SpanishPod101.com Blog

One of our long time listeners is a writer in Mexico. Meet, Phylis Collier. She sometimes finds it difficult in some areas to find natives who don’t speak Spanish! That can be real discouraging when you’re trying as hard as Phylis is to learn Spanish.

Hear about how she toughs it out and tries her best to still practice.

“I have been living in Mexico for about three years. I lived in Oaxaca when I first came and my Spanish was coming along really well, mainly because so few people spoke English. However, when I moved to San Miguel de Allende that luxury changed. There are scores of Norte Americanos here and although the upside is more conveniences because of them, most Mexicans encountered in stores, restaurants etc., speak English.

 What I do is to go to the Jardin (what they call the Zocalo here) where you find all the Norte Americanos on benches facing the church, and most Mexicans sitting everywhere else. So I sit “everywhere else” and seek out non-English speaking people. I’ve been fairly successful and my goal is to increase my number of Mexican friends.My biggest problem is that most of them speak Spanish very rapidly, and I have to keep asking “por favor, mas despacio”! That’s why I am so happy to have found SpanishPod 101, because while improving my vocabulary it will certainly help train my ear to this language that I love.

I like being able to replay the conversation over and over, until I really understand every word and phrase, and of course, I speak along with it, improving my accent.

I am about to begin classes again, and I can only think that continuing to use SpanishPod 101 will be a strong supplement.

Estoy agradecida!”

Great job Phylis! Does anyone else have a similar situation? What do you do to practice when facing the odds?

This week we’d like to share a story from John Miller.

John enjoys listening to Spanish while working and had a great experience with being able to use his Spanish to help out a fellow passenger on a plane.

“I came across this podcast via iTunes, in the best of 2008 listings. I am and have always been totally blind, and therefore I obviously learn best through audio. As one who has made repeated attempts to learn this language, I thought your offerings might well help.

Since then, I’ve actually dated a Spanish woman who resided in Madrid. Of course, being in a relationship is a difficult way to learn a language.

I’ve tried other couple online sites that helped a little as well, although according to the woman in Spain their teachings were a little sketchy. So, I eventually left them alone out of fear of learning too much of the wrong thing. However, SpanishPod101 has not let me down yet!

For example, on one of my return flights from Spain I had to help a young woman who knew no English as she attempted to communicate where she needed to go next to the airport workers. Luckily, I knew just enough vocabulary to aid them in sorting the whole situation out, and she ended up on the correct connecting flight. Everyone was very happy with my limited Spanish in that case.

And to wrap this long e-mail up, I listen to the show on my Zen Stone MP3 player to aid me in passing the long hours at my incredibly boring job. I work at a factory for the blind at the moment, although if I can get into grad school I’d start classes this August.Thanks, and it’s a great show!”

Great job John!  Keep up the studying so you can always help out others with your Spanish!

This week we’ll announce our Mail Bag Contest II GRAND PRIZE Winner! Give a big congratulations to Tobie from Melbourne, Australia!

Tobie had this to say about his Spanish studies and travels:

“Querido Amigos,

I am an Australian student and you have been of great help to me over this past year and a half!

I began using it before I started to officially study it. I listened to each podcast just before I go to sleep and then the next day I would write a letter or a journal entry. I found that these were 2 great ways to explore and experiment with my abilities and knowledge.

Fortunately, 6 months ago I was given the opportunity to travel to Spain. I went to Toledo, Granada, Barcelona, Madrid and Cordoba. It was an AMAZING experience for me and my friends. And thanks to SpanishPod101 podcasts I had many more tricks up my sleeve than I was able to use. I was able to order my food, the bill, ask what type of beers they had and question the foods and dishes (this was very useful in impressing the girls we were with). Also, when we got lost, I saved my group because I knew how to ask where we were, and how to get to where we wanted.

But most importantly I found that because of SpanishPod101, I was able to understand the rapid speeds of the local Spaniards, meanwhile everyone else was unable to keep up!  That’s one advantage I have thanks to Spanish pod!!

When I returned to Melbourne, Australia, I went into a McDonalds to grab something to eat and I accidentally ordered my food in Spanish! Haha! I’m still was shocked that i had automatically used Spanish.

