Use Babbel's Spanish Podcasts To Improve Your Listening Skills

Podcasts are an excellent supplement when you're learning Spanish. They're a hands-free way to listen to the language, giving you some ambient exposure to the new language while keeping you interested. Technically any Spanish-language podcast can be a learning tool if used the right way, but if you're just starting out you might want a more guided experience.

Here, we'll introduce you to the six Spanish-language podcasts for learning Babbel has made. We break it down by level, so you can start with one made for absolute beginners or try a more advanced show. Also note, many shows have a mixed-language (Spanish and English) version as well as a Spanish-only version, so you can up the difficulty when you're ready. At the bottom, we also offer some techniques for making the most out of our podcasts.

Babbel's Spanish Language Podcasts

A-Zero to A-Hero

Best For: Absolute beginners (A1-A2)
Number of Episodes: 15
Languages: English and Spanish
Transcript: Yes

Follow Catriona, a Spanish beginner, as she builds her Spanish skills week-by-week. Spanish expert Héctor coaches her on the ins and outs of the language and keeps her motivated to reach her goals. Best suited for beginners, this podcast is a handy way to supplement your learning. Each episode is about 15 minutes, and will take you through an important grammatical topic.

Subscribe now to A-Zero to A-Hero
Apple | Spotify

Un día en español

Best For: Absolute beginners (A1) or early learners (using the monolingual version)
Number of Episodes: 23
Languages: Spanish-English and Spanish-only are both available
Transcript: Yes

In this language-learning podcast for Spanish beginners, each episode takes you inside a memorable day in the life of a Spanish speaker in the U.S. or Latin America. Brought to you by our team of language experts, the show features stories told in basic Spanish with helpful guidance and learning tips in English along the way.

This Spanish learning podcast will premiere this winter. Here are some of the types of stories you can expect to hear in season one:

• The day Andrea learned to surf, despite not knowing how to swim

• The day Julio’s pet armadillos wreaked havoc on his family

• Carmela’s first day teaching Spanish at a Pennsylvania college

• The day Melina met her sister for the first time

There will also be a Babbel Magazine article accompanying each episode, highlighting key Spanish vocabulary and providing a dynamic transcript and a full Spanish version of the story to test your knowledge. You can see all Un Día en Español podcast content by visiting this page.

Subscribe now to Un día en español: A Spanish learning podcast
Apple | Spotify

Aventura on the Babbel Express

Best For: Early learners (A2)
Number of Episodes: 11, including all possible paths
Languages: Spanish-English
Transcript: Yes

Are you ready to ride the Babbel Express? Come aboard and explore el misterio of who catnapped a rich heiress’ prize pet. You’ll meet Inspector Romero, an accomplished but recently disgraced detective who’s tasked with finding the perpetrator of this feline crime. Along the way, you’ll meet suspects, collect evidence and, perhaps most importantly, learn Spanish! All of the dialogue is in Spanish, but the story is guided along in English by your faithful narrator, who also provides some handy translations to make sure you’re able to follow the story as it unfolds.

What makes the show interactive? After each episode, you’ll be given a choice for what you want to happen next. Because of that, there are several ways for the story to be told. Decide which threads to follow, and even choose who you think is the perpetrator.

Subscribe now to Aventura on the Babbel Express
Apple | Spotify

Eavesdrop en español

Best For: Early learners (A2)
Number of Episodes: 8
Languages: Spanish-English and Spanish-only versions available
Transcript: Yes

Is there anything more engaging than the conversation happening at the table next to you? We let you listen in on these conversations between friends, which will help you learn topics like ordering at a café or making plans for the weekend. There are also two versions available: a Spanish-English mix that helps guide you

Subscribe now to Eavesdrop en español
Spreaker

Hoy en el Pasado

Best For: Intermediate learners (B1)
Number of Episodes: 31
Languages: Spanish
Transcript: Yes

Hoy en el Pasado ("Today in History") teaches you both Spanish and a little bit of history. Each short (4-7 minute) episode covers one day in July, telling you all the fascinating things that happened, like the birth of Simón Bolívar or the first ever photo on the internet.

Subscribe now to Palabras Bravas
Apple | Spotify

Palabras Bravas

Best For: More advanced learners (B1-B2)
Number of Episodes: 16
Languages: Spanish-only

This podcast is a bit more advanced, featuring only Spanish throughout. The first season focuses on a fictional mystery, keeping you gripped in El Misterio de la Calle de Cervantes while teaching you new words and grammar throughout. In the second season, hosts Paula and David have real conversations and explore vocabulary and tricky grammatical topics. The episodes also are longer than most of the others on this list: a full 20 to 30 minutes, giving you plenty of fodder for your commute.

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

Subscribe now to Palabras Bravas
Apple | Spotify

Tips For Learning With Spanish-Language Podcasts

Sure, you can just click the play button, and there are lots of benefits to listening to Spanish even if you can't fully understand what's happening. If you want to make faster progress, however, you might want to try a few of these techniques for upgrading your listening comprehension.

1. Read along. As you can see above, almost every show we offer in Spanish has a transcript. If you're really struggling with your listening comprehension, reading along can be a great help.

2. Take notes. We know, you don't want this to feel like homework, but taking notes on new words and ideas can help you out quite a bit.

3. Slow it down. It can feel overwhelming when a lot of Spanish is thrown at you. Most podcasts have a feature that allows you to slow down or speed up the play time, so you can take things down to 0.75x or 0.5x while you're getting a handle on the language.

4. Listen twice. If your first listen was a bit difficult, try, try again. A few of our shows also offer both bilingual and monolingual versions, so one great way to learn is to start with the English and Spanish mix, then later try just the Spanish version to see how much stayed with you.

5. Really focus on the vocab you’re learning. Podcasts are often something you listen to while doing something else, but if you want to learn, you’ll need to pay attention. If you hear a word you don’t understand, see if you can figure out what it means in context.