Duolingo Spanish Podcast

By Duolingo

Society & Culture Education

What's Duolingo Spanish Podcast about?

True stories for English speakers learning Spanish. From the makers of Duolingo, the most popular language-learning app, comes a new podcast that delivers fascinating real-life stories in easy-to-understand Spanish with English narration. These are not language lessons; they’re life lessons through language. Hosted by Martina Castro, co-founder of NPR’s Radio Ambulante.

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LAST EPISODE

Mexico City - Tenochtitlán,...

09.29.2022

A writer and historian give us a tour of Mexico City’s centro histórico, the area connecting the city of today with the ancient city of Tenochtitlán. A transcript of this episode is available at https://bit.ly/3SKXTPx.

Duolingo Spanish Podcast episodes:

09.29.2022 Mexico City - Tenochtitlán, una ciudad oculta A writer and historian give us a tour of Mexico City’s centro histórico, the area connecting the city of today with the ancient city of Tenochtitlán. A transcript of this episode is available at https://bit.ly/3SKXTPx.
09.22.2022 Mexico City - Perros de La Condesa Photographer Aldo Gracia shows us why the leafy, relaxed enclave of La Condesa has become the canine capital of Mexico City. A transcript of this episode is available at https://bit.ly/3C0LpNW.
09.15.2022 Mexico City - Mujeres muralistas Feminist author Plaqueta takes us on a journey into the world of Mexico’s mighty muralistas, the women who shaped the nation’s identity through art. A transcript of this episode is available at https://bit.ly/3dhQgAS.
09.08.2022 Trailer Season 16 The Duolingo Spanish Podcast is back with a special season exploring Mexico City. It starts on September 15th. Listen to the trailer now!
07.28.2022 Climate Heroes - Building Reservoirs in Peru When the glaciers in Ayacucho, Peru started disappearing, intense water shortages made life in the region unsustainable. Until two sisters revived the ancient practice of building sacred water reservoirs in the mountains. A transcript of this episode is available at ...
07.21.2022 Climate Heroes - Protecting Bears in Bolivia A Bolivian scientist sets out to study a species of bears critically endangered by drought and loss of habitat. Along the way, she shows the local community how helping the bears can protect their livelihood and the forest against climate ...
07.14.2022 Climate Heroes - Harnessing Solar Energy in Puerto Rico After Hurricane Maria knocked out power on Puerto Rico for months, Ada Ramona Miranda Alvarado worked to protect communities on the island against future outages, using solar power. A transcript of this episode is available at https://bit.ly/3OjofW2.
07.07.2022 Climate Heroes - Harvesting Rain in Mexico Industrial designer Enrique Lomnitz wanted to use his creativity for good. When he learned that climate change was making water scarcity even worse for Mexico City’s low income residents, he tried to harness a natural resource: rain. A transcript of ...
06.30.2022 Climate Heroes - Marching for Change in Argentina A young Argentinian is inspired by Greta Thunberg to create one of Argentina’s most influential environmental organizations. A transcript of this episode is available at https://bit.ly/3yxSweY.
06.23.2022 Climate Heroes - Preserving the Forest in Peru When Julio Cusurichi saw loggers push deeper and deeper into the Amazon, he realized they threatened both the fragile rainforest and the traditional way of life for Indigenous communities in Peru. So he decided to make it his life's work ...
06.16.2022 Climate Heroes - Biking in Spain When primary school teacher Helena Vilardell’s students told her they wanted to ride their bikes to school, she came up with the idea of the “bicibús.” It quickly took off as a movement to take back the streets, helping create ...
06.09.2022 Climate Heroes - Saving Food in Uruguay A college student in Uruguay finds a way to salvage food that would otherwise be thrown away. With the help of friends, he manages to not only provide healthier food options for vulnerable communities, but also fight climate change. A ...
06.02.2022 Trailer Season 15 The Duolingo Spanish Podcast is back for a special season, with new episodes on June 9th. Listen to the trailer now!
04.21.2022 Costumbres - Casitas in the Bronx Leonor Torres finds a sense of community and a way to preserve customs from Puerto Rico at El Flamboyan garden and its casita in the Bronx, but it almost gets destroyed. A transcript of this episode is available at https://bit.ly/3K3yUC0.
04.14.2022 Costumbres - Chapitas in Venezuela Growing up in Venezuela, Gyorgy Aponte played a makeshift version of baseball, “chapitas,” using bottle caps and a broom. With his family and baseball buddies dispersed around the world, he decides to pass on the custom to his son in ...
