Advanced Spanish with Spanish Obsessed

Get this episode's full transcript free, plus 2 more of your choice. Don't miss a single word, and get phrases like "no da abasto" and "siempre y cuando", highlights you can tap to see what they really mean, and the only trouble Lis can remember, which involves a Discman:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/transcripts

Is Colombia really as dangerous as its reputation? Rob asks Lis, and the only trouble she can remember involves a Discman. A London news story leads to a mix-up: fourteen seconds or fourteen minutes? Then Rob recalls a swarm of motorbikes racing through Santa Marta, and asks what happens if they catch the thief. A natural-speed chat in Colombian Spanish, recorded while the peace talks were under way.

Do you know what these mean?
te lo van a rapar · no da abasto · de la noche a la mañana · siempre y cuando

Claim your first free complete transcript here:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/colombia-safe

Rob trips over the same word twice while asking about visitors to Colombia. Can you spot it before Lis corrects him?

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

👉 spanishobsessed.com/cheatsheet

Why do people ask Lis if she's from Cali when they see her dance? She grew up in Bogotá watching her older sisters rehearse salsa steps in the living room, and never took a single class. Lis also gives her verdict on how the English dance salsa, explains the question you might still ask a woman's partner before dancing with her, and reveals the catchphrase that may have given salsa its name.

Do you know what these mean?
¡Échale salsita! · está mal visto · dejar la pena · se los quedo debiendo

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

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/salsa

Can you spot the two times Rob gets a noun's gender wrong, and gets put right?

Unlock the full transcript of this episode, plus 2 more, free. Don't miss a single word, and get the Spanish for long weekends, landslides and backpacking trips, every line in Spanish and English, and how a 200-kilometre trip that should have taken two or three hours took fifteen:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/transcripts

Where do you go on holiday when your own country already has it all? Recording on an Easter break in Bath, Lis reveals the town two hours from Bogotá where it hits nearly 40 degrees, why the Pacific coast is for the more adventurous, and the long weekends that make Bogotá's roads impossible. Plus Rob's 200-kilometre journey that should have taken two or three hours and took fifteen.

Do you know what these mean?
un derrumbe · los puentes · plan mochilero · como venga la marea

Claim your first free complete transcript here:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/colombian-holidays

Rob sums up his marathon journey from Valle de Cocora to Bogotá with "éramos 15 horas". How does Lis rephrase it?

Know the rules but freeze when you need the subjunctive? Get the free cheatsheet of phrases you'll actually use:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/cheatsheet

Tune your ear to Colombian Spanish as Rob sits down with Alberto, his "adopted father-in-law", who has lived in London for 19 years. How did an invitation to eat buñuelos end with a new lodger? Why did Alberto go so long without worrying much about English? And what does he mean when he says Latin America, "having everything, has nothing"?

Do you know what these mean?
eso tiene un trasfondo · tatatata · piso cultural · teniéndolo todo no tenemos nada

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

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/alberto-london

Read this episode word for word, free, plus 2 more of your choice. Don't miss a single word of a Bogotá night out, and get the slang for a night of "rumbear", notes on what it all means, and why the lights come on at three in the morning:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/transcripts

What does a night of "rumbear" look like in Bogotá? Stefy, a young Colombian living in London, talks Rob through it, from a 7pm dinner to a two-for-one cocktail stop, and explains why the lights suddenly come on at three in the morning. She also reveals what strikes her as strange about English pubs, and the music no Colombian rumba can do without. A great chance to tune your ear to Bogotá Spanish.

Do you know what these mean?
rumbear · la marcha · el trago · reúnes plata

Claim your first free complete transcript here:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/bogota-rumba

Rob tries to say that some Colombian bars "turn a blind eye" to under-18s, but gets the idiom tangled. Can you spot what he says wrong?

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

👉 spanishobsessed.com/cheatsheet

Sonia moved from Cuba to Spain, spent twelve years there, then landed in London, and she has plenty to say about all three. Her very first answer leaves the hosts lost for words. Then she unpacks a Cuban saying about cabbage and lettuce, names the Spanish accent Cubans love most, and remembers the neighbourly question about rice she misses from home. A lively workout for tuning your ear to Cuban Spanish.

Do you know what these mean?
entre col y col, lechuga · dicharachero · la juerga · son amores

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

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/cuban-sonia

Get this episode's full transcript free, plus 2 more of your choice. Don't miss a single word of Lis's rules for winning someone over, and get the English for every line, how to say "don't be so forward", and the Colombian phrase for couples who won't admit they met online:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/transcripts

Lis shares her four golden rules for winning someone over on a first meeting, and one of them comes down to a glass of water Rob doesn't find very generous. Rob's take on how relationships start in England earns him a teasing "la voz de la experiencia". Plus a colleague with four or five dates a week, and the Colombian expression for people who met online but won't admit it.

Do you know what these mean?
no seas tan lanzado · media naranja · te va a tomar el pelo · no han salido del closet

Claim your first free complete transcript here:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/golden-rules

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

👉 spanishobsessed.com/cheatsheet

What do you miss most when you move abroad? Lis left Colombia for the first time to live in London, putting law on hold to learn English, and reveals the breakfast fruit that means as much to her as tea does to Rob. Rob looks back on Russia, Valencia and the Amazon jungle, and credits his Spanish to two years and one girlfriend. Lis has a question about that.

Do you know what these mean?
como uña y mugre · tinto · dos años y pico · echar de menos

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

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/living-abroad

Unlock the full transcript of this episode, plus 2 more, free. Don't miss a single word of Lis's Bogotá accent, and get every line in English, the Colombian expressions explained, and the three words she uses to sum up her country:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/transcripts

It's Lis's first ever episode, and she's taking you home to Colombia, with a Bogotá accent to tune your ear to. It's a country with no seasons but every climate, and there's one region she insists Rob still has to visit. Rob recalls a night bus from the Ecuadorian border that was stopped every half hour, and Lis has a correction. Then: three words for Colombia, all with something in common.

Do you know what these mean?
supremamente · la colombianita · cruzas y ya · haya creado la inquietud

Claim your first free complete transcript here:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/lis-colombia