🇺🇸 Miami · English
Learn English in Miami
Choose your first conversation
Miami is bilingual by default: hesitate for half a second and the whole city helpfully switches to Spanish on you — which is lovely, and exactly how your English never improves. Cari has worked the ventanita at El Tocororo in Little Havana since 1992, and her window teaches the skill no other app can even name: bringing the conversation back to English, warmly, without apologizing once. «In English, please — I'm practicing» is the most useful sentence in town, and at her window it earns the biggest smile.
Hola, mi vida — what can I get you?
How Miami actually talks
What you'll pick up
- The Miami skill itself: Cari slides whole sentences into Spanish as pure kindness, and you practice bringing her back to English — held English honored, and openly admired, every time
- The ventanita ritual: the cafecito, the cortadito, the pastelito de guayaba, the 3:05 bell — and the colada rule (six little cups; it is meant for sharing, not for one person)
- The Spanish living inside Miami English — dale, oye, mi vida — glossed once, then yours; heard fifty times a day in English sentences
Where you'll practise in Miami
48 missions across 8 scenes. Each mission is a real errand with a goal, a person who talks back, and a debrief afterwards in your own language.
-
Reyes & Peña Barbershop barbershop
Tavo, Barber at chair two in a Hialeah barbershop, Miami · 6 missions · A1–C1
- Is there a wait A1 — Walk in, ask about the wait, get your name on the list, ask the price. Then sit down and breathe.
- Short on the sides A2 — Describe the cut you want with words and fingers, keep it from getting too short, and check the back.
- Twenty minutes in the chair B1 — Small talk with a stranger you'll see every month. Find out whose shop this is — and answer him back.
+ 3 more at this scene
Start speaking — free → -
Envíos Los Cocos money-transfer storefront
Marisol, Agent at a money-transfer storefront in Little Havana, Miami · 6 missions · A1–C1
- Send cash A1 — A hundred dollars for your tío in Havana. Name, country, amount, fee, receipt — five things, said right.
- Get the pickup details A2 — Your mother went to the wrong office last time. Get the three answers she actually needs: which office, what ID, and when.
- Compare the corridors B1 — Cuba works differently than Colombia — cash pickup versus bank options, fee versus rate versus speed. Ask everything, get the honest comparison.
+ 3 more at this scene
Start speaking — free → -
Seagrape Fuel & Food Mart gas station and food mart
Mirta, Owner-cashier of a gas station and food mart in Miami · 6 missions · A1–C1
- Twenty on four A1 — Prepay for gas the American way: say the amount, say the pump, pay cash — and check the number twice.
- Air and a wash A2 — The free-air ask, plus your first car-wash code: find the air machine, buy the wash, and leave knowing exactly what to punch in.
- Meet Mirta B1 — The photo on the register, the free air, the seagrape tree — the station has a story. Ask for it over a cafecito.
+ 3 more at this scene
Start speaking — free →
Explore all 8 scenes
-
Ferretería El Cocuyo neighborhood hardware store
Xiomara, Floor manager of a neighborhood hardware store in Miami · 6 missions · A1–C1
- Aisle three A1 — Light bulbs and duct tape: ask where, follow the pointing, ask how much, pay. The first-week errand.
- Cut to size A2 — Two closet shelves, 30 by 12: give the measurements, pick the wood, confirm the chalk numbers before the saw starts.
- Meet Xiomara B1 — The glowing beetle, the bucket-of-bolts interview, the saws that all came back: the store has stories. Ask for them.
+ 3 more at this scene
Start speaking — free → -
Kay Man Choun manje kreyòl
Guerline, Owner-cook of a family Haitian restaurant in Little Haiti, Miami · 6 missions · A1–C1
- Order griot A1 — Order a plate of griot with rice and beans at the counter — greet Guerline, say it in English, and pay.
- Ask, then order A2 — Ask what legim is, choose your plate, add plantains, and settle the great pikliz question — a little, or plenty?
- Draw out Guerline B1 — Find out who Man Choun is, what the photo by the Iron Market painting shows, and how this restaurant came to be.
+ 3 more at this scene
Start speaking — free → -
Ferretería La Palma hardware and storm-supply shop
Néstor, Owner of a hardware and supply shop in Miami, two days before a storm · 6 missions · A1–C1
- The basic list A1 — Water, a flashlight, batteries — the storm-prep basics. Ask for each one, say the size and the count, and pay.
- No D batteries A2 — The shelf's empty — no D batteries left. Find out what actually works instead, and leave with a real substitute.
- What do I need? B1 — First hurricane season, first apartment. Ask the real basics — water, charging, the tub trick, your zone — and get a right-sized plan.