04.07.2022 Costumbres - La once in Chile Journalist Kalú Downey and her friend worried that Chilean teatime known as “la once” was fading, so they launched a social media project to celebrate it, only to discover deeper meanings behind the custom. A transcript of this episode is ...
03.31.2022 Costumbres - Quinceañeras in the U.S. As the daughter of recent immigrants from Ecuador, Francis Gortaire didn’t get to have a traditional quinceañera when she turned 15. But, for her 30th birthday, she decided to host the quinceañera she never had and shared an important announcement ...
03.24.2022 Costumbres - Piñatas in Mexico Julián Meconetzin Rangel Sosa learned how to craft piñatas when he was a kid. So when he launched his own business, he also taught children in schools how to make them, passing the custom onto the next generation. A transcript ...
03.17.2022 Costumbres - Asadoras in Argentina An asadora — a woman grill master — in Argentina breaks into the male-dominated field of barbecuing, creating an entire movement. A transcript of this episode is available at https://bit.ly/34V2nzO.
03.10.2022 Costumbres - Monigotes in Ecuador In Quito, entrepreneur Paúl Mendez updates his community’s New Year’s custom — burning effigies, or monigotes — to make it healthier for the environment. A transcript of this episode is available at https://bit.ly/3MELryi.
03.03.2022 Costumbres - Siestas in Spain When a Spanish mayor signs a yearly proclamation requesting everyone respect the hours of the siesta, his small town suddenly makes headlines around the world. A transcript of this episode is available at https://bit.ly/3MkEW3B.
02.24.2022 Trailer Season 14 The Duolingo Spanish Podcast is back for a special season, with new episodes on March 3rd. Listen to the trailer now!
12.16.2021 El don del lenguaje (The Gift of Language) For almost a decade, Leydis Lopez put her career in education on hold. Until one day, she finally decided to lean into her native Spanish language to give children the gift of bilingualism. A transcript of this episode is available ...
12.09.2021 Operación Pedro Pan (Operation Pedro Pan) At eight years old, Margarita Lora Prats left Cuba in a plane full of children, thinking she was headed on a vacation. But she was actually one of thousands of children airlifted to the United States during the Cuban Revolution, ...
12.02.2021 Barbacoa sin fronteras (Barbacoa Beyond Borders) After fleeing her hometown of Capulhuac, México, Cristina Martínez starts all over in Philadelphia, where she rises to fame as a barbacoa chef. A transcript of this episode is available at https://bit.ly/35xJz9v.
11.25.2021 Los gemelos bailarines (The Dancing Twins) Growing up in Venezuela, identical twin brothers Emilio and Orlando Tovar Gil had to lean on each other to survive. After working hard to pursue an international dance career, will a series of setbacks cause them to break up? A ...
11.18.2021 Hilos de cambio (Threads of Change) For years, Jane Terrazas lived in fear of violence in her hometown of Juárez. But later, she used her skills as a designer and artist to empower women to gain economic freedom and personal safety. A transcript of this episode ...
11.11.2021 El ciclista nómada (The Bike Nomad) Ever since he was a kid, Rafa Millan-Garcia got through tough times by getting on his bike and pedaling alone for miles. But after one very long bike ride took him 1,700 miles from his home in Mexico City to ...
11.04.2021 El héroe de libros (The Book Hero) In 2013, a Peruvian photographer visits his parents’ village and unexpectedly becomes dedicated to improving literacy in rural Peru. A transcript of this episode is available at https://bit.ly/3GiQb8x.
10.28.2021 Un viaje en ruedas (A Wheeled Journey) In 2011, Mónica Mera survived an accident that left her paraplegic and emotionally devastated. She thought her days of adventure were over, until she received an invitation to join a special journey on the famous Camino de Santiago trail in ...
10.21.2021 Trailer Season 13 The Duolingo Spanish Podcast is back with new episodes on October 28. Listen to the trailer now!
09.09.2021 The Rodin Thief - Art Mysteries, Episode 6 After a famous sculpture by Auguste Rodin goes missing, and then dramatically reappears, a Chilean filmmaker sets out to uncover the motives of the mysterious art student responsible for the theft. A transcript of this episode is available at https://bit.ly/3gdeqdI.
09.02.2021 The Secret Life of María Lejárraga - Art Mysteries, Episode 5 When two literature professors discover that a woman named María Lejárraga was behind some of the greatest Spanish literary works of the 20th century, they set out to learn why her name was omitted from history, and do everything in ...
