There are many podcasts to help people learning Spanish, French, Chinese and several other languages, featuring grammar lessons, dialogues, tips and short stories.
Those wishing to learn a foreign language are increasingly turning to podcasting, as courses are available free of charge on the Internet.
Listening to short podcasts is very convenient, since people can use this learning tool at any time, for instance on their way home or during coffebreaks, to improve their language skills.
Ben Curtis and Marina Diez live in Madrid, Spain. Curtis is an Englishman from a village closed to Oxford, Great Britain. He lives in Spain along with his wife Marina, a native-speaker "Madrileña" who was born and raised in Madrid.
Curtis recalled that he didn't speak a word of Spanish when he arrived in Spain nine years ago. He is a Spanish-English translator, and she works for an information technology company.
What is so special about this English-Spanish couple? They have produced hundreds of podcasts, downloaded by seven to ten thousand people around the world.
A podcast is an audio file that is generally free and distributed on the Internet. Curtis and Diez's Spanish podcasts "Notes in Spanish" are split into three levels: Inspired Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced. The Inspired Beginner podcast started is very new (it started in June 2007) and its audience is still growing. Listeners are from all over the world, though mostly from the United States and the United Kingdom.
The "Notes in Spanish" podcasts are especially designed for people willing to improve their Spanish language skills. Each episode features a 10-15 minutes conversation in Spanish.
Curtis and Diez started making podcasts in English about life and travel in Spain two years ago. They still run two podcasts in English, Notes from Spain and Cuisine from Spain, to provide information on living and travelling.
But listeners gradually started to request podcasts in Spanish. The couple finally did one episode in Spanish, which turned out to be very popular.
"We were very surprised, yes! I think they are popular as we try to make the podcasts as honest and natural as possible," said Curtis in a written interview.
He explains that the podcasts are very real, because nothing is scripted beyond a few rough notes. "We really try to offer the most real, day to day Spanish that we can," said Curtis. "People seem to identify with and appreciate that."
But they didn't stop there either. Afterwards they did a Spanish podcast marathon. They produce one episode a day for a month to raise money for charity. They are now making Spanish podcasts on a weekly basis, respectively for the beginner, intermediate and advanced levels.
Spanish learners across the world can listen to the conversations and follow along with the transcript. Worksheets, tips and other resources are also available on the website.
"People pick up a lot of genuine language and expressions they might not find elsewhere," said Curtis.
To access the Notes in Spanish podcasts
Travel secrets, news, and culture from all corners of Spain: Notes from Spain
Related article: Using Podcasts to Improve Language
