Frequently Asked Questions

Taza was created by Abdullah Faqeh, a Spanish learner, not a Spanish teacher or linguist. I operate Taza through Engineer In Despair LLC, my legal business entity, but the app is still built and maintained by one person. I made it because I wanted something calm, practical, and honest, with no streaks guilt-tripping me, no pressure-based gamification, and no subscription just to keep learning.

I also wanted to build the kind of app I wished I had: something focused, affordable, and fully shaped around the way I actually wanted to study Spanish.

The content is carefully researched, cross-checked against established references and reviewed by Spanish speakers and tutors. If you find an error, such as a wrong conjugation, a mistranslation, an awkward example, or anything else, please report it using the button in the More tab. I review reports and fix confirmed issues as soon as I can.

Taza can be used in different ways depending on what you need.

If you're brand new to Spanish, it can work like a structured learning app that helps you build a strong foundation in everyday Spanish. If you are an early or intermediate learner who already knows some Spanish, Taza can help you fill in the gaps. You can skip what you already know, review weak spots, practice grammar in context, and keep building without feeling forced through lessons that are too easy or too random.

If you're already taking a class, using another course, or learning on your own, Taza can also work as a companion app for reviewing vocabulary, checking grammar, practicing verb forms, and looking things up quickly.

The goal is not to promise fluency overnight. Taza is built to help you understand and use everyday Spanish more confidently, with practical vocabulary, verb conjugations, grammar explanations, cultural notes, and audio pronunciation all organized in one searchable place.

Honestly? No app can do that by itself. Fluency comes from using the language with real people, making mistakes, listening, speaking, and spending time in Spanish things an app can support, but never fully replace.

What Taza does is help you build a solid foundation: practical vocabulary, verb conjugations, grammar rules, helpful cultural notes, and pronunciation practice based on the Spanish you are likely to hear, read, and use in everyday life. Think of it as a study partner that gets you ready to use Spanish outside the app, not a substitute for the real thing.

Taza focuses on broadly useful Latin American Spanish, the kind of vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation patterns that are helpful across Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and South America.

Spanish changes by country and region, so Taza also includes regional notes where they add useful context, including expressions from Mexico, Chile, Argentina, and Spain. These notes are meant to help you recognize differences without overwhelming you early.

Spanish from Spain, often called Castilian Spanish, is covered in the regional variants chapter, including key differences in pronunciation, vocabulary, and usage. The core grammar and much of the everyday vocabulary is shared across the Spanish-speaking world, so Taza gives you a practical foundation that can be understood broadly, while still pointing out important regional differences.

The vocabulary, grammar explanations, examples, and cultural notes were researched and written specifically for Taza. They draw on established Spanish references, Latin American Spanish usage guides, input from native and fluent Spanish speakers, and review from Spanish tutors.

AI tools may help with coding, drafting, and organization, but Spanish learning content is not published automatically. Vocabulary, examples, grammar explanations, translations, and usage notes are checked against references and reviewed for natural usage by Spanish speakers and tutors before being added to Taza.

Audio pronunciation is generated using Google Cloud Text-to-Speech with Neural2 voices. These are natural-sounding neural voices, but they are still synthesized audio, so pronunciation may not capture every regional accent or natural speech variation perfectly.

FYI the logo is not AI generated, I made it using Affinity :)

Taza’s vocabulary selection is informed by corpus-based Spanish frequency research, including Mark Davies and Kathy Hayward Davies’ A Frequency Dictionary of Spanish, RAE/ASALE language resources, and Spanish reference corpora such as CREA and CORPES XXI.

Frequency was only one part of the process. I also considered how useful each word is for beginners, how common it is in everyday communication, whether it appears across Latin American Spanish, and whether it helps learners build practical sentences. After the vocabulary and examples were gathered and organized, they were reviewed by Spanish tutors and native or fluent Spanish speakers to help improve accuracy and natural usage.

I take accuracy seriously, especially for grammar rules, conjugations, translations, and usage notes, which are checked against multiple references and reviewed for natural usage.