P.S. I also just thought I would let you know my favorite lesson is about the line “Como te fue la semana pasada?” It is one of my favorites and I found it very useful!

Gracias por todo, SpanishPod101,

Hasta luego”

A trip to Spain sounds like an excellent way to test your Spanish. We’re glad you listened to the our podcast or else you may have been in real trouble when you got lost!

Welcome to the new section of our blog, The Mail Bag. This is where we’ll share stories from our listeners in their endeavors with Spanish. We hope stories from fellow students can help motivate and inspire you to begin learning Spanish or give you that extra needed push and renewed sense of strength when you think it’s impossible to get become more proficient!

Today we look at one such individual who had trouble restarting since 2 years of high school Spanish.  Meet Katrina Sanford.

“In the past, I have tried very hard to learn another language.  First I started off with Spanish, taking 2 years in school.  That’s because my dream is to work and teach around the world!

Fast forward to the present.  There are now three of reasons why I am now learning Spanish again:

First, I love to travel and have many plans to spend a lot of time in Spanish speaking countries in the somewhat near future.

Second, I have a huge passion for dance!  Especially Salsa, Merengue, Bachata, Cumbia…  I am well known to go out many times a week to dance, and in many of the places here they speak only Spanish, or if there is English there is very little.  Which is why I would love to know what the lyrics to the songs I love to dance to are!

Third, I live in an area in the Southwest United States that has a very large Mexican population and it would be useful to be able to converse with my fellow neighbors.

But more importantly, I want to show my best friend and dance partner how much I care by learning his native language.  He speaks both Spanish and English fluently, but speaks mostly Spanish at home with family and friends.  His family all speaks Spanish and but very little English…which leaves both me, and the person I am trying to communicate with, feeling out of place.

Which brings us to SpanishPod101.com. About 2 months ago I randomly had the urge to listen to the podcasts for Spanish.  SpanishPod101 was one of those in that bunch, and was instantly a favorite.  I loved how the hosts made things fun and that it was native Spanish speakers and native English speakers - together!

So I started out by signing on for the free 7-day trial.  I loved it!  After that free trail expired I was not able to renew, because finances were too tight especially because of the holidays…  So when I got a spare $25, I quickly got online and subscribed.

I actually just started my learning plan about a week or two ago, which was when I subscribed to your site.  My goal is to become fluent, or at least, able to converse without a problem by the end of the year.  The main part of my studies is actually SpanishPod101.com!  When driving, cleaning, doing chores, and sometimes as I am laying in bed, I listen to SpanishPod101 on my MP3 player and am constantly speaking the words aloud as I do so to try to get the pronunciation right.

So far SpanishPod101.com has helped me an incredible amount!  Right now, I am up to Newbie lesson 11 and have also started in on the Phonetics and Verb Conjugation Series.  I love Alan and Lisy as hosts of the Newbie Series .  The way that the site is set up, and in particular how all the resources are, is very, very helpful!  I use everything I can that you have available to make sure that I can squeeze every ounce of learning out of this incredible opportunity.  Each day I am excited to complete and/or review my lessons for the day and can’t wait to see how much I can learn.  Unlike in high school, this time I know it is going to work out!  In fact I have already seen results that are much better than I had hoped for! I have the determination and incredible resources (SpanishPod101) to keep on learning!

Thank you so much for the incredible site, lessons, and services that you provide!  I am sure that I would not even be learning right now if it were not for your podcasts.

Looking forward to learning much more with you

p.s. here’s a picture of me and my dance partner”

I think many of us know how it is to go through the 2 years of high school Spanish and still be nowhere near conversation level.  Katrina has some great goals and motivation for learning now and she sure is making strides towards those.  Keep up the hardwork! And keep dancing!

Now everyone, this is an ongoing project, so please share your stories! You may send these to contactus@spanish101.com with the subject line: “Mailbag Story”. Our favorite stories will win FREE premium service and be posted here to be shared with others!

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year from everyone here at SpanishPod101.com! We’re grateful to have listeners just like you, and we’re eagerly waiting for the upcoming year to learn Spanish together!

And when the New Year comes around, be sure to make a resolution to study Spanish with SpanishPod101.com!

Have a healthy and happy holiday season.

From the SpanishPod101.com Team!