BaseLangReviews of baselang.com

Baselang delivers excellence every time. I’ve been a subscriber for many years now. I’ve always found teachers available at times that are convenient for me often literally on-demand. They are always friendly and always knowledgeable. I highly recommend them.

Yes, I admit it. For more than 4 years I have been using this platform to improve my Spanish, above all because I was enjoying varied, sincere, relaxed and respectful conversations and debates ranging from the very complex and global to the very mundane and sometimes very personal topics. The exact relaxed and private environmet combined with being able to have classes with real people, each with their own personality, interests, teaching mehods and humanity was for me the main factor to continue my Spanish journey with this platform. And I believe that precisely because of this my Spanish has significantly improved. But unfortunately, those days are gone. Recently, Baselang announced that from 1 Semptember all the classes will be recorded all the time without any option to opt out. To me, this seemes a flagrant intrusion of privacy and I belive it will significantly worsen the experience for students and professors alike. As a result, it will have have a significantly negative effect on the learning process, especially where stress-free conversation is crucial for long-term improvement. On their landing page among other things they say „That’s why we created BaseLang. Our unlimited one-on-one classes make you feel like you’re living with a native speaker. According Forbes, it’s “the closest thing to immersion you can get without moving to a Spanish-speaking country.” As a citizen of The European Union as far as I know my voice and video in not being recorded when I speak to the people I know, my friends etc. And to me, this is one of the basic liberties and rights. So, unfortunately, despite some really great teachers, I do not see any other option than to stop paying the subcription and continue with other alternatives that more value students' opinion and their privacy unless the company very quickly changes their mind. I believe that if the high quality of education and security were indeed their main concern, as they claim, there would be many other, less intrusive and more respectful options that also take the needs of students and teachers into account. For example, the reviews in written or similar form of clasees could be necessary to fill up for each student at least every now or then. And in the case of repited reports of problematic behaviour of a student or a teacher, it may be requiered that the clases with this particular individuals are recorded for a limited time frame, etc. Also the teaching methods could be reviewed in workshops for teachers without recording. Perhaps a very limited number of classes could be recorded on an optional basis, with just a few studens who have trully and freely agreed to participate in the programme and the company giving them some form of compensation, such as discounts. Of course, they, as professionals, should be aware of many other options, probably much better ones, than I am. But if instead of „Real World“, as their main programe is called, you would like to experience something probably much closer to the „Orwellian world“ and you are even willing to pay something close to 200 USD per month for it, than good luck!

I've been learning Spanish since 2021 and only discovered Baselang about 8 weeks ago - I teach English on a really flexible platform (flex for both teachers and students) and I wanted the same but for myself as a student of Spanish. It's exactly what I found. Honestly - in all aspects, this company is phenomenal - the level of customer service, the quality, experience and qualifications of teachers, the extremely clear curriculum and very clear study path to follow (if you choose) which a lot of platforms lack - Baselang is genuinely the best language platform I've used both as a student and from the teacher perspective from what I've heard from their teachers experience - and to put it in context I've used a good few - six others minimum come to mind. Keep doing what you are doing guys. Oh...and yes, I've noticed a significant jump in my Spanish level during the past 8 weeks. I do the 30 min per day plan and it's a total investment in my Spanish.

I edited this review to change the stars from 1 to 5 because the company reversed their decision to record classes mentioned below but I have not adjusted the original text: I have studied a lot with baselang doing more 2000 hours and it was great. If you could find a few teachers that suited your style the classes would fly by and you would be having great conversations and learning Spanish. It am so sad to be leaving this platform and saying goodbye to my teachers this week due to change in the practices by baselang. I cancelled my subscription which expires a day or two before the new recording of all classes. I wasn't happy with the new policy and wasn't able to opt out of having my image and voice recorded and stored by baselang. Furthermore I don't feel that this is fair on the teachers to work under this level of surveillance when they do their best to create a comfortable learning environment which used to be one on one teaching and learning. I wish they had considered the views of students before making the change. I will now go back to italki, preply or maybe try a new subscription site I heard about called worldsacross after taking a short time to get used to losing my baselang connections. What a waste.

