South America
Video Chat with People from Chile
Chile is a long, narrow ribbon of a country, from the Atacama Desert in the north to the glaciers of Patagonia in the south, so where someone lives shapes everything from the weather to what's for dinner. You could be chatting with someone in Santiago, the port city of Valparaíso or neighboring Viña del Mar, Concepción, Antofagasta, La Serena, Puerto Montt or Punta Arenas. Spanish is the language of daily life, Chilean Spanish is quick and full of its own words, and Mapudungun, the Mapuche language, is spoken in the south.
Most of Chile moves its clocks forward for the southern summer, yet Santiago is never more than two hours ahead of the US East Coast, so evenings line up nicely across the Americas. Football is everywhere, and so is food talk: empanadas de pino, completos (hot dogs piled with avocado and tomato), pastel de choclo and sopaipillas. Ask about cueca, Chilean rock and cumbia, stargazing under the Atacama's clear skies, or trekking in Torres del Paine. Our Spanish practice page is a good warm-up before you press Start.
Chile at a glance
| Flag | 🇨🇱 |
|---|---|
| Official name | Republic of Chile |
| Capital | Santiago |
| Region | Americas · South America |
| Official language | Spanish |
| Currency | Chilean peso ($, CLP) |
| Calling code | +56 |
| Time zone | Chile Time (America/Santiago) |
How to say hello
A few words of Spanish make a great first impression, even if you switch to English right after.
| Language | Phrase | Say it | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spanish | ¡Hola! ¿Cómo te va? | OH-lah, KOH-moh teh VAH | Hi! How's it going? |
| Spanish (Chile) | ¡Wena! ¿Cómo estái? | WEH-nah, KOH-moh ehs-TIE | Hey! How are you doing? (casual Chilean) |
| Mapudungun | Mari mari | MAH-ree MAH-ree | Hello |
Tips for chatting with people from Chile
- "¿Cachai?" means "you know?" or "get it?", and "po" (from "pues") gets added to everything, as in "sí po" or "ya po." Recognizing them makes Chilean Spanish much easier.
- Ask which part of Chile they're from; north, center and south differ so much in climate and food that it's a conversation in itself.
- Chile changes its clocks on different dates than the US and Europe, so the gap with you can shift a few times a year; double-check before planning a chat.
- Chileans often call their light evening meal "once" (OHN-seh); asking what they had for once is a very local question.
Only meet people from Chile
Omlet matches you Worldwide by default. To meet only people from Chile, use the country filter, the only filter Omlet has:
- Open Omlet and press Country on the control panel.
- Search for Chile and select it.
- Press Start. Press Next to meet someone else from Chile, or switch back to Worldwide any time.
Your first day is free: you add a card through Stripe to start it, and nothing is charged that day. When the 24 hours end, the country filter costs $3 one time, charged to that card, unless you cancel before then in Settings (if you cancel, you can still pick a country until the day ends). It's not a subscription, and it stays unlocked on that device and browser. It doesn't carry over to other devices or browsers, and clearing your browser data removes it. There's one free day per device, home network and card. Payment goes through Stripe, so Omlet never sees your card number.
The filter works both ways, and matching can be slower when fewer people from Chile are online. Chatting itself is free, and Worldwide matching never costs anything.
Your own country is detected automatically and shown to the people you meet as a flag.
Neighboring countries
Chile borders 3 countries. Curious about the people next door? Meet them too: