Best Spanish Podcast Sites: Desde el Baño

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.

Here is a sweet little treasure. This podcast is done by an Argentinian named Sofia.

Her podcast description reads:

"La idea del Podcast es darle la posibilidad a todos los que estén interesados, de aprender el vocabulario y las expresiones más comunes de la Argentina. Para poder aprovecharlo, es necesario tener un conocimiento previo de español."

"The idea of the podcast is to give you the possibility to learn vocabulary and common Argentinian expressions. To benefit a previous knowledge of Spanish is needed."

These podcasts are perhaps most suited to advanced-intermediate (and up) learners. Although, if you slow the speed of your player*, an intermediate-level listener could probably follow the podcast pretty well.

The podcast is inactive; the last entry is dated September 30, 2007. However, fortunately for us, the site is still up and the archives are available.

Some examples of her tags/topics are:

Acentos(6), Errores(3), Fotos(6), Futbol(4), Peliculas(3), Preguntas de oyentes(2), and Vocabulario(10).

Her delivery is pretty speedy but her sentence are fairly short. She uses a lot of rephrasing and question and answer structures which make the presentation easier to follow. She speaks in full sentences and controls the level of vocabulary and slang. In one podcast she mentions that she doesn't speak as quickly as she does with her friends nor does she use slang and sentence fragments as she would with them.

The sound quality of the podcast clean, consistent and well-edited.

*If you have difficulty following the podcast, you might try downloading the file and playing it in Windows Media. You can slow down the speed and make it easier to understand.

If you like the podcasts, there are a couple of her quizzes on the Quizilla site.


I highly recommend Desde el Baño as one of my picks for Best Spanish Podcast Sites.

How to Improve Your Spanish Fluency with DVD Movies

DVDs are Perfect for Spanish Learners.

Video tape is good for watching the movie. Spanish movies on VHS were usually dubbed in English or had English subtitles. We tend to watch them passively letting them wash over us.

The DVD has changed all that. Not only can you watch a Spanish movie in Spanish, you can now watch even a Hollywood movie in:

• English;

• English with Spanish subtitles;

• Spanish;
  

• Spanish with English subtitles,

• and my personal favourite- Spanish with Spanish subtitles.

How to Do It

1. Pick a movie with a Spanish sound track. Pick one that is not so gripping that you get caught up in the action and flip on the English track to catch every detail. On the other hand it can't be so dull as to put you to sleep.

2. Watch a scene with the Spanish sound track and no subtitles. See if you can get the gist of the scene from body language, context and of course spoken Spanish.

3. Watch the same scene with the Spanish sound track and with the Spanish subtitles turned on. See how much more you can understand.

Note: The subtitles don't tend to match the spoken dialogue exactly but that is a small matter and if you notice this you are doing well indeed.

3. Watch the scene with the Spanish sound track and the English subtitles turned on.

Bonus Fluency Tips for the Keeners

1. The really great contribution of DVD players to Spanish learning is that it is random access. We can repeat scenes, phrases or words very quickly and precisely. Use these features to review the difficult parts. Speak aloud along with the actors.

2. Some DVD players, and hard drive based viewing systems such as media players and virtual DVD players also allow you to slow down the movie. If you have access to this feature, try slowing down the fast or wordy bits.

3. You can try writing down some of the dialogue. This is to help you focus on the exact details of what is said. It is not a written exercise.

See also previous article on:

Learn Spanish Talking to Your TV.

Tip 2. Learning Spanish while Talking on the Telephone

Practicing Spanish on the Telephone.


The telephone is a great way to find opportunities to speak Spanish to real people in a controlled low-risk situation. This tip builds on Tip 1. Learning Spanish by Talking to Invisible People, in which we began learning to keep the stress level down by talking to people we can't see.


Tip 2. Accessing Local Spanish Media

In many communities there are local access shows on radio and cable tv. These media are very happy to receive your calls and answer your questions.

Where I live, Saskatoon, we have a Co-op radio station which runs a weekly one-hour show in Spanish, called Radio Luna. You can call them, dedicate a tune, get a birthday greeting
read over the radio. and ask them about activities in the community such as dances, Folk Festivals and Food Fairs. They are happy to talk to people in Spanish and appreciate Spanish Learners' efforts in learning their beautiful language.

Many communities also have small-circulation magazines and newsletters. When you check into these publications keep in mind that there are probably many Spanish-speakers from the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia, and each group in your community may publish newsletters that you can ask about and subscribe to.

Another group to call and practice on is local folk festivals, carnivals, food festivals and so on. Find out if there are Spanish-speaking organizations participating and give them a call to get the details. When you get even braver, ask about volunteer opportunities.