Voices en Español » Podcasts

VEE #035: La fiebre de la propiedad

voicesenespanol@gmail.com (voicesenespanol.com) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 00:58:56 +0000

In this interview with Spanish podcaster, Mercedes León, we talk about economic hard times in Spain, brought on by rampant real estate speculation. Later on in the conversation we switch gears and Mercedes takes us on a wonderful audio tour of her favorite sections of Barcelona. It’s a great interview, if I must say myself. [...]

Cody’s Cuentos, Season 2

voicesenespanol@gmail.com (voicesenespanol.com) — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 23:00:33 +0000

My other podcast, Cody’s Cuentos, has been keeping me very occupied in recent weeks. If you’ve never listened to this podcast before, you’re in for a treat. Cody’s Cuentos features classic children’s stories in Spanish. The first season, which began last spring, featured only fairy tales. The second season is branching out a bit with [...]

VEE #034 - Cine Prado

voicesenespanol@gmail.com (voicesenespanol.com) — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 22:00:53 +0000

A short story by Elena Poniatowska Señorita: A partir de hoy, debe usted borrar mi nombre de la lista de sus admiradores. Tal vez convendría ocultarte esta deserción, pero callándome, iría en contra de una integridad personal que jamás ha eludido las exigencias de la verdad. Al apartarme de usted, sigo un [...]

VEE #033 - Continuidad de los parques

voicesenespanol@gmail.com (voicesenespanol.com) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 17:08:49 +0000

By Julio Cortázar Había empezado a leer la novela unos días antes. La abandonó por negocios urgentes, volvió a abrirla cuando regresaba en tren a la finca; se dejaba interesar lentamente por la trama, por el dibujo de los personajes. Esa tarde, después de escribir una carta a su apoderado y discutir con el mayordomo una [...]

VEE #032 - Where to Study Spanish

voicesenespanol@gmail.com (voicesenespanol.com) — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 14:59:12 +0000

Jeffrey Hayes of the Language Travel Company talks about where to go to study Spanish and the pros and cons of some destinations. Jeffrey also wrote an article on this topic for this blog called “Spanish Immersion Programs: 5 Destinations.”

VEE #031 - Los pollitos dicen

voicesenespanol@gmail.com (voicesenespanol.com) — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:37:23 +0000

Cuban-American entreprenuer Carrie Ferguson Weir talks about growing up in two cultures: Anglo and Latino and also about her business, Los Pollitos Dicen, a T-shirt line for babies. This is the longest podcast I’ve published to date. Carrie and I spoke in a little bit of Spanglish so I did an exact word-for-word transcript of [...]

VEE September Book Club: El Tunel

voicesenespanol@gmail.com (voicesenespanol.com) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 04:53:41 +0000

I’ve got 4 copies of El Túnel, an existential novel written by Argentine author Ernesto Sábato. The book, a reissure by Harper Collins, went on sale to the public on Sept. 16. But if you’d like a copy, in exchange for a very small donation to this blog, then email me privately. If you’d prefer, you [...]

VEE #030 - Viva Las Vegas

voicesenespanol@gmail.com (voicesenespanol.com) — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 05:55:37 +0000

Yeah, this epi is long, long overdue. Sorry about that folks. This is (was?) part three of the trip to the U.S. with mi amiguete, David. In this episode we talk about seeing the Grand Canyon for the first time and gliding along the SkyWalk and then taking in a flashy, splashy Vegas show and [...]

Don Quijote de la Mancha

voicesenespanol@gmail.com (voicesenespanol.com) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 04:00:32 +0000

El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha de Miguel de Cervantes PRIMERA PARTE CAPÍTULO 1: Que trata de la condición y ejercicio del famoso hidalgo D. Quijote de la Mancha En un lugar de la Mancha, de cuyo nombre no quiero acordarme, no ha mucho tiempo que vivía un hidalgo de los de lanza en astillero, adarga antigua, rocín [...]

VEE #029 - Immigration in Spain

voicesenespanol@gmail.com (voicesenespanol.com) — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 18:25:39 +0000

Mexican writer Juan Manuel Villalobos tells us about his experience being an immigrant in Spain. In an earlier podcast, episode 19, Juan Manuel talked about his novel “La vida frágil de Annette Blanche.”

