Riding on the bus, working out at the gym, waiting for your friend who is ALWAYS late…this is the perfect time to work on your Spanish using one of the many free podcasts you can subscribe to on your phone.
Now I’m not talking about one of those “Learn Spanish with Us” kinds of podcasts…you know, the ones where they teach specific topics or functions. No, what I’m talking about listening to authentic audio made specifically for Spanish-speakers. News broadcasts, for example, or travel stories, or entertainment/sports.
I know I know. You’re thinking: “Seriously…I just started studying Spanish like 5 minutes ago. I can’t understand any of that.” And sure, you’re probably right. Maybe you’ll only get 10-20% when you first start out: “blah blah blah Justin Bieber…blah blah blah los clippers de Los Angeles…”. But the more you listen, the better you’ll become. And if you choose something like the news, then you’ll start to hear the same things repeated over and over again. “blah blah blah las noticias de la casa blanca…blah blah blah.” And because the topics they discuss are things you’re probably already familiar with from the news in English, you’ll have a better chance of knowing what’s going on.
Also great about newscasts, is that you’ll hear people from many different Hispanic regions speaking either as announcers or interviewees: Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico…even Spain. And these different speakers will give you a broad selection of accents to listen to…with different pacing…and different genders.
Anyway, there are many podcasts out there. My suggestion would be to find a topic you’re interested in and subscribe to that. Here are a few titles to get you started:
- VOA Noticias (Voice of America in Spanish) – daily 1/2 hour news broadcasts of world news from a Hispanic or Latino American angle.
- Nomadas – a travel-oriented show in which the interviewers travel to different countries in the world and explore them
- RFI (Radio France International) – news stories
- Ibero 90.9 – radio station from a university based in Mexico City (my favourite show is Radio Pocajú)
Got any other suggestions? Post them below.
Buena suerte!