Duolingo Spanish Podcast

By Duolingo

Society & Culture Education Places & Travel

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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Un exiliado en Rusia (An Ex...

07.09.2020

In 1973, 16-year-old Víctor Yáñez travels from his home in Chile to the former USSR to study agriculture. But when a military coup strikes at home, he's stranded in Communist Russia…for the rest of his life. A transcript of this ...

Duolingo Spanish Podcast episodes:

07.09.2020 Un exiliado en Rusia (An Exile in Russia) In 1973, 16-year-old Víctor Yáñez travels from his home in Chile to the former USSR to study agriculture. But when a military coup strikes at home, he's stranded in Communist Russia…for the rest of his life. A transcript of this ...
07.02.2020 Libros tras las rejas (Books Behind Bars) Growing up in a house without books, Ana Sicilia always dreamed of having her own library. Years later, after teaching a writing workshop in a nearby prison, her dream would come true — just not in the way she'd imagined. ...
06.25.2020 Trailer Season 8 The Duolingo Spanish Podcast is back with new episodes starting July 2, 2020. Listen to the trailer now!
06.18.2020 Ask Martina Anything: Your Listener Questions Answered In this special episode, we answer your most burning questions about the Duolingo Spanish Podcast! Listen as host and executive producer Martina Castro takes you behind the scenes of this one-of-a-kind podcast — with a little help from some friends. ...
05.21.2020 Los niños de los desaparecidos (The Children of the Disappeared) As the child of adoptive parents in 1980s Argentina, Tatiana Sfiligoy knew her family situation was unique. But it would be another decade before she uncovered the truth about what happened to her biological parents — including the role her ...
05.14.2020 La vida en los tiempos del coronavirus (Life in the Time of Coronavirus) Like many others around the world, Spanish speakers on both sides of the Atlantic have responded to the coronavirus pandemic with exceptional acts of courage and kindness. In this special episode, we’ll hear stories of people who have stepped up ...
05.07.2020 Tejiendo un legado (Weaving a Legacy) In El Salvador, waist loom weaving is a revered craft, historically undertaken by women—until Ronald Vega had to take over the job from his sick mother, becoming the first man in his family, and his country, to practice this ancestral ...
04.30.2020 Un cocinero para la gente (A Cook for the People) After an impressive career of cooking in some of the world's best restaurants, Marco Quelca decided to dedicate his life to bringing gourmet cooking to lower income communities in his native Bolivia, pioneering a new kind of performance art: high-end ...
04.23.2020 Mi abuela la curandera (My Grandmother the Healer) As a child, Dr. Linda Valencia was fascinated by her grandmother, a traditional healer in Guatemala. But after choosing a different path and becoming a medical doctor, Linda realized that she could integrate the best parts of her grandmother's practices ...
04.16.2020 Un hogar en tierra prohibida (A Home on Forbidden Land) When María Elena Paz moved to a plot of land on the outskirts of Mexico City, she was shocked to find no water, electricity, or roads. She and her neighbors weren't even supposed to live in the ecologically protected zone. ...
04.09.2020 Otro camino hacia la victoria (A Different Path to Victory) Francisco Sanclemente is on the verge of professional soccer success when a serious illness leaves him wheelchair-bound. Without the use of his legs, he's forced to redefine what it means to be an athlete. A transcript of this episode is ...
04.02.2020 Una maestra en botas (A Teacher in Army Boots) In 1961, 15-year-old Norma Guillard left her family behind and ventured into rural Cuba as part of a nationwide campaign to teach people how to read. Her eight-month journey would culminate in a historic accomplishment for her country—and give Norma ...
03.26.2020 "Lo que puede un cuerpo" (“What the Body Can Do”) For 30 years, Ana Larriel struggled with her weight and her body image. Until she decided her body wasn't what needed to change. The cultural perspective she had grown up with was what needed changing. A transcript of this episode ...
03.19.2020 Trailer Season 7 The Duolingo Spanish Podcast is back with new episodes starting March 26, 2020. Listen to the trailer now!
02.06.2020 Jaime, el artista (Jaime, The Artist) A Spanish fashion designer works hard to give her autistic son every opportunity—then discovers that he has a special talent and makes him her business partner. A transcript of this episode is available at https://podcast.duolingo.com.
