European Spanish

Hi All

Was listening to a podcast for Spanish learners. Coffee Break has free podcast and it is European Spanish. The podcasts are free and I enjoy listening to them. I don't want to pay for another course, but I will be using the free ones. 

Maxie

Hi Maxie

Thinking of your recommendation of Coffee Break pods, there is also the Language Transfer podcast “Complete Spanish”.  I'll be listening to both for sure.

Have fun

Chris

I found Help Me Learn Spanish Joel! to be really beginner friendly. Joel speaks clearly and slowly so I can almost always understand most of what he says. The guest is trying to speak clearly and slowly, but they are almost always a bit faster, which is good. It gives you a chance to listen to it at a bit faster pace. I think they are really good, but they are not lessons. You are listening to conversations. Joel does speak English at times to make sure you know what is going on.

Hi Scott

That sounds interesting. Was watching Amazing Race. They went to Columbia

one of the tasks was cooking Badeja de Paisa. Looked really good. Has anyone ever eaten that. 

Maxie

Scott - Thanks for the recommendation re Joel.  Apple Pods rate them from intermediate.

Pregunta: Although I did Spanish years ago, I am starting this course from the beginning, as I really want to ground myself properly in all the vocab and grammar.  Do you think if I listened to it from that perspective there is any merit in terms of immersion benefits?  

Thanks

Chris

Chris, I guess I should have said A2 type beginner. A total beginner would not understand Joel's podcast. But I have been through Level 1 and understand most of what is said (plus my high school and college Spanish, which was 30+ years ago).

I use it for exactly immersion benefit. I have tried other things, but they just talk so fast and it frustrates me. Since he sticks to one topic per podcast (and actually, it is 2-3 podcasts with one being truly intermediate, using past tense, etc.) and he talks slowly and simply, I can keep up.

I also like watching Extra which is a Spanish language show in the style of Friends that was made to learn (it is European Spanish). They also speak somewhat slowly and watching helps me get clues I wouldn't get just listening. Unfortunately there are not that many episodes, but I think it is also a good source.  You can find them on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfAbVaKbQuk&list=PLRJO9t01bkv90a3oOqPaPLRuGnrcOLzfP&index=1 is the first episode (I am sure it is elsewhere on YouTube as well).

Thanks, Scott.  I'll try Joel's pods.  I read Spanish far better than I can construct it at the moment, so it sounds ideal as an immersion tool.

I've also saved Extra as a bookmark. Gracias.

“I read Spanish far better than I can construct it at the moment…”

I also can read it far better than anything else, but I feel like I can speak much, much better than I can listen. My speaking is obviously painful to listen to since I am often contructing sentences using the words I know and it leads to some wandering sentences. But I really can not keep up with full speed Spanish. Not even a little. I catch a few words and on rare occasions, a phrase. It is frustrating as clearly that is a vital ability.

That's made me think, Scott.  Some on a Spanish language forum commented that they made best progress from living in Spain and immersing themselves in the language,  

Foe me, the best alternative is to listen to Castilian Spanish videos as a daily tool, so when I go on holidays to Spain, I am more used to listening to the patterns, pace  etc.  

Having lived overseas 9 years an extremely important point is speaking the language as much as possible. So many people speak English that many of them just switch as soon as they hear your first sentence. And the reality is, they want to speak English to make the transaction move more quickly, so I feel bad trying a language on them. So it is easy to just not speak the language much unless you really try.  Good luck and have fun!

What's the difference 

between Spanish 

in Mexico, Latin 

America, and Spain?

Butterfly Spanish

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=r_-L12lprWE&t=1570

This is one of those

jacked up threads

where the words

on the right

disappear under

the right margin, 

at least on my

end.

The link worked for me. I love Butterfly Spanish, I think she does a good job of explaining things.

Yes, and she's 

entertaining too.

Ànd I don't think

she's trying to be

a comedian, just

being herself.

She has a video

about ordering off

a taco truck where

she's referring to

meats in tacos.

She say's something

like "what kind of

animals do you want

in your tacos?"

I busted out laughing.

It's a good thing I

wasn't drinking 

anything, because

a good portion of it

would have blown

out my nose.

I envisioned the

animal rights people,

some with their heads

exploding and and

 the rest running

around with their

hair on fire.

She did it two or

three times, and

I don't think she

was trying to be 

funny and certainly

not provocative.

Last night I went

to her website and

sent her a few bucks,

because I do 

appreciate her.

¡Hola a todos!

Thanks for sharing these fantastic resources. Podcasts, movies, and YouTube videos are great ways to supplement your Spanish language learning. 

Keep the suggestions coming!

¡Saludos!

Indy