Testimonials

I really think you have the best learning format available for teaching languages. I always do my best to spread the word about your program.

Dolly K, Alaska

I have taught Spanish in both public and private school settings at all levels for the past 15 years. Why now do I only find out about this incredible resource? There is a constant search for level-appropriate audio support for reading as students need to develop their listening and acquisition skills by becoming used to other than their own instructor's voice. I appreciate that your reports address serious topics of global concern and also offer a separate section for events in Latin America. Thank you so much and keep up the fine work.

Dirk F., Oregon, USA

I am 78 today and started to learn spanish 8 years ago when I retired from England and came to live in Spain. Since signing on with you and working through your past lessons, my spanish has at last started to integrate. Well-informed, stimulating and entertaining, your lessons work for me on every level.

After Explorando Latinoamérica, I am even making plans to travel again!

Keep it going.

Ray, Cádiar, La Alpurraja, España.

...let me give high praise to whoever originated NewsInSlowSpanish and to those who produce it. My knowledge of Spanish vocabulary and grammar--the "nuts and bolts" of the language--is fairly extensive, and I can speak it fairly well. What I can't do yet is understand the spoken language well. I'm already seeing an improvement after listening to NewsInSlowSpanish for just 3 or 4 weeks, and I feel sure that this improvement will translate eventually to understanding the often rapid-fire Spanish of people on the street.

Sue

…I agree with your main point that listeners forget it's a learning program. That is very true for me - I do study hard with other materials, but when I am using NSS it's not studying at all.
In addition, another thing I really like about NSS is that although it's presented slowly and is somewhat less complicated than usual texts for native speakers, it doesn't talk down to the listeners. You always write the program as if writing to a friend or another adult, not like you would write it to a child. I think many language learning tools make this big mistake, where they treat listeners like kids.
I also particularly enjoy the personal tone that you have in the dialogues. Unlike something impersonal like reading CNN en Español, it helps to feel like I'm getting to know both you and Jorge (and even the guest hosts).

Jeff B. lL, USA.

I wanted to write and tell you how much I enjoy your broadcasts. I am a beginning Spanish student and your program has skyrocketed my vocabulary as well as my comprehension and listening skills. There are plenty of Spanish news sites in audio as well as video but this one is the only one I have been able to find that is geared to the beginning student. Please don't ever, ever, ever stop providing this wonderful service to all us newbies out there. I look forward to each new program and listen to each one many times.

Thank you all very much,

Melanie (In Fort Lauderdale)

Solo queria daros la enhorabuena por este proyecto.

Vuestro sitio es completo, interesante y entretenido. Que mas se puede pedir para aprender un idioma?

Mi seccion favorita es "Expressions". Una buena herramienta para conocer el equivalente de nuestros sabios refranes y dichos populares en ingles.

Maider, Dublin, Republic of Ireland

At last, a source of spoken-Spanish audio files, with transcripts I can follow along and "cursor over" hard words for an instant translation. Unlike regular Spanish news via audio or video, I can discern the content because of the pace, and use the transcripts as training wheels -- as much or as little as I need. It's the best vocabulary learning tool I've found since it throws so many new words at me, with a news-story pace of repetition, that I can decode in the context of the story, and rarely bother with a dictionary. News in Slow Spanish lets me think in Spanish a bit longer every time.

Paul, Santa Rosa, CA

I'm french and I study English and of course Spanish and I wanted to thank you for your idea of making those news podcasts. I was looking for a way to learn Spanish and I begun to listen to Spanish radio but how fast they talk! I understood 5 words of the 25 they were saying yet I understand my Spanish teachers. Moreover I thank you for the news which are very clear and which sum up perfectly what happens around the world and since I'd like to become journalist, what could be better for me?
I hope I'll be able to listen to you for a long time!

Aurore, France

This is the best site for someone at my level which is somewhere between advanced beginning and beginning advanced. I buy Spanish language magazines and newspapers but they go unread because my patience limits my desire to look up unknown vocabulary. You do that for me. Thank you for posting this web site.