01.30.2020 El embajador del Mofongo (The Mofongo Ambassador) A young Puerto Rican man takes a dish from his homeland and creates a global food sensation. But when Hurricane Maria hits, he finds a new way of using food to help the island he loves. A transcript of this ...
01.23.2020 La herencia del mezcal (The Mezcal Inheritance) Yola grew up watching her grandfather make mezcal. When he died, she took up the mantle. But how would she transform her grandfather’s hobby into a mezcal for the masses? Study materials and a transcript of this episode are available ...
01.16.2020 El paraíso del chef (The Chef’s Paradise) Rodrigo Pacheco worked in some of the world's best restaurants, but he never truly felt like the chef he aspired to be until he found himself far from the culinary scene on the Ecuadorian coast. That's where his quest to ...
01.09.2020 La isla olvidada de Venezuela (Venezuela's Forgotten Island) Working as a nurse in Venezuela during the worst economic crisis in the country's history, Fabiola Molero is used to seeing hardship. But when she and her team saw a photo of a girl suffering from extreme malnutrition on a ...
01.02.2020 Estar en las nubes (Head in the Clouds) Eréndira Sánchez is a young skydiving apprentice in Mexico when a world-famous skydiver offers her a chance to train at his facility in the U.S. But after a tragic accident, Eréndira is forced to choose between a life of freedom ...
12.19.2019 Drag queen de nacimiento (Born to Drag) In 1980s Quibdó, a rural, Afro Colombian city, homophobia was a part of everyday life. But when Erlin Mena found the courage to put on heels and dance in drag, he helped create a thriving queer community that endures to ...
12.12.2019 La rebeldía mariachi (The Rebels of Mariachi) Growing up as the daughter of a mariachi, Mireya Ramos learned early on that mariachi was a male-dominated world. But after moving to New York City, Mireya decided to challenge tradition and create an all-female mariachi group, opening doors for ...
12.05.2019 Trailer Season 6 The Duolingo Spanish Podcast is back with new episodes starting Thursday, December 12. Listen to the trailer now!
10.24.2019 La lucha por la identidad (The Fight for Identity) It took Vincenzo Bruno years to fully embrace his trans identity. But the moment he did, he became a fierce advocate for other LGBTIQ Costa Ricans, helping to launch a campaign that would end up altering the course of Costa ...
10.17.2019 Una victoria en la cancha (A Victory on the Soccer Field) In May 2019, twenty Paraguayan soccer players traveled from their hometown to Asunción, the nation’s capital, to play the most important game of their lives. Led by their captain, José Elías Argaña, they were the first indigenous team to qualify ...
09.26.2019 El Woodstock chileno (Chilean Woodstock) In 1970, in a country polarized by cold-war politics, Jorge Gómez organized an outdoor music festival. But what he expected to be a peaceful gathering turned into a life-defining moment that would become an enduring myth in his country. Study ...
09.19.2019 El tenor mexicano (The Mexican Tenor) Mexican tenor Javier Camarena discovered he wanted to sing Opera the first time he heard it. His passion for singing Opera lead him to test his strengths and determination over and over. Study materials and a transcript of this episode ...
09.12.2019 La reina del pelo bueno (The Queen of Good Hair) All her life, Cirle Tatis Ariza had been taught to think her curly hair was something to hide. But after years of harsh chemical treatments, Cirle learned to love her hair, and taught other women to do the same. Study ...
08.29.2019 De México a Marte (From Mexico to Mars) Ever since she was a little girl, Carmen Félix knew she wanted to work on something related to space. So she defied cultural expectations, became one of the first Mexican scientists to work for NASA, and helped create and participate ...
08.22.2019 Colores del Maíz (Shades of Maize) Fernando Laposse is a Mexican designer with a particular obsession: corn. It’s an obsession that began in his childhood and would lead him to create a project that would not only help save the diversity of native corn in Mexico, ...
08.15.2019 Igualdad en la pista (Equality on the racetrack) Tatiana Calderón is the only female driver in Formula 2 racing, and she’s poised to make it to the top: Formula 1. In her career, she’s had to overcome many obstacles of a sport built by and for men–but now, ...
08.08.2019 Trailer Season 5 The Duolingo Spanish Podcast is back with new episodes starting Thursday, August 15. Listen to the trailer now!
