Spanish language podcasts that aren’t too miserable

January 4, 2021 7:01 AM

Help me find Spanish podcasts that I can listen to repeatedly without feeling like the world's a terrible place.

I’m currently listening to podcasts in Spanish to improve my language skills. Radio Ambulante is exactly what I want, in that it provides an interesting narrative, and is of the right level (ie. too hard for me to understand easily, but I can get the basics on a first listen, and if I listen repeatedly I understand more and more). But a high proportion of the episodes are kind of newsy and grim. When I’m listening to the same episode of a podcast repeatedly to improve my comprehension, I don’t want to hear about the young mother imprisoned for narco trafficking every single day.

The Duolingo podcasts I love - some are gritty but there are some positive ones too and even the gritty ones usually have a fairly uplifting trajectory and style - but they’re too easy to challenge me in the way that I need.

A few ponies:
Bonus points for free written transcripts.
I don’t want instructional language-learner podcasts like Notes in Spanish, I want interesting stories, told in Spanish.
Slight preference for Latin American rather than Castillian Spanish but open to either; I'm generally more interested in stories from South & Central America than Spain.
Any recommendations for lighter episodes of Radio Ambulante also appreciated.

Gracias, Metamigos...

posted by penguin pie to Education (6 answers total)

A linguaphile, college prof, and fluent Spanish speaker in my family recommended Radio Caracol (from Colombia) to me for exactly this same request, plus I asked for an accessible LA accent. I tend to listen to the livestream but they have more than 20 programs/podcasts that I can see on PocketCast, and a bunch of them fit the bill depending on your interests. You might like La Luciérnaga: "The program is a strange mix of reality and fiction. Every afternoon, the team of journalists, imitators, and comedians accompanies the listeners to recreate the national reality with parodies, music, and smiles (muchas sonrisas)."
posted by cocoagirl at 7:25 AM on January 4, 2021

I'm a somewhat rusty Spanish speaker and I've been really enjoying historian Diana Uribe's podcast - her series on the history of radio is totally fascinating, not grim, and I find the language pretty clear. I also recommend Caracol podcasts, my favourite is El Librero which is friendly conversations about books between two keen readers.
posted by Lluvia at 7:41 AM on January 4, 2021

These are both peninsular Spanish, but you might give a listen to "Nadie sabe nada" and "Un idioma sin fronteras." The first is more conversational/casual and veers toward more colloquial Spanish while the second is somewhat more formal and standard.

One that might really be up your alley: El Washington Post. They have speakers from different countries on one show. While it does cover current events, you can pretty easily avoid the heaviest topics by scanning the list. (There are recent episodes on the best books and movies of 2020, for example.)
posted by veggieboy at 7:45 AM on January 4, 2021

El Dollop is a bit fast and includes language humor that goes over my head as an intermediate speaker, but it's fun. (It's also based on the scripts from an English language podcast, if you want to cheat. But, the hardest parts, at least for me, are improvised.)
posted by eotvos at 8:21 AM on January 4, 2021

Was coming here to recommend El Dollop and its big brother with the same team Leyendas Legendarias, my go-to Spanish podcasts as an intermediate learner. Leyendas is pretty dark, true crime and murders and gore, while Dollop is a bit lighter and about weird/fun historical stories. The hosts are sweet, really friendly with each other, and a good level of woke for the subject matters they tackle.
Also recommend TED Talks en Espanol for quick listens in the familiar TED tone (this one is a fave), Perdon por ser vieja (about women's issues) for picking up fun sex slang, and La Tortulia for looooooooooong historical deep dives with lovely uruguayo accents.
And I got through 2020 news by listening to Democracy Now en espanol. It's the news, so often grim, but you never have to hear Trump's voice undubbed so there's that.
posted by Freyja at 10:53 AM on January 4, 2021

Thanks everyone - all of these answers are fantastic and will keep me going for ages. Currently enjoying El Dollop, which is just what I needed - I'm already understanding way more on the third listen than the first, so seems to be about the right level.

I'll no doubt come back to the other suggestions in due course, looks like a brilliant range here. Thanks, team!
posted by penguin pie at 12:50 PM on January 13, 2021