Nancy

I am a 53 year old Spanish learner...a big effort to learn! Once passed the basic courses, there are no other courses I can access from where I live..(in the middle of England) thanks for a fantastic resource to help me keep going!

Lynda

I was beginning to believe that I would never understand Spanish, but you have given me hope. What a great idea. I can do my two favourite pastimes at once...

Thank you

Pam, London

I cannot thank you enough for your podcast! My fiancé is Venezuelan and I am trying to gain proficiency with Spanish as fast as possible. While I am learning a lot, and often watch CNN en Espanol, I miss a lot because my listening skills are just not at that level yet. I don't know why someone hasn't thought of these services sooner, and I hope that you guys secure advertising and generate profits from your service soon because I want you guys to stick around..

Nick, Boston, MA

I've been looking for something like this for a LONG time. There used to be a cool weekly magazine in the US called, Perspectiva, or something like that. They also did a medical Spanish one. They stopped doing it years ago. This is a great medium for working on intermediate Spanish.

Thank you so much!!!

Josh

...Thank you so much. The format in which you present not only the podcast, but also the interactive web-based transcript is perfect....

Richard

I have just discovered your website and am SO excited. I think it's exactly what I need. I have been listening in my iPod while walking and am understanding a lot and know it will only improve. I just tried your pronunciation and quiz areas and found them very helpful too. Thank you so very much for this help.

Lynn in Jacksonville

¡Estoy muy contento haber encontrado tu podcast! ¡Es perfecto para mí! Perfecto. Pero, ¿sólo cada las dos semanas? ¡Tu podcast es demasiado bueno! ¡Me encantaría escucharlo cada día!
Muchas gracias por tu trabajo fantástico.

Richard, Toronto

Solo quiero decir gracias por el podcast. Desfruto mucho. Hay muchospodcasts en espanol que son muy simples y muy aburridos. Su podcast tieneun nivel suficiente dificil para mi mientras al mismo tiempo no es demasiadoasi. Keep up the good work!

Andrea

...I must say, this site is the best spanish site someone can find. The tools are great. One can lesson and learn at the same time. therefore can familiarize him/herself with the pronunciation and ability to remember the true meaning of spanish words. Thank you very much for your service and keep up the good work.

Saeid, South Carolina

Una vez estaba surfeando en Internet y encontré su sitio web. Eso fue hace 4 o 5 meses. Ahora estoy enamorada de sus clases y de las personas que presentan los materiales. Les escucho como a mis amigos de verdad, porque me caen muy bien. Son muy simpáticos, graciosos :) ¡Sus clases ayudan muchísimo a la gente que quiere aprender español! ¡Muchas gracias! ¡A todos los que han inventado este proyecto y a todos los que preparan cada semana este buenísimo proyecto!

Nixie, Moscow, Russia

I just signed up for my second membership in News in Slow Spanish, and I wanted to write and tell you how much I enjoy and am benefiting from your podcasts. I have been attending Spanish school in Buenos Aires for the past three weeks and have four weeks to go before returning to the US. In addition to four hours of Spanish class each day, I've downloaded past News in Slow Spanish programs to my i-pod and am listening to one-a-day. My comprehension skills are improving dramatically. Please keep up the good work.

Paul B., California, US

I found your Web site a few months ago and was so happy to find something to help with the transition from 'advanced spanish' to actual fluency. I've gone all the way through Pemsleur (twice), the State Department series (three times), and Michel Thomas, and still cannot really understand spoken Spanish. On News in Slow Spanish, I can.
I've gone back to the first episodes (for the grammar in particular) and am trying to work my way from there back to the present. I hope to catch up in a month or so. I was surprised at how useful the quizzes are -- I hate quizzes! -- but these are extremely good practice. I usually have to work through them more than once to get rid of all the red markup.
My favorite section is Explorando America Latina. I find that now when I listen to BBC's Mundo Hoy, I can follow far more than I could before. I plan to begin volunteering with the Florida Literacy Coalition, working with Spanish-speaking people here.

