Learn Spanish with the Best Podcasts
There’s no shortage of options when it comes to podcasts that will teach you a language, and in this post, we’ll focus on what are the best podcasts to learn Spanish.
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Benefits of Listening to Podcasts to Learn Spanish
Podcasts can be listened to on your way to work, while you’re working out at the gym, or in bed before you fall asleep. You can learn Spanish from them by simply listening to native speakers talk about different topics. This is an excellent way of adding that listening practice without necessarily having to sit down and study for hours on end.
Hearing native Spanish speakers talk about a variety of different topics will expose you to a wide range of vocabulary words and accents which would otherwise take much longer to come across naturally speaking with people every day.
Let’s take a look at some of the best Spanish language learning podcasts for each level of Spanish.
Podcasts to Learn Spanish for Beginners
If you’ve just started studying Spanish and barely understand what your teacher tells you, then podcasts might be a little more difficult at first. However, as soon as you start to catch on, it’s easy to use podcasts as an excellent way of improving your listening comprehension and expanding your vocabulary at the same time.
Here are my 3 top recommendations for the best podcasts to start off with as a beginner.
Coffee Break Spanish
- Language Level: From Absolute Beginners to Advanced
- Monolingual: No (Spanish – English)
- Average Duration of Episodes: 15-20 minutes
- Accent: European Spanish
Coffee Break Spanish is a podcast in which host Mark guides his student Kara to learn Spanish. You can follow Kara’s language learning journey according to your personal Spanish level – from season 1 as an absolute beginner or season 4 during her advanced journey. It’s a lovely show, covering relevant everyday topics in Spanish. The host has a fun and lively voice which makes it particularly enjoyable to learn from this program.
SpanishPod101
- Language Level: From Absolute Beginners to Advanced
- Monolingual: According to level (Spanish – English)
- Average Duration of Episodes: 5-15 minutes
- Accent: Latin American and European Spanish
SpanishPod101 is a great podcast to watch and listen to, as it’s highly engaging with slides, videos, and audio recordings. The lessons are very interactive and fun which makes the most difficult of topics easier to grasp. You can easily find out more about any episode by visiting their website. When you first subscribe, they offer a very interesting one-dollar welcome package.
Notes in Spanish – Beginner
- Language Level: From Beginners to Advanced
- Monolingual: According to level (Spanish – English)
- Average Duration of Episodes: 15-30 minutes
- Accent: European Spanish
In Notes in Spanish, your hosts Marina from Madrid and Ben from England share interesting topics about their culture, travel, current affairs, etc., through conversations between them. Each episode is explained very simply so that even beginners understand everything being said. A list of Spanish vocabulary words is included at the end of each episode, along with some homework to ensure you remember the main points.
Podcasts for Learning Spanish at Intermediate Level
When you’ve reached an intermediate level of Spanish and feel like you’re capable of understanding most basic conversations (and/or you can actually speak a bit yourself), then podcasts will be an excellent way to become more comfortable with the language.
You’ll encounter less obvious phrases and colloquialisms, as well as more slang, which will help you get closer to sounding like a Spaniard.
Here are my 5 top recommendations for the best intermediate Spanish language learning podcasts:
Spanish Obsessed
- Language level: Beginner to Advanced
- Monolingual: According to level (Spanish – English)
- Average Duration of Episodes: 10-20 minutes
- Accent: Colombian Spanish + guests speakers with a variety of other accents (from Latin America to Spain)
Spanish Obsessed is a great learning resource. The host, Lis, is a native Spanish speaker from Colombia. The podcasts are fun and engaging, with plenty of real-world topics that will help you practice your listening skills. There are also episodes dedicated to learning grammar in a practical way. Guests on this podcast offer a variety of accents, and each has its own personal story to tell.
Unlimited Spanish
- Language Level: Pre-intermediate to Upper-Intermediate
- Monolingual: Yes (Spanish only)
- Average Duration of Episodes: 10-15 minutes
- Accent: European Spanish
Unlimited Spanish is a podcast that has been around for years and still going strong. Oscar, the host, is a native speaker of Spanish from Spain. He presents the topics in a conversational tone and they’re followed by audio, audio with pauses, and free written transcripts. This approach is quite different from most podcasts as it encourages the listeners to speak along with the host.
