Introducing Babbel’s Expert-Made Podcast: ‘Palabras Bravas’

• Babbel’s podcast Palabras Bravas targets intermediate to advanced learners with a storytelling-plus-explanation format, teaching colloquial Spanish, idioms, and regional differences through engaging audio lessons.

• Season 1, “El misterio de la Calle de Cervantes,” follows three Madrid flatmates in a humorous mystery, while hosts Paula (European Spanish), David (Latin American Spanish), and Fidi (advanced learner) unpack vocabulary and usage.

• The podcast leverages the learning benefits of audio, encouraging you to focus on pronunciation and vocabulary, mental imagery, and hands-free practice during daily routines.

• Learner guides break down each episode for those who want extra support, and Season 2 (“Errores Fosilizados”) dives into common, persistent mistakes, with guest discussions across 10 episodes.

You can listen to Palabras Bravas on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, the Babbel app or wherever else you listen!

Have you ever wondered what the expression ¡Qué yuyu! means or why Spanish speakers have a “fly behind the ear” when they smell a rat? Or are you simply looking for a hands-free way to practice your Spanish comprehension? With the first season of our monolingual Spanish podcast, we aim to motivate intermediate to advanced learners to improve, keep up and refresh their Spanish language skills — all while answering a few cultural-specific questions along the way!

You can now listen to all of Babbel’s podcasts from our app. Yay! Open the Babbel app to get listening.

Why Is Babbel Making A Spanish Podcast?

Babbel’s Learning Media team realized there were few Spanish podcasts for learners that effectively combine storytelling with vocabulary explanations. Our team of linguistic experts wanted to mix both concepts because, here at Babbel, we always follow the conversational approach. This means that we want you to learn the language in real-life situations — not with computer-generated translations. With these podcast lessons, you’ll cement new vocabulary in your memory even faster and be able to practice them in your day-to-day conversations.

On top of that, we made this in-house production with a little something for everyone: Palabras Bravas mixes storytelling with expert explanations, linguistic insights, entertaining twists and challenging quizzes!

In the first season, El misterio de la Calle de Cervantes, you’ll follow the funny and mysterious story of three flatmates in Madrid, while your three Spanish-speaking hosts explain advanced vocabulary. By following both the story and the experts, you’ll learn Spanish as people speak it in their daily lives, tackling topics such as colloquialisms, idioms, and expressions with figurative (and literal) language. This podcast also reflects the rich diversity of the Spanish language, as the hosts discuss the differences between European, Colombian, Mexican and Argentinian Spanish, among others.

What Is El Misterio De La Calle De Cervantes About?

The story follows three protagonists, Lola, Diego and Carlota, as they share a flat in Madrid on Cervantes Street. One night they hear a strange noise coming from the flat upstairs — and from that moment on, chaos and craziness ensue! Throughout the course of the five episodes, our main characters will go from thinking that a ghost is living in their building to believing that a murder has been committed.

Get ready to listen to a story full of mystery and unexpected moments — and you’ll have to listen in to find out what’s really happening upstairs!

Who Are Your Hosts?

Fidi, David and Paula are your three Spanish-speaking hosts of El misterio de la Calle de Cervantes, and they’re all linguistic experts in the Didactics department here at Babbel. David and Paula work as Spanish editors, and they each represent a different Spanish variety: Paula speaks European Spanish and David Latin American Spanish. Meanwhile, Fidi is your fellow non-native Spanish-speaker on the podcast. She’s bilingual in German and Turkish (and is the Turkish project manager here at Babbel, in case you’re curious).

Fidi takes the role of the advanced learner, asking questions, guessing meanings and applying newly learned phrases. That said, all three hosts have learned several languages, which allows them to provide insights and tips from their previous learning experiences.

Why Should You Listen To This Podcast?

If you’re an intermediate to advanced learner who is looking for a hands-free way to master Spanish, then Palabras Bravas is perfect for you. It’s made specifically for learners who want to understand colloquial Spanish and fit in learning while their hands are busy. Whether you’re driving, commuting, tidying up, cooking, exercising, or whatever else fills your time, you can also fit in a Spanish lesson.

Besides being convenient, learning with podcasts has a clear benefit: Without any visual cues, your brain automatically pays closer attention to vocabulary and pronunciation. You also will be forced to create your own mental images of what’s happening on Palabras Bravas. This inner world-building closely connects you to the story and leads to a richer language learning experience.

We hope that you will have as much fun listening as we had creating this podcast!

Want To Learn More?

As mentioned, Palabras Bravas is designed for intermediate to advanced learners, so it may be a bit tough for beginner learners. If you want to give it a try anyway, we made learners’ guides to each of the episodes in season 1! You can click below to have each episode broken down into smaller chunks, with some English description that can guide you along the way.

• The Spanish Learner’s Guide To Episode 1

• The Spanish Learner’s Guide To Episode 2

• The Spanish Learner’s Guide To Episode 3

• The Spanish Learner’s Guide To Episode 4

• The Spanish Learner’s Guide To Episode 5

And once you’ve finished all of those, make sure to check out Palabras Bravas season 2, Errores Fosilizados. In the second season, hosts David and Paula invite a guest on in each episode to discuss “fossilized errors,” or common mistakes that even advanced learners might struggle with. You can check out the trailer below, and all 10 episodes are available now!