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Notes in Spanish is an online audio program for beginning, intermediate and advanced learners.   It’s the brainchild of Ben Curtis (from Oxford) and Marina Diez (from Madrid), and they are the voices on the podcasts.   They are both living in Madrid  now and do a blog as well - Notes from Spain.

Notes in Spanish is really quite well done, and even though their “inspired beginners” podcasts aren’t for the complete beginner, they are both fun and challenging.   Each section has approximately 30 podcasts and each podcast lasts approximately 15 to 20 minutes.  There are 96 podcasts in total.

On the website, the podcasts are listed and described under each  level.  For instance,  in “inspired beginners”, there are 30 podcasts.  Topics vary from shopping to preparing for a trip to Thailand.

Each individual podcast is in both English and Spanish, and will include discussions about Spanish vocabulary as well as useful Spanish phrases.  Then Ben and Marina have  short conversations using those words and phrases.  The great thing about these conversations is that they are SLOW and CLEAR.  In other words, you can understand them.  YEA!

The podcasts are really best for people who are studing Spanish elsewhere as well, either on their own or in a class, and this is made clear on the website.  Unlike programs like Pimsleur and Rosetta Stone, these podcasts aren’t completely linear, in that they don’t go in the common sequence you would find in a language class (greetings,  present tense verbs, 1-2-3, etc).  Still, they’re fun and challenging and a great addition to your Spanish toolbox.

Although the podcasts are free, there are things you can buy on their website.  There are worksheets to each podcast that can be downloaded (pdf) and that contain key vocabulary, transcripts (in Spanish) of the conversations (very useful) and translations of the conversation.  Also included is some additional vocabulary as well as a cool phrase (lesson 3 has “stop bugging me” - ¡No me toques las narices! ) You can get the worksheets for each level in a “Superpack”.  Beginners Level is 47 Euros (at this writing, that’s about $62 US).  Or you can get the “Premium Pack” which has the worksheets for all 3 levels as well as  “Real Spanish Phrase Book and Audio Guide” (which has 90 minutes of exclusive audio) and “Real Spanish Control”, which is audio and written material about understanding spoken Spanish.  AND “La Crisis Collection”, which is several convesations about Spanish culture.   The Premium Pack is 147 Euros (about $200 US at this writing).

BUT…. the 96 podcasts are FREE.   Nada. Zip.  And well worth using.  Their website is at http://www.notesinspanish.com/   And their blog about Spain is at http://www.notesfromspain.com/  and has podcasts as well.  About Spain, of course.  47 podcasts as of today.

And something else:  Ben and Marina just sound like nice people.  That’s not important for learning Spanish, I know, but it makes the experience better.  Don’t you think?

Tags:   Learn Spanish · Learning Spanish · Notes in Spanish · Pimsleur · Rosetta Stone · speak Spanish · Travel Spanish1 Comment