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
138 episodes
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
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 ...
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Season 4
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Episode 29
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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 ...
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Season 4
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Episode 28
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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...
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Season 4
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Episode 27
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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...
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Season 4
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Episode 26
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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...
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Season 4
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Episode 25
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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...
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Season 4
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Episode 24
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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...
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Season 4
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Episode 23
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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...
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Season 4
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Episode 22
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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... <...
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Season 4
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Episode 21
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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 ...
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Season 4
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Episode 20
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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...
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Season 4
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Episode 19
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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...
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Season 4
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Episode 18
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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 ...
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Season 4
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Episode 17
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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...
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Season 4
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Episode 16
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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...
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Season 4
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Episode 15
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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...
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Season 4
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Episode 14
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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...
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Season 4
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Episode 13
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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...
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Season 4
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Episode 12
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30:24
The Pastry Wars, An Outrageous Claim (La Guerra de los Pasteles, Una Reclamación Insólita)
Mexico has been through its fair share of injustice when it comes to foreign powers, and I'm not even talking of that time when they signed away 55% of its territory to the United States of America, but of something much more ridiculous.
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Season 4
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Episode 11
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30:02
Latin America's Billionaires, Beyond Wealth (Multimillonarios de América Latina, Más Allá de la Riqueza)
Billionaires, whether you love them or hate them, have shaped a big part of the modern tech world, and are well-known for building some of the most impressive business ventures.Latin America, though not a Silicon Valley, has individ...
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Season 4
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Episode 10
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28:29
The Mayan Civilization, From its Splendor to its Rebirth (La Civilización Maya, Del Esplendor al Renacimiento)
The Mayan Civilization has long been held in an air of mystery - we're familiar with how the infamous calendar made everybody think the world was ending in 2012, due to how accurately the Mayans had mapped out the cycles and astronomy in such a...
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Season 4
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Episode 9
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29:12
Discovering Belize, a Journey Through Its Hidden Wonders (Descubriendo Belice, un Viaje por sus Maravillas Ocultas)
Belize is a country you rarely hear about, but we can promise you: it is actually one of the most interesting in all of Latin America. With possibly one of the most interesting and diverse mix of ethnicities and cultures, Belize stands out from...
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Season 4
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Episode 8
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28:14
José de San Martín, from Soldier to Liberator (José de San Martín, de Soldado a Libertador)
Simón Bolívar is known as the Liberator, and he rightly gained this title... but there is another, one who fought as hard as Bolivar but was nowhere near as recognized as the Venezuelan: José de San Martín.Born in Argentina and rais...
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Season 4
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Episode 7
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27:00
Horror Witnesses, The Story of The People Eater (Testigos del Horror, La Historia de El Comegente)
One of the creepiest tales to come out of Venezuela was that of Dorancel Vargas. A homeless man with severe mental issues who lived outside the city of San Cristobal, Vargas had a fascination that no human should have...He enjoyed e...
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Season 4
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Episode 6
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28:58