Great Spanish Podcast - LightSpeed Spanish

Hey guys, welcome back to Spellbound by Language. As always, it has been a little while since the last post and things have changed a bit! I'm still working on my French but it has been progressing very slowly and I've found myself running out of time - as such I have to switch back to focusing on Spanish because if everything goes according to plan, I will find myself in Spain by summer!

WHOO!


At the moment my boyfriend is also studying Spanish (we're doing this trip together), and so I've been in the market for some more intermediate material for me as well as additional beginner odds and ends for him.

The Newly Discovered Spanish Podcast

I like podcasts because they cover such a wide range of subjects; they're just fabulous to supplement pretty much any curriculum you're working with. The one I'm going to mention today features Spain Spanish, so lots of 'th' sounds and the use of "¡Vale!" and "vosotros". 

It comes in several levels that range from Absolute Beginner to Advanced. In Absolute Beginner they are great about speaking nice and slow so you can differentiate the words and take your time with it!

Check out their YOUTUBE CHANNEL! - LightSpeed Spanish.

Let me know what you think in the comments! :)

Happy learning!

Using Duolingo to Learn Spanish

Duolingo has quickly become one of the most popular resources for learning a language or supplementing the language learning process. I can only review it from the viewpoint of the Spanish lessons because so far that is the only language I have used.

I love Duolingo. It's colorful, easy to start using and of course... it's free. It takes basic computer knowledge to navigate but if you can handle this blog, you can probably handle Duolingo!

Duolingo Advantages

It syncs across devices so you can be logged in on the computer and your cell phone and when you practice on one device everything will be updated on the other as well.

Now, as for the material it covers. It does a good job of teaching you the basics, but don't be able to expect to walk up to a native Spanish speaker and easily be able to communicate. It gives you a good vocabulary base and basic grammar points. The grammar is easier to learn on the computer because on the phone app, at least with the android version, you can't access the verb conjugations or the additional lesson information that you can find on the computer. This can make it hard if you don't already know the basics of conjugating Spanish verbs.

Another point about Duolingo is that it teaches you South American Spanish. Most notably, South Americans don't typically use the Vos conjugations so you won't be practicing this in Duolingo, and of course the accent is different as well.

It gives you a wonderful chance to expand your vocabulary, learn grammar and sentence structure, and read and translate from Spanish into English. It doesn't give you the opportunity to listen to real conversation, so at the least you may want to supplement it with an audio course or basic level podcasts if you want to learn the full spectrum of the language.

There will come a point where you have learnt enough that Duolingo isn't useful anymore, but never fear, when you hit that point you will be ready for the plethora of other material that is out there. 
 
I tend to play it for a while, get distracted, ignore it, then play obsessively again. But the way I look at it, practice is practice!

So all in all, I would recommend trying it out. It's free. It can't hurt, and it certainly might do you some good!

BBC Interactive Spanish Mystery: Mi Vida Loca

Level: Absolute Beginner
Spanish: Spain 
Material: Travel Basics 

When you start learning Spanish (or any language I'm sure), there is a period of time when you want to learn, but you have realized there is just so much that you have no idea where to start. You need to build a foundation.

This foundation will probably be built based upon the reason that you have chosen to learn Spanish in the first place. If you have no plans to travel to a Spanish speaking country in the near future, maybe you're fine with a slow build up. Learning basic grammar and working your way through a course that might take a few months. If you're heading off to Madrid in a month, you want to learn ALL the basic phrases you'll need to survive, and you want to learn them now.

Why this course? 

There are a number of audio courses that start with travel basics, and I'll get around to sharing them soon as some of them are a great building blocks for that foundation that you want to build. This course that I'm sharing today however, is a little different.

It's an audio visual course, but it has the added bonus of being interactive, and completely free. When I'm searching for new Spanish study material, I love finding the good little tidbits that don't hurt my wallet!

I don't know how you learn best, figuring that out is up to you, but if you're the kind of person who needs more than just study words on a piece of paper, then you should try it out. Each lesson will teach you important basics that will be quite handy as you travel, you can repeat the lessons AND if you interact with them, say the words out loud and work at it, you should learn quite a bit.

What you'll learn.

There are 22 episodes altogether and they cover things like ordering at a cafe, asking for directions and greetings. You'll learn them as if you had actually travelled to Madrid, ended up there alone, and needed to get by. There are transcripts of the episodes as well, so if you're the kind of person that likes to make notes or have it all written out in front of you, it's easy to download and print! Or you can use the transcripts to make flashcards of the phrases you think you will need the most for a little extra memorization.

No account needed, but a computer, time and internet access.

Where to find it.

You can find the course, and all the information Here (Mi Vida Loca).
If you want to check out the transcripts first go HERE.

If you go through the lessons, or you have done them before, I'd love to hear about your personal experiences in the comments below!

Have a wonderful weekend and I'll see you again on Wednesday with another Spanish study option!