Easy Spanish
- Language Level: Pre-intermediate to Upper-Intermediate
- Monolingual: Yes (Spanish only)
- Average Duration of Episodes: 20-30 minutes
- Accent: Mexican and European Spanish
Easy Spanish is hosted by Spanish native speakers Paulina and Ivan who are from Mexico and Spain. In this podcast, the hosts talk not only about the Spanish language but also about certain phrases and cultural information of different Spanish-speaking countries. They try to teach their listeners Spanish through everyday conversations while being in different cities in Latin America or Spain.
Hoy Hablamos
- Language Level: Intermediate to Advanced
- Monolingual: Yes (Spanish only)
- Average Duration of Episodes: 15-30 minutes
- Accent: European Spanish
Hoy Hablamos is a podcast with a different topic for each episode, which makes it a great option if you’re looking to diversify your learning schedule. Each episode excels in every single aspect: topics covered, audio quality, linguistics, technical quality, etc. The episodes are short, structured, and well produced. The host has a clear pronunciation with no background noise.
Additionally, the Hoy Hablamos de Gramática series is for those students who want to strengthen their grammar skills or brush up on material from previous episodes.
Español Automatico
- Language Level: Intermediate to Advanced
- Monolingual: Yes (Spanish only)
- Average Duration of Episodes: 10-20 minutes
- Accent: European Spanish
Español Automatico is an informative podcast about learning Spanish. The host, Karo Martinez, helps listeners to learn the basics of the language and also how to speak it fluently so they sound like a native speakers. This podcast includes phrases, idioms, and words that are frequently used in Spanish-speaking countries so you can improve your conversational skills.
Podcasts to Learn Advanced-Level Spanish
At this level, you’re almost fluent in Spanish and are always looking for ways to improve your listening comprehension. You probably often catch yourself thinking “if only I could understand what that person is saying” when eavesdropping on others’ conversations at the mall or an airport.
Here are my 4 top recommendations for the best podcasts to learn advanced Spanish:
Charlas Hispanas
- Language Level: Upper-Intermediate to Advanced
- Monolingual: Yes (Spanish only)
- Average Duration of Episodes: 10-15 minutes
- Accent: Latin-American
Charlas Hispanas is a podcast that aims to teach Spanish, while simultaneously teaching about Latin American culture. It’s an awesome way to learn the language, and it will also give you some insight into how people in different parts of Latin America live their lives. The hosts come from Mexico, Peru, Argentina, and Colombia which makes this podcast ideal for comprehending a variety of accents. You can find episodes about vocabulary, grammar, useful expressions but also about different cultures current news Latin American history, and much more.
Españolistos
- Language Level: Upper-Intermediate to Advanced
- Monolingual: Yes (Spanish only)
- Average Duration of Episodes: 30 minutes
- Accent: Colombian
Españolistos‘ hosts, Andrea from Colombia and Nate from the United States, discuss topics such as Latin America, Latin American cultures, and more! Their goal is to help you understand and speak Spanish with a Latin American accent. What I like about this podcast is that it doesn’t focus on teaching grammar or vocabulary, but aims to help you speak in an authentic way. They sometimes invite other Spanish-speaking guests (normally native) and interview them.
Español con Juan – 1001 Reasons to Learn Spanish
- Language Level: Upper-Intermediate to Advanced
- Monolingual: Yes (Spanish only)
- Average Duration of Episodes: 15-30 minutes
- Accent: European Spanish
Español con Juan is a Spanish podcast that teaches Spanish. If you’re an intermediate or advanced learner of Spanish who wants to perfect their Castilian accent with awesome stories, funny personal anecdotes, cultural and historical explanations, and comments on everyday topics, you need to start listening to this podcast. A language teacher, Juan has an obvious passion for teaching and telling stories.
Radio Ambulante
- Language Level: Upper-Intermediate to Advanced
- Monolingual: Yes (Spanish only)
- Average Duration of Episodes: 30-60 minutes
- Accent: Latin-American
Radio Ambulante is an award-winning Spanish podcast from NPR. The stories are presented in a narrative format and follow real-life situations, so you’ll learn practical vocabulary and important idioms. Each episode has a set topic or theme, but they aren’t as structured as other podcasts since this one is more focused on presenting interesting content rather than teaching Spanish. It covers real-life stories from 20 different Latin American countries, so you get a good understanding of the different regions and about living in Latin America. As a plus, you get to listen to different accents which are good to improve your listening skills.
Learning a new language is never easy, but podcasts are one of the best ways to make it more manageable. They offer variety and can be listened to at your convenience.
I hope this list has helped you find some great Spanish learning resources that will help take your skills from beginner all the way up to advanced level!