Learn Spanish with Stories
Learn Spanish with Stories is the number one podcast for upper beginner to intermediate Spanish learners. The main objective of this podcast is to give students fun and interesting stories from Latin America to help students with Spanish immersion. You can read while you listen if you head over to podcast.lingomastery.com to find the transcript.
Episodes
162 episodes
The American Footprint in Latin America (La Huella Estadounidense en América Latina)
The United States and Latin America are connected in a massive amount of ways, and it's not just a matter of geography: generations have grown up listening to American music, watching American TV and Hollywood productions, and receiving a heavy...
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Season 5
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Episode 18
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30:22
Spanglish, Portuñol, and Llanito: How These Hybrid Languages Came About (Spanglish, Portuñol y Llanito, Cómo Nacen Estos Híbridos)
Hybrid languages - have you ever heard of them? Spanish has at least two main hybrid languages: Spanglish (which you've probably come in contact with at some point) and Portuñol, which features heavily in the border areas between Brazil and oth...
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Season 5
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Episode 17
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28:09
Guantánamo From the Inside (Guantánamo Desde Adentro)
One of the scariest and most controversial places on the planet is located in Cuba, in a city of the same name: Guantánamo Bay detention camp. Established by President George W. Bush in 2002, following the Islamist attacks of September 11, it w...
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Season 5
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Episode 16
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31:08
Occult Rituals, From Pachamama to Caribbean Voodoo (Rituales Ocultos, de la Pachamama al Vudú Caribeño)
Latin America is a melting pot of cultures, as you'll already know - Spanish culture mixing with Amerindian tradition, and with African rituals combining with Aztec, Mayan, British and... Dutch(?) influences, somehow - so you already know that ...
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Season 5
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Episode 15
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31:58
Juana Azurduy, A Forgotten Heroine (Juana Azurduy, Una Heroína Olvidada)
They say that crisis and pain create great men and women, but life really went a bit too far with Juana Azurduy - first, she lost her parents, and then she would go on to lose her children... but it's what happened in the middle of these things...
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Season 5
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Episode 14
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28:58
Trained for War, Used for Crime (Entrenados para la Guerra, Usados por el Crimen)
As a soldier in Latin America, what happens when you retire? One could think that each state would have a great retirement plan for each soldier who has risked their life for their nation: a decent home, a dignified compensation, health benefit...
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Season 5
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Episode 13
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29:23
Pepe Mujica, The President Who Was Just Another Neighbor (Pepe Mujica, El Presidente que Era un Vecino Más)
Despite the traditionally sketchy leaders we've had in Latin America in the past century, one of the most memorable and internationally loved Latin American presidents in recent times has been José Alberto "Pepe" Mujica.Even though h...
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Season 5
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Episode 12
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28:47
One Español and a Thousand Accents, A Trip Without a Dictionary (Un Español y Mil Acentos, Un Viaje Sin Diccionario)
Spanish is just like English - everyone speaks it in the same way. I'm kidding: we know that English has tons of dialects, and Spanish is just the same in this aspect. Even more complicated is the fact that Spanish is an official language in 21...
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Season 5
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Episode 11
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28:25
La Pola, The Young Woman Who Defied an Empire (La Pola, La Joven que Desafió a un Imperio)
There have been some wonderful female heroes throughout history, and South America is no exception. Policarpa Salavarrieta (La Pola) is one of the most famous cases of them all: a woman who defied a massive colonizing force to wake the people o...
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Season 5
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Episode 10
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30:30
When Central America Said Enough Is Enough, The Fall of William Walker (Cuando Centroamérica Dijo Basta, La Caída de William Walker)
The US and other international powers have been meddling in Latin America for as long as we can remember, but one of the worst cases of foreign intervention (ever) occurred in Nicaragua, in the mid-19th Century (and may explain Nicaragua's stro...
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Season 5
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Episode 9
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30:49
Uruguay 1930, the First Football World Cup (Uruguay 1930, El Primer Mundial de Fútbol)
The FIFA World Cup is probably the world's biggest sport event, viewed by over 1 BILLION people worldwide, but how did it begin, and why did a tiny South American country, Uruguay, get the honor of hosting its first ever edition?In t...
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Season 5
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Episode 8
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29:43
José Antonio Páez, The Peasant Who Became President (José Antonio Páez, El Peón Que Se Volvió Presidente)
Though controversial, it would be plausible to say that Venezuela has always had controversial leaders, with some bringing glory to the nation, and others bringing sorrow and pain.In the case of José Antonio Páez, both things were si...
