and accent reduction. It’s reassuring that Angela understands the subtle differences between how sounds are pronounced in English and Spanish.

You’ll learn the correct position of mouth and tongue with an additional worksheet provided that will help you fully adopt these sounds in your Spanish.

Spanish Uncovered Cons

 Cons #1: Instructions can be too long

Instructions in Spanish Uncovered are sometimes longer than necessary and can get a bit repetitive, which unintentionally consumes valuable time that could be used for studying.

Cons #2: Lack of Interactivity

Even though Spanish Uncovered lessons are full of vocabulary, grammar, and even pronunciation worksheets, it sometimes seems like they are a better fit for a Spanish teacher than a self-study Spanish learner. Although we love that everything is downloadable, we miss interactive flashcards and other no-pencil-needed features. 

Spanish Uncovered Features

Language learning tips

Before starting Spanish Uncovered, there is an introductory section where you can learn how to navigate the course, understand how the StoryLearning lessons work, and discover useful language-learning tips. This section also provides a list of 100 essential Spanish words to boost your fluency and prepare you for immersion.

Language Learning Tips Spanish
Tips for learning a new language from Olly Richards

Cognates and translation

Olly Richards’ learning system is designed to help your brain build on preexisting knowledge (mother tongue, other foreign languages, or common sense) and maximize your understanding. The key is to start with the words you already know from English. Olly teaches you how to build understanding based on cognates (words that have a common etymological origin) or false cognates. After listening and reading only in Spanish, you’ll finally receive an English translation to fill in the gaps.

Spanish Uncovered Review - Cognates Lesson
Spanish Uncovered Cognates Lesson

Lesson Transcripts

Spanish and English lesson transcripts are available and fully printable for later review. Meaning they’re accessible even when you’re offline.

Review modules

After you’ve completed ten modules, you’ll get one review module that’ll guide you through Spanish grammar, vocabulary, and speaking.

Learning Pathway

One of the best features of Spanish Uncovered is definitely its logical, well organized, and easy to follow learning path. Each module consists of a synopsis, an audio story, a reading section, the cognates and translations section, vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, speaking exercise, and a review quiz.

The main idea of StoryLearning is to start by listening to a Spanish story and gradually analyze the material, in terms of grammar, pronunciation, cognates, and vocabulary. The grammar lessons include extensive worksheets and detailed explanations about grammar rules. As you progress, you’ll find that you just begin to understand Spanish grammar more intuitively. 

Olly Richards Spanish
Olly Richards: The man, the myth, the legend.

Who Would Benefit From Spanish Uncovered ?

We feel that people who would benefit most from Olly’s course include those who:

  • can tolerate a little frustration of not understanding everything right at once 
  • like learning a new language through stories and meaningful content (ie. “StoryLearning”)
  • like learning languages in general and would benefit from Olly’s broader language learning tips
  • enjoy discovering innovative methods in language learning
  • are patient to see results

Who Won’t Benefit from Spanish Uncovered?

Some language learners may not reap all the advantages of Spanish Uncovered, and include those who:

  • are on a tight budget
  • require one-on-one help with learning
  • lack persistence
  • feel too much frustrated when everything is not translated or explained immediately
  • prefer learning through repetition over context

Spanish Uncovered vs. The Competition

SpanishPod101 vs Spanish Uncovered

These two courses offer fundamentally different learning styles. While Spanish Uncovered uses StoryLearning to help you intuitively acquire new vocabulary, SpanishPod101 lessons are organized around general topics and rely primarily on the power of small, simple routines.

SpanishPod101

This easy to follow, on-the-go course focuses primarily on listening and repetition. While repetition is one of the elementary methods in SpanishPod101, passive learning is the main tactic used in Spanish Uncovered. Here, the progress goes from passive understanding to analytical thinking and dissecting grammar rules. The learning pathway is well developed, structured, and based on cognitive psychology and neuroscience to provide brain-friendly learning. This kind of learning is not always fast-paced, but it sure provides a greater level of understanding.

If you enjoy the story learning approach and you feel you would benefit from language learning tips, then Spanish Uncovered is the one for you. On the other hand, SpanishPod101 has one of the most extensive collections of Spanish lessons, including podcasts, videos, and flashcards. Both courses cost the same amount of money, and in the end, it’s your learning style that makes the difference. 

You can read our full review of SpanishPod101 here.

How Much Does Spanish Uncovered Cost?

Spanish Uncovered offers a 7-day free trial to get a sneak peek at the course, although you’ll need use your credit card to activate the trial. After the trail period, and if you haven’t canceled, you’ll be charged $297 for a yearly subscription.

Spanish Uncovered 7 Day Free Trial

Use the button below to sign up for the 7-day free trial of Spanish Uncovered.

If you choose to cancel,  simply send an email before day seven and your account will be canceled without being charged.

Spanish Uncovered Review Summary

Spanish Uncovered from StoryLearning is a unique course that employs innovative StoryLearning methods based on the latest research in neuroscience and cognitive psychology. With this course, you’ll initiate a passive learning process and later engage your analytical mind for Spanish grammar, patterns, and vocabulary. Created by Olly Richards, a polyglot who speaks eight languages, Spanish Uncovered also equips you with the tools to learn any language through self-study.

The course includes innovative methods, pronunciation training videos with a native Spanish teacher in both Iberian and Latin Spanish accents, plenty of downloadable materials, lesson transcripts, PDF translations, worksheets, and language learning tips. What more could you ask for? This language course is the right choice for anyone who wants to learn Spanish in a brain-friendly way, appreciates innovative methods, and is willing to challenge their brain for the best results.

With a 7-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee, we’re confident in recommending Spanish Uncovered to any beginner who is serious about learning Spanish independently.