It’s time to spray some WD40 on my rusty Spanish and French. I’ve been hunting around iTunes for some podcasts to help me remember the rhythms of the languages, and refresh my vocabulary.
Here are two that I’ve been enjoying.
Learn French by Podcast (website, iTunes )
Each podcast features a conversation that you might hear in the break room at your work on subjects like sports, hangovers and summer vacations. I like the way the speakers slip in idomatic expressions and slang and little tips to help you understand spoken French (like the way French speakers tend to skip the word ne .)
The series, which started in 2006, now has 130 lessons. Most are at beginner and intermediate level with a few advanced lessons.
The series is a project of Plus Publications, an Irish firm that publishes a French language magazine for Irish secondary school students.
While much of each dialogue is explained in English, if you want a full transcript, you’ll need to purchase download credits which allow you to download the study guide for each lesson. The minimum purchase is $25, which works out to $1 per study guide.
Notes in Spanish (website, feeds )
Ben Curtis is the self-described shy Englishman who came to Spain in 1998 and met and married Marina Diez. Their podcasts (in Spanish) about life in Madrid make me feel liking I’m sitting with them on their balcony, learning about how Madrileños cope (or don’t cope) with rainy days, their families and the Christmas lottery.
I know enough Spanish to get the gist of each podcast and look up the words I don’t know. The podcasts are free, but if you want an English transcript or accompanying worksheets, you need to pay. For example, the materials for the intermediate course (48 lessons) cost €47.00, or about $66.45. Ben and Marina also have a series for beginners and for advanced Spanish speakers.
For more language lessons on the web, check out Open Culture’s Free Foreign Language Lessons .
