Advanced Spanish with Spanish Obsessed

FREE: (Finally) master the subjunctive. Get our cheatsheet of the most common subjunctive phrases and triggers:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/cheatsheet

What do the fastest-improving Spanish students have in common? Colombian teacher Pilar has watched plenty of them, and her answer isn't more class time. Rob admits to a competitive streak he now calls a bobada, and explains why two years in Spain weren't the real secret. Then he opens his notebook at two phrases from a Colombian Netflix series, including the one that earned him a baffled look from Lis.

Do you know what these mean?
dizque · a lo bien · lo embarré · es una bobada

Can't catch every word? Read along with the full transcript, translations and meanings:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/successful-learners

Just after "no se puede decir que...", Rob catches himself and swaps one verb form for another. Can you spot the change?

Get this episode's full transcript free, plus 2 more of your choice. Don't miss a single word, and get how to say "put down roots" in Spanish, phrases you can tap to see what they really mean, and the part of Spanish Rob says he'll always struggle with:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/transcripts

When Rob tells people in Bogotá he's from London, they often ask: why have you come here? He and Pilar dig into why so many Colombians dream of leaving, from Rob's friends who swapped a comfortable life for a relative's sofa far outside London to perfect Instagram photos that don't tell the whole story. Then Rob pulls out his Simón Bolívar notebook and names the part of Spanish he'll struggle with all his life.

Do you know what these mean?
echar raíces · golpe de realidad · hechos boronas · ¿Qué más? ¿Qué cuentas?

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👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/leaving-colombia

Rob wants to end the chat on a positive note and goes looking for "una final" positiva. Can you spot his mistake? (He also slips up on the Spanish for "vicious circle".)

Ready to break into advanced Spanish? Start with the subjunctive. Free cheatsheet of the key phrases and triggers:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/cheatsheet

Why does a Mexican waiter's question break the grammar Rob learned in his third Spanish class? Pilar, a teacher from Bogotá, reveals the irregular verb Mexicans conjugate their own way, and why people in Mexico told her she didn't sound Colombian. And Rob confesses the past-tense slip he repeated for six or seven years before a teacher finally cut him off mid-story.

Do you know what these mean?
¿Qué más pues? · regálame una cerveza · huerco · donde gusten

Hear it, then see it. Follow along with the transcript and translations:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/pilar-mexico

For years Rob told people "vivía en España dos años", until a teacher stopped him mid-sentence. Can you spot what he should have said, and why?

Unlock the full transcript of this episode, plus 2 more, free. Don't miss a single word of Pilar's Bogotá Spanish, and get the reason Colombians say se me olvidó instead of olvidé, notes on the grammar, and the phrase about a pigeon that trips Rob up:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/transcripts

Why does Rob almost never hear olvidé in Colombia? In the first Preguntas con Pilar, he puts the puzzle to Pilar, a Bogotá teacher who studied how her own city pronounces Spanish. Along the way: the homework excuse every teacher knows, a phrase about a pigeon that trips Rob up, and the theory he likes to put to Spaniards about where Colombian accents come from.

Quick test: What's the difference between olvidé las llaves and se me olvidaron las llaves?

Claim your first free complete transcript here:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/se-me-olvido

Can you spot Rob's grammar slip when he talks about forgetting his keys?

Free for listeners: the subjunctive cheatsheet, with the most common phrases and triggers in one download:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/cheatsheet

Lis's sister Judith has a confession: what she used to do with Lis's homework, and the look she got for it. Then, drawing on her thesis on global cities, she tells Rob what share of the world will live in cities by 2050, and who cities are really built for. Plus London neighbourhoods where nobody lives, and why Rob felt so safe in Bogotá's La Candelaria. A chance to tune in to Bogotá Spanish.

Do you know what these mean?
me da pereza · la más juiciosa · se ponía brava conmigo · fácil de decir, difícil de accionar

Missed something? The full transcript, translations and meanings are here:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/global-cities

Read this episode word for word, free, plus 2 more of your choice. Don't miss a single word about school popularity, and get phrases like "ponerse al tanto" and "tomar unas pintas", every line in Spanish and English, and the phone call that turned a sad day around:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/transcripts

Were you popular at school? Lis wasn't, though people knew her through her popular sister, who shared her classroom and sometimes her desk, because their mum bought one book for both. Rob wonders why friends get harder to keep with age, and grumbles that his Facebook feed is now all baby photos. And Lis describes the phone call that turned a sad day around, a call Rob admits he's never made.

Do you know what these mean?
pasar desapercibido · las más ñoñas · ponerse al tanto · tomar unas pintas

Claim your first free complete transcript here:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/keeping-friends

Rob checks whether "impopular" works in Spanish, and Lis suggests a more natural expression. When Rob tries to use it about himself, the word escapes him halfway through. Which word does Lis have to say again for him?

Still tripping over the subjunctive? Our free cheatsheet gives you the most common phrases and triggers, ready to use:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/cheatsheet

Lis had just one relaxed job interview back in Colombia, and Rob has his suspicions about how she got the job. In England she faced a panel of three, and one of them seemed to be waiting for her to trip up. Rob remembers a phone interview where his mind went totally blank, and the trick he tried to buy time. And what can a seventh interview tell anyone?

Do you know what these mean?
me quedé totalmente en blanco · el voz a voz · me fui soltando · un tanteo, un sondeo

Can't catch every word? Read along with the full transcript, translations and meanings:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/job-interviews

Rob suggests paid "internados" as a way to try out job candidates. Why does Lis stop him?

Get this episode's full transcript free, plus 2 more of your choice. Don't miss a single word of this rich, formal Colombian Spanish, and get idioms like "la piedra en el zapato", the English for every line, and the wry joke the guest makes about his own English:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/transcripts

In 2002, Colombian oil union leader Gilberto Torres was pulled from his car at gunpoint and held for 42 days. Talking to Lis in rich, formal Colombian Spanish, he tells what finally got him out alive, and how exile left him choosing between Canada, Chile and Spain. Listen for his wry joke about his English, and why, if he ever goes home, Bogotá is not his first choice.

Do you know what these mean?
la piedra en el zapato · o te vas o te vas · una juventud acumulada · los ojos me sudan

Claim your first free complete transcript here:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/gilberto-kidnapping