This is completely arbitrary and outrageous. BaseLang wants to record every single class with every teacher, no exceptions, as if we’re part of a constant surveillance experiment. It’s BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, where every word, every mistake, and every conversation is logged. The comfort and trust students need to actually learn completely disappear. They say it’s “to ensure quality,” but that’s hard to believe. There’s no real reason to record every class—just occasional observations would be enough to ensure teaching quality. This feels like a way to keep teachers under constant scrutiny, not to improve learning. Knowing that everything you say could be recorded makes it stressful to participate in conversations, practice freely, or make mistakes—which is exactly what language learning is about. Honestly, if this policy continues, I’m not sure I’d want to keep using BaseLang, because learning under constant surveillance just isn’t comfortable or effective.

All of my teachers have been wonderful. However, once you have had classes with many teachers, you gradually gravitate toward teachers from specific countries and teaching styles. As an older student, I have found several teachers who relate well with me and my learning style. This experience has helped me establish new disciplines that maximize my time and keep my mind sharp.

Baselang used to be great....But I agree with a previous poster that lately they have been sketchy, and now want to record all classes and are making it mandatory as of September 1st. This ruins the level of comfort that a student has with their teacher. Who wants to know that a recording exists of every mistake they made, or of every time they had a discussion about an embarrassing topic? They say it is to ensure the quality of instruction, but I do not believe this. There would be no reason to record every single lesson if this were the case. This seems more like a "gotcha" for the teachers, which I do not want to be a part of. I have been with Baselang for just over 5 years. I came for the DELE program and stayed for the quality of a few teachers. The curriculum for the DELE C2 program is terrible and does not match the rigor of the exam. I had to bring my own materials to use with the teachers, as the ones provided on the platform were useless and riddled with errors. I will say, with the help of two excellent Baselang teachers and the curriculum I bought separately, I did achieve C2 certification in May of 2022. Once students notice a teacher is good, many will flock to book them. You can select up to 3 teachers as your favorites, and you can book them a couple of days in advance. However, you have to book right at the time when the new schedule becomes active, which for me is right in the middle of the day. This is because other students are trying to book the same teacher. Otherwise, you will lose out on the slot or slots that you want. Additionally, once lots of students have noticed that a teacher is good and they get regular students, Baselang will move them to their Bootcamp program, making them unavailable to Real World and Dele Students, either for part of their shift or the whole shift, depending on the teacher and the program selection of the Bootcamp student. Follow the money - look at the prices of the Bootcamp program vs the Real World program. Baselang says that is not why they move the teachers, but I also do not believe this. When the teacher is moved, they will send you an email if the teacher is one of your favorites, letting you know they will be unavailable. They usually say the teacher is doing "administrative tasks". Baselang has also all but abandoned the DELE program with respect to the teachers. At the time of my writing this, there will be no teachers available to teach a DELE class for the next hour. However, there are still 3 Real World teachers available. In two hours, there is one DELE teacher available, but 5 Real World. It is always like that. Frequently, there are no teachers available on the DELE schedule, and students have to book through Real World, where there are many available teachers. And, if a lot of students book that teacher through DELE, they will just move them to the Real World program. Over the years, there have been many issues with the platform, and these issues continue if you are using it via a mobile device. Sometimes, the scheduling time may come about when you are out running errands, at work, etc, and have to schedule through phone, etc, rather than a computer. You have to click and cross your fingers, because many times the platform has dropped my scheduled classes because the button to accept is hidden behind the panel notifying you of how much time you have left to book. Then the platform drops all of the hours you have selected and makes you start again, giving an error message. I have continued to stay with Baselang after achieving my certification because I want to speak, read, and write Spanish at a very high level. I know that as a language learner, I need continuous practice to maintain that high level of Spanish. The teachers at Baselang have helped me to do that. I have even recommended Baselang to many others interested in learning Spanish, and to teachers of high school students looking for Spanish tutors. However, as soon as the recording of classes begins, I will be ending my subscription as well.

Many users have (rightly) pointed out the quality and selection of the teachers and the flexibility of scheduling in the Real World program. But I’ve been equally impressed by how the core and elective lessons have been expanded and additional resources such as post-lesson tests and reading comprehension exercises have been added.