Six cities. Five bad languages. Finally taking one seriously.
Why I built PalabraFlow: to fix my own embarrassment.
The 90-second version: years of "learning" Spanish, still freezing the moment a Mexican spoke to me, and the shift that finally cracked it.
Open on YouTubeI've lived in 6 cities. Johannesburg, London, Paris, New York, Toronto, Miami. I've been bad at every one of them. Now I'm in the Yucatán 80% of the time and I'm finally taking one seriously.
I'm not a linguist. I'm not a teacher. I'm a polyglot who's been a foreigner for most of his life and is finally taking one language seriously: Mexican Spanish.
This site, the YouTube channel, and PalabraFlow exist because of one thing: the gap between what Spanish class teaches and what Mexicans actually say is enormous. Nobody's writing it down.
Spanish class will teach you "la pluma está sobre la mesa." Useful, if you're ever held hostage by a sentient pen. Meanwhile, Mexicans say déjame ver and mean "no." They say ahorita and mean anywhere from 30 seconds to next Tuesday. They call you "gordito" to your face and mean it as love.
I'm writing all of this down. One phrase, one cultural mystery, one polyglot mistake at a time. If you want to sound like a local instead of a tourist with a phrasebook, you're in the right place.
The Mission
Help English speakers actually speak Mexican Spanish, not just understand it. Help them stop being furious at strangers who were just trying to be nice.
The Approach
- ✓ Learn in chunks, not isolated words
- ✓ Real phrases locals actually use
- ✓ Cultural decoding, not grammar drills
- ✓ No textbook scripts. No memorization.
Six Cities, So Far
Bad at every language. Less bad than last year.
The Mexican Spanish your class lied to you about
Get the free 7-day Field Notes course — one real phrase a day (¿mande?, güey, pásele…), with the cultural backstory that makes it stick.
Free 7-day course. No spam, ever. Unsubscribe anytime.