Spanish pronunciation 101: Vowels

voicesenespanol@gmail.com (voicesenespanol.com) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 04:13:12 +0000

Martín Ventola’s 3 rules to remember about Spanish vowels: They are short sounds They are “pure” sounds They start and end differently from English vowels. Visit Martin’s blog, Spanish Pronunciation 101, for a detailed description of the correct pronunciation of Spanish vowels. Vowel A : In Spanish, the “a” is similar in sound to the “a” in the English word [...]

VEE #028 - Yerba mate

voicesenespanol@gmail.com (voicesenespanol.com) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:43:34 +0000

La yerba mate (An Argentine legend) De noche Yací, la luna, alumbra desde el cielo misionero las copas de los árboles y platea el agua de las cataratas. Eso es todo lo que conocía de la selva: los enormes torrentes y el colchón verde e ininterrumpido del follaje, que casi no deja pasar la luz. Muy [...]

VEE #027 - Big Apple visit

voicesenespanol@gmail.com (voicesenespanol.com) — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 23:01:24 +0000

[See post to watch QuickTime movie] Part 2 of Going 2 America Above, video of Grand Central Station in Manhattan. Below, view of Central Park from Top of the Rockefeller Center. David calls a scavenger hunt a ginkana. He also uses the expression dejar a la altura del betún when comparing Whole Foods, a U.S. grocery store, to El [...]

VEE #026 - La ciudad de Esteco

voicesenespanol@gmail.com (voicesenespanol.com) — Mon, 26 May 2008 21:46:49 +0000

La ciudad de Esteco era, según la leyenda, la más rica y poderosa de las ciudades del norte argentino. Se levantaba en medio de un fértil y hermoso paisaje de la provincia de Salta. Sus magníficos edificios resplandecían revestidos de oro y plata. Los habitantes de Esteco estaban orgullosos de su ciudad y de la riqueza [...]

VEE #025 - La noche de los feos

voicesenespanol@gmail.com (voicesenespanol.com) — Sun, 18 May 2008 01:25:11 +0000

La noche de los feos por Mario Benedetti 1. Ambos somos feos. Ni siquiera vulgarmente feos. Ella tiene un pómulo hundido. Desde los ocho años, cuando le hicieron la operación. Mi asquerosa marca junto a la boca viene de una quemadura feroz, ocurrida a comienzos de mi adolescencia. Tampoco puede decirse que tengamos ojos tiernos, esa suerte de faros [...]

VEE #024 - Going 2 America

voicesenespanol@gmail.com (voicesenespanol.com) — Sat, 10 May 2008 05:09:14 +0000

[See post to watch QuickTime movie] David, el Cántabro, is back. This time he’s going to talk about stereotypes that exist among the Spanish regarding mi “pueblo,” the United States, and explains what he’s looking forward to seeing during our vacation there. Music featured in this podcast: Big George Jackson “If I Could Change” (mp3) from “Big Shot” (Black and [...]

VEE #023 - Acciones Plásticas

voicesenespanol@gmail.com (voicesenespanol.com) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 10:05:31 +0000

In this podcast I chat with Maya Escobar, a performance artist from the U.S. Her culturally-diverse family background (Dad is Guatemalan and Mom is Jewish) has inspired her to create a series of photos and satirical videos about stereotypes related to Latina and Jewish women. Maya says her work “Acciones Plásticas” is a “commentary [...]

VEE #022 - Working abroad

voicesenespanol@gmail.com (voicesenespanol.com) — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 23:13:03 +0000

Here’s Part 2 of my chat with Teresa Córdova from Middlebury College. In this podcast Teresa talks about the ways some American university students have found to work legally in Spain. You can find more info about the Language Assistants program she mentions here. Also, Julie Espinosa, a current language assistant in Madrid, gives advice [...]

Spanish pronunciation 101: Spanish consonants

voicesenespanol@gmail.com (voicesenespanol.com) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 11:50:35 +0000

Today’s episode of Spanish Pronunciation 101 is about Spanish consonant sounds that don’t come naturally to English speakers. Martín Ventola, our Spanish instructor from Buenos Aires, has written a detailed post on his blog about the subject but here is a summary of today’s topic: There are five Spanish consonant sounds that sometimes throw a wrench [...]

