Navigator
Ask for the route, follow the turns, and confirm before you set off — out loud.
Three openers cover almost every case: ¿dónde está…?, ¿dónde queda…? (preferred in Colombia for fixed places) and ¿cómo llego al centro? — how do I get downtown. The answer will come as turns and blocks: sigue recto, gira a la derecha, a dos cuadras — and note that a block is cuadra everywhere in Latin America but manzana in Spain. The habit that saves you from walking the wrong way: echo the route back before you set off — entonces a la derecha, ¿verdad?
Below: the direction phrases lesson by lesson, how the turns change in Mexico and Argentina, the left-right slip everyone makes — and a street-corner conversation to rehearse out loud before you're actually lost.
Say this
Regional Spanish
Textbooks teach one word. Locals use several — pick your region's and stay consistent.
| English | Mexico | Argentina |
|---|---|---|
| take this street | agarra esta calle | agarrá esta calle |
| can you repeat that? | ¿me lo dice otra vez? | ¿me lo repetís? |
| just around the corner | aquí a la vuelta | a la vuelta |
| stopping a stranger for help | oiga, ¿me echa la mano? | che, ¿sabés dónde queda…? |
Watch out
The part no phrase list can do
Isabella
Your conversation teacher for this pack
In the Navigator pack, the final lesson drops you lost on a busy street corner — and Isabella plays the friendly local you stop, standing by a pharmacy and a small plaza. She points with her whole arm and says mira before every turn, but she navigates by landmarks, not street names, and she talks fast — so you'll need más despacio, por favor, and when construction blocks the obvious route you'll have to confirm the detour turn by turn. Before she lets you go, she makes you repeat the whole route back from memory. Out loud — and she talks back.
Blank mid-sentence and nothing bad happens — she waits. That's the practice, without unnecessary judgement.
Finish the 5 lessons and Navigator is yours — earned, not given.
First 10 lessons free · 10-minute spoken lessons · your AI coaching team remembers you
Quick answers
¿Dónde está el baño? — where is the bathroom — works everywhere; for fixed places like stations you'll also hear ¿dónde queda la estación?, which Colombians prefer. For a route rather than a location, ask ¿cómo llego al centro?
Two blocks away. Cuadra is the Latin American word for a city block — Spain says manzana. Distance answers usually come as está cerca (nearby) or está lejos (far); the reassuring diminutive está cerquita means it's really close.
Gira a la izquierda (left) and gira a la derecha (right). Mexicans often say das vuelta a la derecha instead of gira, and Argentines use the voseo imperative doblá a la izquierda.
Estoy perdido (or perdida); casually, me perdí — I got lost. Follow it with ¿me puedes ayudar? and most people will walk you halfway there.
Ask ¿puedes repetir, por favor? or más despacio, por favor — slower, please. Then anchor yourself: request a landmark with ¿hay algún punto de referencia? and echo the key turn back — entonces a la derecha, ¿verdad? — before you start walking.
