Best Spanish Podcast Sites: Notes in Spanish

Podcasts are an excellent way to keep your Spanish skills tuned up. There are many podcasts available but for the language learner not all podcasts are created equal.


NOTES IN SPANISH

Notes in Spanish is a series of podcasts produced by Ben and Marina. They are married couple living in Madrid . Marina is from Madrid. Ben, who from England, has lived in Spain for over eight years and is now fluent in Spanish.

They put a lot of thought, flair, and charm into their work. Over the hundred plus podcasts you learn more than Spanish. You learn quite a bit about Ben and Marina; their likes and dislikes, their histories, their relationship, their families and friends and so on.


INTERMEDIATE AND ADVANCED LEVELS

Their site includes audio podcasts and several video podcasts. Until recently, they have produced two levels of podcast in Spanish: Spanish Podcast - Intermediate and Spanish Podcast - Advanced. Both these levels are produced completely in Spanish. The intermediate series uses simpler sentence structure, slightly easier vocabulary and grammar, and flows along at a gentler speed than the advanced series.

INSPIRED BEGINNERS

This summer Ben and Marina began a new series called Inspired Beginners. Inspired Beginners targets learners with a basic knowledge of Spanish grammar and vocabulary, who want to improve their listening skills and abilites in conversational Spanish. Even if you can follow the intermediate and advanced podcasts, it is well worth listening to Inspired Beginners. You get a pretty good review of your Spanish and can learn many ways to make yourself sound more Spanish.

Inspired Beginners podcasts are excellent language-learning programmes. Each session begins with a review, in English, of the highlights of the previous podcast. They continue in a mixture of English and Spanish explaining the new phrases and vocabulary. They demonstrate these points in Spanish and give you a chance to practice. They then move to a pre-recorded conversation in Spanish that gives you a chance to hear everything you have just learned in context.


PRODUCTION QUALITY

The production quality of these podcasts is very high. The voices are balanced in volume, tone and intensity. In other words they are speaking at the same distance from their mike, or if they are using two mikes, the mikes are matched in terms of quality. The sound levels remain constant throughout the podcast. There is also no music or sound effects or other clutter in the background. They are a joy to listen to, so do give them a visit.
Inspired Beginners Podcasts
Intermediate Spanish Podcast
Advanced Spanish Podcast
Video Blogging