VEE #021 - Study Abroad

voicesenespanol@gmail.com (voicesenespanol.com) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 09:51:49 +0000

Teresa Cordova, a coordinator for Middlebury College’s program in Spain, talks about the benefits and challenges of studying abroad. Teresa is from Puerto Rico and a graduate of Tufts University.

VEE #020 - Introducing Cody’s Cuentos

voicesenespanol@gmail.com (voicesenespanol.com) — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 00:31:19 +0000

Cody’s Cuentos is my new podcast featuring children’s stories in Spanish. Cody, a mischievous, lovable puppy, serves as the mascot to this new program. Every month Cody and one of his human pals from Spain, Mexico or Argentina will present to you a well-told tale in Spanish. Spanish-speaking and bilingual families everywhere can now [...]

Spanish pronunciation 101: English consonants

voicesenespanol@gmail.com (voicesenespanol.com) — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 08:47:37 +0000

The first step to improving your Spanish pronunciation is to isolate and eliminate the sounds from your native language (in my case, English) that don’t exist in Spanish. In this podcast Martín Ventola talks at length about some of these sounds from English that interfere in pronouncing Spanish correctly. You can get more details here.

Excerpt from “La vida frágil de Annette Blanche”

voicesenespanol@gmail.com (voicesenespanol.com) — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 18:19:21 +0000

Era un tipo guapo Santonni. Siempre con jeans y zapatillas blancas percudidas. Y siempre con esa mirada ausente, introspectivas, que tienes los ojos que no son verdes, ni azules, ni grises, sino una mezcla de los tres, esos ojos que miran hacia adentro como escudriñando el alma para reporcharle al mundo y a su madre [...]

VEE #019 - La vida frágil de Annette Blanche

voicesenespanol@gmail.com (voicesenespanol.com) — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 17:12:04 +0000

Juan Manuel Villalobos, a writer and journalist from Mexico City, talks about his novel, “La vida frágil de Annette Blanche.” Click here for more details.

Spanish pronunciation 101

voicesenespanol@gmail.com (voicesenespanol.com) — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 11:55:29 +0000

Today’s podcast is an introduction to a series of podcasts I plan to do with Martin Ventola, a Spanish teacher from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Martin has studied English phonetics, so that background, combined with his experience teaching Spanish to extranjeros in Buenos Aires, makes him the ideal guide for those of us who want to [...]

Book excerpt from “El corrido de Dante”

voicesenespanol@gmail.com (voicesenespanol.com) — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 18:23:13 +0000

“Remember that we’re in the U.S.,” Dante Celestino is told by his friends and neighbors when his daughter Emmita runs away. Dante had told Emmita to date only respectable, Spanish-speaking boys but she doesn’t listen to him and runs away from home in the middle of her quinceañera. To make matters worse, Dante is living in [...]

VEE #018 - El corrido de Dante

voicesenespanol@gmail.com (voicesenespanol.com) — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 18:15:20 +0000

Interview with Eduardo González Viaña, author of El corrido de Dante. Eduardo is from Peru and in this podcast he talks about the inspiration of this book and the current situation of some Hispanic immigrants in the United States.

VEE #017 - El mate

voicesenespanol@gmail.com (voicesenespanol.com) — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 22:05:02 +0000

Porque el mate no es solamente una bebida by Javier Luis Guastavino (Read by Dolly from Uruguay) El mate no es una bebida. Bueno, sí. Es un líquido y entra por la boca. Pero no es una bebida. En este país nadie toma mate porque tenga sed. [...]

VEE #016 - Blogs Exchange

voicesenespanol@gmail.com (voicesenespanol.com) — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 12:04:46 +0000

In this Spanish podcast, Gabriel Guillén tells us all about Blogs Exchange, a new web site that helps native Spanish and English speakers improve their respective second languages through blogging. It’s easy. First you create a blog on the Blogs Exchange platform, then you start posting in the language you need help with. The site will [...]