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
144 episodes
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...
•
Season 4
•
Episode 36
•
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...
•
Season 4
•
Episode 35
•
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...
•
Season 4
•
Episode 34
•
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 (...
•
Season 4
•
Episode 33
•
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...
•
Season 4
•
Episode 32
•
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...
•
Season 4
•
Episode 31
•
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 ...
•
Season 4
•
Episode 30
•
34:38
Legends of Latin America, the Journey of Quetzalcoatl (Leyendas de Latinoamérica, el Viaje de Quetzalcóatl)
The gods of ancient Latin American belief were very interesting and different from what we have to come to know in Asia, Europe, and North America... they were somewhat more human, said to walk among us when they felt like it, and collaborated ...
•
Season 4
•
Episode 29
•
33:08
Retiring in Latin America, a Dream Retreat? (Jubilación en Latinoamérica, ¿Retiro Soñado?)
Retiring in Latin America as a foreigner = 👍Retiring in Latin America as a Latin American = ☠️Let's face it - when you think of the Caribbean, Brazilian beaches, the Angel Falls in Venezuela, Mexican resorts and Argentine ...
•
Season 4
•
Episode 28
•
28:41
José Rizal, An Unarmed Hero (José Rizal, Un Héroe Sin Armas)
There is a Filipino hero who, despite raising his voice and an entire nation against the Spanish colonizers, is so respected globally that he has his own monument in the center of Madrid, Spain's capital.His name is José Rizal - but...
•
Season 4
•
Episode 27
•
30:31
Left vs. Right, The Battle for Latin America (Izquierda vs. Derecha, La Batalla por Latinoamérica)
If you think only North American politics get crazy around, before or after election season, then you're very mistaken: Latin America has a serious problem with political polarization. And the worst part, frankly (as a Latin American myself), i...
•
Season 4
•
Episode 26
•
31:51
Should Spain Apologize to Latin America? (¿Debería España Pedir Perdón a América Latina?)
"Spain should ask for forgiveness" - these were the words of Mexico's new president, Claudia Sheinbaum, shortly after being elected. She took it a step further and decided not to invite Spain's King Felipe VI after he failed to respond, and thi...
•
Season 4
•
Episode 25
•
30:31
Trump vs. Latin America (Trump vs América Latina)
Donald Trump is back in power, and he is already taking action to bring mass migration into the US from the south to a screeching halt (understandable based on the numbers we were witnessing, but not a popular decision).But he's als...
•
Season 4
•
Episode 24
•
31:03
Edmundo Chirinos, The Case that Shocked Venezuela (Edmundo Chirinos, El Caso que Estremeció a Venezuela)
If you think about a psychiatrist, you usually associate this with someone of very high social standing, and if it's somebody who even served the president, then there's no way they could be a wrongdoer, right? Right...?Wrong. Edmundo C...
•
Season 4
•
Episode 23
•
29:23
Why Is Spanish Spoken in Equatorial Guinea? (¿Por Qué se Habla Español en Guinea Ecuatorial?)
Fine, right off the bat I'm cheating - Equatorial Guinea is NOT a Latin American country, I know... but it's also incredibly linked to the Spanish-speaking culture, and is a case study in itself of how colonization has entirely derailed the fut...
•
Season 4
•
Episode 22
•
28:29
The Day Bolivia Lost its Access to the Ocean (El Día que Bolivia Perdió su Salida al Océano)
Have you heard of the "War of the Pacific" before? Your mind will inevitably go to WWII, where the American soldiers fought the Japanese in an endless, bloody battle that culminated in the two atomic bombs being launched on Japan, but... <...
•
Season 4
•
Episode 21
•
29:38
The Chavín de Huántar Operation, A Complicated Rescue (La Operación Chavín de Huántar, Un Rescate Complicado)
On April 22, 1997, at 15:23, one of the world's most incredible military operations occurred on the planet, and you've probably never heard of it...Operation Chavín de Huántar was a surgical military operation that took place after ...
•
Season 4
•
Episode 20
•
29:54
Tren de Aragua, Spreading from Prison to the Continent (El Tren de Aragua, De la Prisión al Continente)
Few names of Venezuelan gangs and cartels have made as many headlines as El Tren de Aragua, especially in recent months. Named a terrorist organization by President Trump's administration and called "the most disruptive criminal organization op...
•
Season 4
•
Episode 19
•
30:36
The Puccio Clan, The Dark Secret Behind A Regular Family (El Clan Puccio, El Oscuro Secreto Detrás De Una Familia Común)
A wealthy and respected family... hiding dark secrets of kidnapping and murder behind the scenes. Nope, it's not your newest documentary on a streaming platform - this actually happened in Argentina in the 1980s, just after the right-wing state...
•
Season 4
•
Episode 18
•
28:05
Camilo Cienfuegos, The Guerrilla Who Never Came Back (Camilo Cienfuegos, El Guerrillero que Nunca Regresó)
Whenever you think of the Cuban Revolution, the first names that come to mind are Fidel and Raul Castro, and Che Guevara - right?But the amazing thing is that there is a name that should always equally appear alongside them, as one ...
•
Season 4
•
Episode 17
•
28:44
Crossing the Andes, The Historic Rivalry between Argentina and Chile (Cruzando la Cordillera, La Rivalidad Histórica entre Argentina y Chile)
Neighbors, rivals, and sometimes even enemies: Argentina and Chile have long shared the tall but thin mountain range of the Andes as their border, many times coming close to blows over territorial differences, and long eyeing each other with di...
•
Season 4
•
Episode 16
•
30:04
The Cost of Faith, The Jonestown Massacre (El Costo de la Fe, La Masacre de Jonestown)
What happened at Jonestown, Guyana, is something that has spawned an immense number of books, movies, and even day-to-day phrases, but what it created the most were questions.The biggest of all: why were his followers so easily conv...
•
Season 4
•
Episode 15
•
30:31
Missing but Not Forgotten, the Ayotzinapa 43 (Desaparecidos pero No Olvidados, los 43 de Ayotzinapa)
Just over 10 years ago, on September 26, 2014, a tragedy occurred in Guerrero, Mexico. 43 students heading to a protest in the capital vanished off the face of the Earth — or actually, they were taken off the face of the Earth.But n...
•
Season 4
•
Episode 14
•
28:35
Latin America Through Humboldt’s Eyes (América Latina a Través de los Ojos de Humboldt)
Climatology might seem like it's been around forever, but it's actually one of the newer sciences. One of the fathers of this science was Alexander von Humboldt, who traveled to South America and Mexico with one goal in mind—to demystify the Ne...
•
Season 4
•
Episode 13
•
27:51
The Bay of Pigs Invasion, a Cold War Failure (La Invasión de Bahía de Cochinos, un Fracaso en la Guerra Fría)
The U.S. has a shady history in Latin America - we all know this, as much as might love the United States. From the full-blown coups in Operation Condor to CIA involvement in protests, Latin America has often been relegated to becoming "the Uni...
•
Season 4
•
Episode 12
•
30:24