08.26.2021 Frida Kahlo’s Secret Room - Art Mysteries, Episode 4 For 47 years after her death, a room in Mexican painter Frida Kahlo’s house remained sealed to the outside world. When it was finally opened in 2004, it revealed amazing insights into the painter and her life. A transcript of ...
08.19.2021 The Fake Matisse - Art Mysteries, Episode 3 After a famous Matisse painting from a Venezuelan museum mysteriously shows up in a Miami art gallery, a journalist investigates and discovers the unthinkable: for years, the so-called masterpiece on display at the museum was a fake. A transcript of ...
08.12.2021 The Picasso in Exile - Art Mysteries, Episode 2 Pablo Picasso’s most famous work, the anti-war mural called Guernica, is returned to Spain under a veil of secrecy after 44 years outside the country during the Franco dictatorship. A transcript of this episode is available at https://bit.ly/34q7ffG.
08.05.2021 The Missing Gabriel García Márquez: Art Mysteries, Episode 1 When a first edition of Gabriel García Márquez’s famous book, One Hundred Years of Solitude, disappears from a book fair in Bogotá, Colombia, a devoted bookseller vows to get it back. A transcript of this episode is available at https://bit.ly/3s4cGJe.
07.29.2021 Trailer Season 12 The Duolingo Spanish Podcast is back with a very special season on August 5. Listen to the trailer now!
06.17.2021 Los lowriders de hoy (Lowriders of Today) Marisa Rosales loved cars as a kid. But it wasn’t until she discovered lowriders as a young woman that she found a car community connected to her Mexican-American identity. A transcript of this episode is available at https://bit.ly/3IPIsk3.
06.10.2021 El toreo de hoy (Bullfighting of Today) Juan Pablo grew up fascinated with bullfighting, a tradition in his home country of Spain. But when he discovers recorte — the art of bull dodging — he sees it as a thrilling, more humane alternative. He throws himself into ...
06.03.2021 El tango de hoy (Tango of Today) Tango is Argentina’s most iconic cultural tradition. But for a hundred years, tangos have only been written from the perspective of men. The conductor of “La empoderada” or “The Empowered,” Argentina’s first all-female tango orchestra, is trying to change that. ...
05.27.2021 El mate de hoy (Mate of Today) Uruguay consumes more mate than any other country in the world. But for a hundred years, almost all of that mate has been imported. Now, Rodrigo Patrón is trying to bring back mate production in Uruguay, in a way that ...
05.20.2021 Las cholitas de hoy (Cholitas of Today) A group of indigenous women from Bolivia go to great heights to show the world that mountaineering is for everyone — including cholitas who wear their traditional skirts and shawls with pride. A transcript of this episode is available at ...
05.13.2021 La música andina de hoy (Andean Music of Today) After years of studying classical music overseas, a Peruvian composer returns home and decides to write an opera incorporating classical instruments as well as Andean ones like the zampoña and the quena — both types of flutes. A transcript of ...
05.06.2021 El chocolate de hoy (Chocolate of Today) Cacao was once a cash crop for Costa Rica — until a fungus in the 1970’s wiped out over 80% of the country’s cacao trees. Today, Juan Pablo Buchert is trying to revive the industry, by promoting sustainability and fair ...
04.29.2021 La lucha libre de hoy (Lucha Libre of Today) Growing up, José Luis Hernández disliked lucha libre, the famous style of Mexican professional wrestling. So he never imagined that someday, he would be one of its biggest stars. A transcript of this episode is available at https://bit.ly/3HjrhHh.
04.22.2021 Trailer Season 11 The Duolingo Spanish Podcast is back with new episodes on April 29. Listen to the trailer now!
03.11.2021 Extrañamente idénticas (Strangely Identical) When a family friend told Dolores Fernández that she’d seen her on television, Dolores was sure there must be a mistake. But then Dolores saw the program for herself…and there she was. Except Dolores had never been on television. So ...
03.04.2021 El perro que protestó (The Dog Who Protested) María Campos falls in love with a stray dog who has a knack for leading protests — and becomes a global symbol of unity and strength in Chile's historic social uprising. A transcript of this episode is available at https://bit.ly/3AKBlq4.
02.25.2021 Reforestación inteligente (Smart Reforestation) After experiencing climate change-fueled wildfires in person, a young Spanish businessman searches for a solution to reforest the planet, with help from a tree-whispering monk. A transcript of this episode is available at https://bit.ly/3Gaew0g.

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