Taza is built and maintained by one person, so mistakes can still happen. Spanish is also a living language, and it can be messy: regional variation is real, native speakers do not always agree, and usage can change depending on country or context.

If you spot something that looks off, use the Report an Issue button in the More tab. I review every report and fix confirmed issues when possible.

There is no single right way to use Taza, but a few habits make a real difference.

If you are using the free version, start with Chapter 1, which is unlocked for everyone. If you upgrade to Premium and choose Unlock All progression mode, you can access all chapters and jump directly into verbs, nouns, grammar, or any topic you want to review.

Tap the speaker icon on anything you want to hear pronounced, and try saying it out loud instead of only listening.

For vocabulary, the spaced review cards in the Practice tab are the most efficient way to retain what you have covered. Even five minutes of daily review can add up quickly over time.

Think of Taza as a reference you return to often, not a course you finish once. The search bar at the top is useful when you encounter a word, phrase, or verb form and want to look it up fast.

No, but it helps, especially if you are a beginner.

The early chapters cover pronunciation, basic sentence patterns, core vocabulary, and grammar fundamentals that make later content easier to understand. If you are new to Spanish, starting with Chapter 1 is the best path.

After the basics, Taza becomes more flexible. You can jump into verb conjugations, browse nouns, review grammar topics, or use the search bar whenever you need to look something up.

If you are using the free version, Chapter 1 is unlocked for everyone. If you upgrade to Premium and choose Unlock All progression mode, you can access all chapters and move through the app in whatever order makes sense for you.

Tap the speaker icon on any word, conjugation, or example sentence to hear it pronounced. Taza uses Google Cloud Text-to-Speech with Neural2 voices, and you can choose between female and male audio in Settings.

Neural2 voices are useful for clear, standard Spanish pronunciation, especially when you want consistent audio across words, verb forms, and full example sentences. The audio is still synthesized, so real speakers may sound different depending on country, region, speed, and accent.

For best results, listen first, then try saying it out loud yourself. Repeating aloud builds pronunciation better than passive listening alone.

SRS stands for Spaced Repetition System. It is a memory method that helps you review words over time instead of cramming them all at once. Cards you know well appear less often, while harder cards come back sooner.

It is the same general idea behind flashcard tools like Anki: review a word, rate how well you remembered it, and let the app schedule future reviews based on your progress.

As you work through Taza, words are added to your SRS deck automatically. You can review them from the Practice tab. Consistent review, even just 5 minutes a day, can make a big difference over time.

The free version gives you full access to Chapter 1, including complete beginner modules like Pronunciation, Subject & Direct Object Pronouns, Gender & Articles, Verb Tenses #1, the Top 500 Spanish Nouns with practice, and Numbers, Time & Dates.

Chapter 1 is meant to be a full, usable foundation, not just a teaser. Audio, quizzes, and SRS review cards are included for Chapter 1 at no cost.

Premium is a one-time purchase, with no subscription and no renewal. It unlocks the full Taza experience, including additional modules across later chapters, more grammar topics, more verb tenses, the full vocabulary set, all practice difficulty levels, sentence translation drills, and offline audio downloads from Settings.

Premium includes topics like adverbs, ser vs. estar, reflexive verbs, the Imperfect, Future, Present Perfect, Conditional, Present Subjunctive, Present Progressive, and more. Future Premium content updates, including new modules added over time, are included at no extra cost.

Go to the More tab and tap Report an Issue. A short form lets you describe what you found, such as a wrong conjugation, an awkward translation, a missing audio clip, or anything else.

Reports are reviewed personally, and confirmed issues are fixed as soon as possible. If you are offline when you submit a report, it is saved and sent automatically when you are back online.

Yes. Open the paywall screen by tapping Upgrade from any locked chapter or from the More tab, then tap Restore Purchase at the bottom.

This re-links your original purchase to the current device using your App Store account. Make sure you are signed into the same Apple ID you used when you first purchased Taza, and that you have an active internet connection when you tap Restore.