+ 3 more at this scene
Start speaking — free → -
Cafetería El Tocororo ventanita
Cari, Counterwoman at a Little Havana ventanita (walk-up café window) · 6 missions · A1–C1
- Order a cafecito A1 — Order a cafecito at the ventanita — greet Cari, say what you want in English, and pay.
- Order a colada A2 — Order a colada to share with the office — say how many people, take the thimble cups, add pastelitos for the table.
- Hold your English B1 — The 3:05 rush: order, fix a mixed-up pastelito, and every time Cari slides into Spanish, bring the conversation back to English — warmly, without apologizing.
+ 3 more at this scene
Start speaking — free → -
Silver Heron Animal Clinic veterinary clinic
Emilio, Veterinarian and owner of a small animal clinic in Miami · 6 missions · A1–C1
- First visit A1 — Bring Canela in for her first checkup: your name, her name, a few easy questions, the scale, and the bill.
- Rescue shots A2 — A rescue with no paperwork and a landlord who wants proof: which shots, today-or-split, and the stamped record in your hand.
- Meet Dr. Sardiñas B1 — The heron, the dog named Bimba, the 2 a.m. dachshund in the beach towel: the quiet doctor has stories. Ask.
+ 3 more at this scene
Start speaking — free →
Words that change in Miami
Cari speaks the way Miami does, not the way a textbook does. A few of the swaps you'll hear from the first minute — the full list lives in the app's «Talk like a local» guide:
| They say | It means | You'll hear |
|---|---|---|
| bubbler | drinking fountain elsewhere: water fountain | There's a bubbler right by the door. Eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island (and Wisconsin) — say it "bub-lah". Plenty of locals also just say "water fountain". |
| regular | a coffee, cream + sugar elsewhere: coffee with cream and sugar | Large regular, please. Order a coffee "regular" and it comes with cream AND sugar automatically. Very Dunkin'. |
| frappe | blended ice-cream milkshake elsewhere: milkshake | I'll get a coffee frappe. Ice cream + milk, blended. Rhymes with "app". Here a plain "milkshake" has NO ice cream. |
| grinder | a hot sub sandwich elsewhere: sub / hero | A steak-and-cheese grinder, please. A hot sandwich on a long roll. "Sub" works too; "grinder" is the old-school word. |
| jimmies | ice-cream sprinkles elsewhere: sprinkles | Chocolate jimmies on top, please. The little sprinkles on your ice cream. |
| packie | liquor / package store elsewhere: liquor store | I gotta hit the packie before it closes. From "package store". Everyday, casual. |
| rotary | a traffic circle elsewhere: roundabout / traffic circle | Take the second exit off the rotary. What the rest of the country calls a roundabout. |
| the T | Boston's subway / transit elsewhere: the subway | Just take the T to Park Street. The MBTA — subway, trolleys and buses. "Take the T" = take the subway. |
- wicked — very / really THE Boston intensifier — goes before adjectives: wicked good, wicked tired, wicked expensive.
- pissah — excellent / awesome Old-school high praise — often paired: "wicked pissah" = really awesome. (Spelled from "pisser".)
- Dunkies — Dunkin' (Donuts) The affectionate name for Dunkin'. The region genuinely runs on it.
- the Pike — the Mass Pike (I-90) The Massachusetts Turnpike, the main east–west highway.
Questions people ask about Miami
Which English will I hear in Miami?
American English (Miami). Cari and the other locals in the Miami scenes speak the way people in Miami actually speak — accent, pace, register and vocabulary. They'll say bubbler for drinking fountain, regular for a coffee, cream + sugar and frappe for blended ice-cream milkshake, and the coach tells you when a word is local rather than universal.
Do I need to speak English already?
No. Missions in Miami run from A1 (first words: greet, order, ask for the bill) to C1 (argue a point, handle a complication, hold a real conversation). You pick a level, the scene meets you there, and the coach explains anything you missed in your own language.
What will I actually do in the Miami scenes?
48 missions across 8 scenes — Reyes & Peña Barbershop, Envíos Los Cocos, Seagrape Fuel & Food Mart and Ferretería El Cocuyo and more. Each mission is an errand with a goal: order, negotiate, describe a symptom, get directions, small-talk your way through a wait. The person you're talking to has their own agenda, so it never goes exactly to script.
Is it free?
You can start speaking without creating an account. A free account keeps your notebook and progress and comes with 10 minutes of live conversation a week, refilled every Monday; the app tells you where you stand.
How does the feedback work?
Cari answers in English, and a separate coach watches the conversation and flags what to fix — grammar, a word choice that isn't Miami's, pronunciation — in your language, without interrupting the scene. Words you didn't know go into your notebook with the Miami pronunciation, and after each mission you get a debrief you can review.