Spanish vocabulary · Beginner
Internship in Spanish: Pasantía vs. Prácticas and When to Use Each
Pasantía · noun · pah-sahn-TEE-ah
Internship in Spanish is pasantía in Latin America and prácticas (or prácticas profesionales) in Spain. Both describe a temporary, supervised work experience — usually for students or recent graduates.
Four syllables: pah-sahn-TEE-ah. The accent on the i breaks the diphthong, creating a separate syllable. For prácticas: PRAHK-tee-kahs.
Conseguí una pasantía en una empresa de tecnología.
I got an internship at a tech company.
Internship in Spanish: Quick Reference
Below are the most common Spanish words for internship, with pronunciation and regional usage notes.
| Spanish | English | Pronunciation | Region / Register |
|---|---|---|---|
| pasantía | internship | pah-sahn-TEE-ah | Default, widely understood |
| prácticas | internship | Spain (short for prácticas profesionales) | |
| prácticas profesionales | internship | formal term in Spain and some South American countries | |
| stage | internship | used in some academic contexts, borrowed from French |
How Native Speakers Use Pasantía
Real example sentences across three contexts you'll actually run into.
Applying in Latin America
Estoy buscando una pasantía de verano en marketing.
I'm looking for a summer internship in marketing.
Pasantía is the default word in Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, and most of Latin America.
Talking about an internship in Spain
Hice mis prácticas en un bufete de abogados en Madrid.
I did my internship at a law firm in Madrid.
In Spain, prácticas (always plural) is the everyday term. Pasantía sounds foreign to most Spaniards.
Listing experience on a résumé
Pasantía en desarrollo web — Empresa XYZ, enero a junio 2025.
Web development internship — XYZ Company, January to June 2025.
On Latin American résumés, pasantía appears as a section heading, much like Internship in English CVs.
Avoid These Mistakes When Using Pasantía
Using internado when you mean internship
Incorrect: Hice un internado en una agencia de publicidad.
Correct: Hice una pasantía en una agencia de publicidad.
Internado means boarding school or a medical residency rotation, not a professional internship. This is a common trap for English speakers.
Using pasantía in Spain
Incorrect: Busco una pasantía en Barcelona. (sounds unnatural in Spain)
Correct: Busco unas prácticas en Barcelona.
Spaniards use prácticas. Pasantía is understood but sounds distinctly Latin American and may confuse HR departments in Spain.
Lock in Internship Vocabulary with the Parrot Method
Why word lists alone don't stick
Memorizing a translation feels productive, but most learners forget 70% of what they studied within 48 hours. Vocabulary needs spaced repetition AND real-world exposure to transfer to long-term memory.
See Pasantía used by native speakers
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Common Questions About Internship in Spanish
- How do you say internship in Spanish?
- In Latin America, internship is pasantía (pah-sahn-TEE-ah). In Spain, it is prácticas or prácticas profesionales (PRAHK-tee-kahs proh-feh-syoh-NAH-lehs).
- Is pasantía masculine or feminine?
- Pasantía is feminine: la pasantía. Prácticas is also feminine and always used in the plural: las prácticas.
- What is the difference between pasantía and beca?
- A pasantía is a work placement (internship). A beca is a scholarship or fellowship — financial support for study. They often overlap in practice, but the words are not interchangeable.