Intermediate Spanish - Spanish Obsessed

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

👉 spanishobsessed.com/cheatsheet

Why did Spanish Obsessed go quiet for over a year? Rob and Lis explain, then take on a bigger question: how much money does it take to be happy? Lis looks back on student days when 10,000 pesitos a day covered lunch, photocopies and a beer. Rob asks whether happiness stops rising after a certain salary, and Lis remembers the dilemma she faced in England whenever her family came to visit.

Do you know what these mean?
arrancamos · si hay para dos, hay para tres · juicioso · ¿Me hago entender?

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

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/money-happiness

Get this episode's full transcript free, plus 2 more of your choice. Don't miss a single word as Rob and Johanna untangle por and para, and get the English for every line, the Colombian way to say it's pouring down, and the Bogotá bakery with a very clever name:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/transcripts

Por mí está bien or para mí está bien? One tiny word changes what you're saying. Rob and Johanna continue their por and para mini-series with time and opinions: deadlines, times of day, a Bogotá bakery with a very clever name, and the one sentence that uses both words at once.

Do you know what these mean?
un palo de agua · bochorno · pa' ya · estar agripado

Claim your first free complete transcript here:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/por-y-para-2

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

👉 spanishobsessed.com/cheatsheet

Rob reckons he has por and para 95% sorted, but can't explain why. So he asks star teacher Johanna, and her first piece of advice is: close the dictionary. Instead, they show how por and para work with goals and directions, using the bus trick that finally made it click for Rob.

Quick test: what's the difference between estoy aquí para grabar el podcast and estoy aquí por el podcast?

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

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/por-y-para-1

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

👉 spanishobsessed.com/cheatsheet

Should you bother learning slang? Rob asks Colombian teacher Johanna. Rob remembers the restaurant in Ecuador where one word threw him completely, Johanna shares the student whose "todo bien, mamita" left her speechless, and a "gracias, mi amor" goes badly wrong in a Spanish shop. And Rob's number one tip for slang might surprise you.

Do you know what these mean?
botar · no entendí ni papa · buscarle cinco patas al gato · me costó un ojo de la cara

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

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/slang

Unlock the full transcript of this episode, plus 2 more, free. Don't miss a single word as Rob and Lis talk class in Colombia, and get every line in Spanish and English, the word for a social climber, and the six-hour owners' meeting that never reached item one:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/transcripts

Rob walks his daughter to the park one day and finds the gate padlocked. Neighbours fill him and Lis in on a six-hour owners' meeting that never even reached its first item, and how their side of the complex was branded criminals. Then they get into how Colombians measure each other: the estratos (do they really go up to seven?), a Bogotá barrio senators drive straight through, and why London felt different to Lis.

Do you know what these mean?
nos echaron el chisme · arribista · toca chicanear · es una bobada

Claim your first free complete transcript here:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/clasismo

Read this episode word for word, free, plus 2 more of your choice. Don't miss a single word, and get highlighted phrases you can tap for their real meaning, how to say "you took the words right out of my mouth", and why the tortoise and the hare fits older learners:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/transcripts

A friend of Rob and Lis moved to Colombia, started learning Spanish, then gave up, convinced he was too old. So what really sits behind "it's my age"? Rob and Lis dig into it, and explain why the tortoise and the hare fits older learners so well. But first, Rob gets something off his chest about baby names, and Lis shares the rule that worked for them last time.

Do you know what these mean?
qué pecado · se desahogó · me quitaste las palabras de la boca · no pararle tantas bolas

Claim your first free complete transcript here:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/too-old

Bonus: after his baby-name rant, Rob says "estaba rayando, como ustedes dicen". What should he have said? The answer's in the notes.

Our experiences trying to teach our 2 year old daughter Spanish and English. 

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

👉 spanishobsessed.com/cheatsheet

Ten learners, one week in Bogotá, and one rule: Spanish only, all day. Rob and Lis look back on what surprised them, from the coffee tasting Rob loved and almost nobody else did to why Rob, of all people, ended up saying no to a restaurant. And a haggling challenge at a busy market left the stallholders baffled. Rob now thinks they got that one slightly wrong.

Do you know what these mean?
me quedé con la boca abierta · cambiar el chip · la ñapa · de pronto

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

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/immersion-week

Bonus: Rob admits he lives too much in "mi propio mente". What's wrong with the way he says it? The answer's in the notes.

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

👉 spanishobsessed.com/cheatsheet

Should you even want a native Spanish accent? Lis once took accent-reduction classes, and now thinks she worried too much. Rob admits the small thrill of being asked if he's from Bogotá. Then they explain what it means when someone says you talk like a "gomelo", what their Colombian friends who almost pass as English have in common, and why Arnold Schwarzenegger comes up at all.

Do you know what these mean?
gomelo · ñerito · descrestar · chicanero

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

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/native-accent

Get this episode's full transcript free, plus 2 more of your choice. Don't miss a single word as Rob and Lis ask whether protests still work, and get notes on the slang, why it's "no creo que funcione" and not "funciona", and the British Museum protest Rob says almost nobody noticed:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/transcripts

Before they get into protests, Rob and Lis share some big family news. Then Lis tells how two protesters threw pumpkin soup at the Mona Lisa, but does that kind of protest still work? She looks back on a protest she joined at the British Museum, which Rob, who was there, says got almost no attention. And a camp in a Bogotá park tests how long public sympathy can last.

Do you know what these mean?
arrojar · manifestantes · generar atención · no creo que funcione

Claim your first free complete transcript here:

👉 spanishobsessed.com/go/protests