Connie
Sarasota, Florida

For me News is Slow Spanish is so valuable that I am on my 2nd subscription. I try to listen an hour a day. Admittedly, I get off on tangents, like…"what is the verb?" I get sidetracked too. This morning I dictionaried gustar to relearn it also means "to taste". I tangent off on geography too. Where's that place? Ten minutes later I am back to NSS and my 60 minutes of listening is really 20 or 30. I use the flash cards too. But every week I hear a little more than the week before. I live in Seattle with an varied selection of language schools, some of which I have attended, but NSS is efficient learning at my pace and level. If you are coachable, if you follow the instructions and spend the time NSS might be the best bang for your time and money. It is for me.

Mary R., Seattle WA, USA

I have just subscribed to a month of your fantastic language programme, and am absolutely delighted with the content. As a language teacher I am particular about format and presentation.......but your programme exceeds all my expectations.

Maureen P., United Kingdom

Just a quick email to thank you for the weekly episodes! I'm a New Zealander, and am flying to Colombia next week to visit my (bilingual English/Spanish) girlfriend. For the last three months I’ve been working on developing some basic Spanish skills so that I can surprise her when I arrive, and your episodes have been a great help in getting me accustomed to hearing Spanish in a natural conversation setting. I now understand about 70% of what is said in the episodes, up from 50% when I started listening to them 10 weeks ago. Progress!

George M., New Zealand

Just wanted to say thank you for such a great learning tool!! I have been listening for only one month and I already feel my Spanish vocabulary and listening skills improving. The pace is just right, the stories are interesting, the speakers are fun to listen to and I look forward to plugging my phone in every day in the car to listen to train my ears a little more while driving. Your podcasts, transcripts and flashcards are exactly what I needed to take my Spanish up to the next level! I can't thank you enough!

Orit, Florida, USA

Escucho a Marta, Rylan por mucho años y ahora tambien a Maria y Jorge. El unico programa que ofrece la enseñanza completa del idioma español es sin duda: News in slow spanish and latino.

Felicidades a todo el equipo por un podcast inigualable.

Nasser from Naples, Florida

...Wow!, do I like this! This is exactly what I need. I appreciate that it's a lot of work to make, involving sound, transcriptions, and even hyperlinked translations for more difficult words.I'm also a user of Yabla.com, which is a subscription-based video service. Yabla features a software option to slow down the videos, but that's not as good as what you do to solve the "too fast" problem. Yabla had to invest a lot in software development....

Paul H., Santa Rosa, California

I have been using News in Slow Spanish for several months and would like you to know how much I appreciate and admire your work. The program is brilliantly designed and versatile to use. No other program I have ever come across does a better job of providing what Stephen Krashen calls “comprehensible input.” Congratulations on a fine accomplishment. I hope you continue turning out your weekly programs for a long, long time to come.

John P. Milwaukee, Wisconsin

I think it is a testimonial to your very successful program that I am now in a position to be able to follow the news and other live programs on the radio and elsewhere at regular speeds much more easily than before. As a consequence, I don't feel the need to renew my subscription any more at this time, which I guess makes you "a victim of your own success..." I did love the selections and comments on the interesting articles though, and I thank you. Finally, I do recommend your excellent program any chance I get with other perennial students of the Spanish language!

Ingrid R. Ohio, USA

This is a great resource, exactly what I need to practice my listening skills, as I was getting frustrated listening to regular Spanish dialogue and not being able to understand as they speak so fast.

Really like that the news stories are topical so it’s not just listening to something irrelevant and or boring. The mix is nice, with 3 hard news and one general interest. Having the 2 speeds is great as I can practice over and over, with and without transcript, at different speeds. Would be nice to have the dialogue at normal speed as well.

Once a week is a good frequency. Ensures the stories are up to date, and keeps me focused to finish before the next week comes. Although you can tell, as I’m just now listening to #1 of Episode 297, that I’ve fallen behind this week. But that’s precisely why I like it, there’s a sense of urgency to keep me coming back and staying on track!

Many thanks for creating this great resource,

Judith S. USA