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Season 5
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Episode 7
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30:18
Is Latinidad Innate or Acquired? (¿La Latinidad Nace o Se Hace?)
What makes somebody "Latin American?" (or Latino*?) Is it being born in Latin America? Is it being born to Latino parents? Or is it adopting the culture and actually feeling Latino?In this special DUAL NARRATOR episode, we go ...
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Season 5
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Episode 6
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31:12
Guaraní, Paraguay's Hidden Heart (Guaraníes, El Corazón Escondido de Paraguay)
There is a country in South America that is particularly "different" from its neighbors in many ways, but the most interesting is its language and culture: I'm talking about Paraguay.Not only is the only nation where the most-spoken...
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Season 5
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Episode 5
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31:06
The Crisis that Sunk Latin America (La Crisis que Hundió a Latinoamérica)
Economic crises are nothing new to us, especially in these times of unpredictability and instability, but Latin America took it to a WHOLE new level in the 1970s.During a particularly wealthy economic period, banks in the US and oth...
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Season 5
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Episode 4
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33:15
Backpacking with Sayings, A Trip through Latin America (Refranes con Mochila, Un Viaje por Latinoamérica)
Latin America, a region of almost 700 million people, speaks mostly one language (Brazil will have to forgive us for this generalization), but we're not talking of one single Spanish language that everyone understands.<...
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Season 5
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Episode 3
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28:12
The Thousand Day War (La Guerra de los Mil Días)
We rarely hear about the local wars in South America, but some were just as ugly and crude as the historical wars in Europe and the US - and the Thousand Day War (technically, the 1,130 Day War, but the given name sounds catchier) was no differ...
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Season 5
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Episode 2
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32:26
Spain in Free Fall, The New Latin America? (España en Caída Libre, ¿La Nueva Latinoamérica?)
Spain, just like Latin America, has been a popular place to visit and move to as an expat, due to its beautiful beaches, modern cities, and great food. However, also like Latin America, it is affected by corruption, a lack of opportunities, and...
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Season 5
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Episode 1
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30:34
To Stay or to Go? The Latin American Dilemma (¿Quedarse o Partir? El Dilema Latinoamericano)
Life in Latin America can be stressful or it can be the most comfortable existence you'll ever have - it all depends on how you look at it.In today's DUAL NARRATOR episode and Season 4 finale, we fly over to warm, sunny Cali to join...
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Season 4
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Episode 36
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33:13
The Worst Kind of Impunity, The Atrocious Case of Linda Loaiza (La Peor Impunidad, El Atroz Caso de Linda Loaiza)
One of the saddest things about crime in Latin America is that even the worst criminals can benefit from impunity. In the case of Linda Loaiza, this was demonstrated in the most brazen and shameless way possible.Linda was a young wom...
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Season 4
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Episode 35
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31:38
Rigoberta Menchú, Courage in the Form of a Woman (Rigoberta Menchú, El Coraje Hecho Mujer)
Guatemala has a Nobel prize winner who you've probably never heard of, but she's one of the most incredible cases of a small voice being powerful enough to topple giants: Rigoberta Menchú.A poor indigenous woman in a nation where belong...
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Season 4
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Episode 34
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31:11
The Revolution of “Rock en Español” (La Revolución del Rock en Español)
Rock music is no longer as popular in the world as it once was (and what a loss THAT has been, am I right?) - but rock "in español" has a very important place in world history.Not only was it super difficult to produce and promote (...
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Season 4
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Episode 33
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30:33
El Mozote, The Massacre the U.S. Knew About and Kept Quiet (El Mozote, La Masacre que Estados Unidos Conocía y Calló)
The US has done incredible things in its history, but it has also been involved in some of the most tragic events, too. The El Mozote Massacre that occurred on December 11, 1981, is among the worst of these US-sponsored tragedies.Wi...
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Season 4
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Episode 32
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30:24
Dictatorship in Venezuela, The Country without a Future (Dictadura en Venezuela, El País que se Quedó sin Futuro)
Today's episode is different. And it's different not because it's a true story (because we always feature those on our podcast), but because your narrator, Anthony, went through the events expressed in the tale.This is the rea...
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Season 4
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Episode 31
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34:12
Blood, Sweat, and Silver, Latin America's Resources (Sangre, Sudor y Plata, Recursos de Latinoamérica)
The lithium in your phone's battery, maybe the device you're using to read this - it may probably have come from Chile, and the copper in the wires of your charger may have come from Peru... Latin America is and has always been one of the main ...
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Season 4
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Episode 30
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34:38