06.27.2019 El Milagro del Café (The Coffee Miracle) Since he was a kid, Tito Vargas has dreamt of having his own coffee plantation. It’s a dream his parents tried very hard to dissuade him from pursuing because they knew first-hand the uncertainty and hardship of the coffee trade. ...
06.20.2019 El activista When Danilo Manzano came out to his family, they didn't accept his sexuality and asked him to hide it from the world. But a key friendship would inspire Danilo to not only embrace his identity publicly, but to become an ...
06.13.2019 Buscando el Río Hirviente (In Search of the Boiling River) Andrés Ruzo grew up listening to his grandfather tell a story about a river with boiling waters in the Amazon. When he later became a scientist specializing in geothermal energy, he set a goal for himself: to go deep into ...
06.06.2019 Bicimáquinas (Bicycle Machines) Carlos Marroquín has always been an inventor. But he wasn’t putting that talent to much use in his native Guatemala until he saw a rare sight on the road that stopped him in his tracks: bicycles. That turning point led ...
05.30.2019 The Wine Master (El Maestro del vino) Héctor Vergara escaped dictatorship in Chile in the 1970s and fled to Europe, where he landed in the restaurant industry. There he discovered a passion and talent for wine that led him to become the first Master Sommelier from Latin ...
05.23.2019 Washington y George en las Islas Galápagos (Washington & George in the Galápagos) The giant Galápagos tortoise is one of the most endangered animals in the world, and Lonesome George was the last of his particular species when he met conservationist Washington Tapia. They would go on to develop a bond that would ...
05.16.2019 Leímos y cantamos juntos (We Read and Sang Together) Laura Ortiz thought she could change the lives of children in Colombia’s most remote region by giving them books. But a trip there teaches her that she was the one who had much to learn from those communities.
05.02.2019 La mejor inversión (The Best Investment) Would you build a company based on trust? That’s what social entrepreneur Marcela Torres set out to do when she launched her Mexico City-based startup that paid young people to learn to code. No one believed she could do it, ...
04.25.2019 Trailer Season 4 The Duolingo Spanish Podcast is back with new episodes starting Thursday, May 2nd. Listen to the trailer now!
01.10.2019 El rescatado (The Rescued) Cristian Gorbea had been running long-distance races for 20 years when he decided to enter his first ultramarathon. The race would begin at the base of a mountain in Argentina and last 24 hours — at least, in theory. For ...
01.03.2019 Mis dos papás (My Two Dads) Ana María grew up without a father. All she knew about him was his name, but when she set out to find him she discovered that even his name led her astray. Ana María’s endeavor to fill in the blanks ...
12.20.2018 El regalo (The Gift) When David Martínez was four years old, he and his parents took a bus to the north of Colombia to visit extended family for Christmas. They had many gifts with them, including a ham for the family dinner. But what ...
12.13.2018 Autostop en Afganistán (Hitchhiking in Afghanistan) After the September 11th attacks in 2001, Juan Pablo Villarino was dismayed to see how people were starting to lose trust in the ultimate good of humanity. So he figured the best way to prove he was still right to ...
12.06.2018 La nana (The Nanny) When she was growing up in Santiago, Chile, Yasna Mussa says it was common for her friend’s families to employ nannies. Even though these workers, mostly women, spent most of their days caring for these families, Yasna remembers them being ...
11.28.2018 Antártida (Antarctica) Federico Bianchini had always dreamt of traveling to Antarctica from his native Argentina. But little did he know that the great white continent had a plan of its own for him once he got there. Study materials and a transcript ...
11.20.2018 Flamenco Flamenco is famous for the emotional intensity of its songs and dances. Argentinian Samanta Gamarra discovered that this ancient art from southern Spain has another quality that is less known for, the ability to heal wounds, the deepest ones. Study ...
11.15.2018 La testigo (The witness) When Andrea Krichmar was a girl, she spent an afternoon at her friend’s dad’s house. This was during the dictatorship in Argentina, and that afternoon, without knowing it, Andrea witnessed a scene that would change her life and make her ...
11.09.2018 Trailer Season 3 The Duolingo Spanish Podcast is back with new episodes starting Thursday, November 15th. Listen to the trailer now!

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