After our recent server problems, we’re back with Show Time Spanish! We’re staying in Mexico in episode 34 of Show Time as Mark and Juan discuss some of the interesting aspects of Mexican Spanish. ¡Todo está padrísimo en este episodio! Language points covered include pedir a alguien que + subjunctive, the expression referirse a, and llevarse a cabo. José’s intermedio concentrates on phrases which involve being angry or in a bad mood.

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In lesson 33 it’s destination Mexico as Mark is joined by Juan from México D.F. Juan introduces Mark to the geography and some of the tourist attractions of Mexico. Language concepts included the use of soler, the difference between amable and amigable, and a reminder of the fact that “another” is otro/otra in Spanish – and not un otro / una otra…

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In lesson 32 we’re still concentrating on Colombian Spanish, and Mark and Carolina discuss the music and literature of Colombia, and typical Colombian expressions including the word paila. In the second act of this episode, Mark discusses impersonal verbs such as apetecer, gustar and faltar.

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It’s destination Colombia for lesson 31 as Mark is joined by Carolina from Bogotá. Carolina introduces Mark to the geography and traditions of Colombia, and Mark learns a few useful expresiones colombianas. In episodes 31-40 of Show Time Spanish, Mark will be joined by various speakers of Spanish from different parts of Latin America, providing learners with a range of experiences and a useful introduction to each country and its traditions and language.

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It’s time to return to our telenovela, Verano Español. In this sixth instalment, we’ll find out the latest about what’s happening in the Laura – Ángel – Ramón love triangle, and we’ll also hear if things are still ok between Antonio and Iona after Antonio’s the plumber’s visit! In Act II, Mark will help listeners understand the story by working through a series of questions and answers about what happens in this episode.

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Welcome to Radio Lingua News – in this podcast we’ll be updating listeners on the latest developments from Radio Lingua. Coming up on today’s show:

* Learning languages 140 characters at a time with TwitterLearn

* Introducing our Community Managers

* New features for Radio Lingua premium members

* Announcing our Summer Sale

* Updates on the latest shows

TwitterLearn It seems that in the past few months the entire world has started twittering, helped by the huge number of celebrities using the microblogging service. Some write it off as another banal social media fad, but here at Radio Lingua we’ve been using Twitter for many months to update listeners on the latest podcast episodes and other news from Radio Lingua. This summer, we’ve decided to take our twittering a stage further and we’ve designed a course in French, Italian and Spanish for beginners, delivered in daily tweets of 140 characters, and podcasts of 1 minute 40 seconds. You can join Twitter at  http://twitter.com and follow @learnspanish, @learnfrench or @learnitalian to start your micro language-learning course.

Community Managers This summer we’re joined by three new members of the Radio Lingua team. Ellie, Katie and Marylou are going to be working over the summer on developing our learning communities on the website and they’re also working on the TwitterLearn courses. Initially they’ll be helping to develop the conversations on our Facebook pages. We really hope that Ellie, Katie and Marylou enjoy working with Radio Lingua over the summer months. If you’re a Facebook user, head over to the Facebook pages for Coffee Break Spanish, Coffee Break French, Show Time Spanish and Radio Lingua where the conversations are increasing daily. Make sure you become a ‘fan’ of the shows and tell your friends that you’re learning with us. We’re also looking at the longer term plans for the Discussion Forum on our website. Have your say about how this should develop and contribute to the discussion on our blog.

New developments for members Until now our premium members have been downloading the bonus materials from our members’ pages, but we’ve been working on developing premium feeds for all of our podcasts. You can now use our one-click method to download all of the premium materials through iTunes. Find out more on our members’ pages. Another new development has been the introduction of automatic upgrades. A number of members who have purchased premium memberships have requested upgrades. Until now this has been a manual process, but we’ve just introduced new automatic upgrades for Coffee Break Spanish and Coffee Break French. By simply paying the difference between, for example, the silver and gold memberships, members will be able to upgrade automatically to the higher level. Find out more here.

Summer Sale Until 16 August 2009 we’re offering a 20% discount on all of our premium materials. Now’s the time to purchase our bronze, silver, gold or platinum memberships for Coffee Break Spanish, Coffee Break French, 

In this week’s episode, Alba and Mark are en la cocina, making a Spanish tortilla. The episode is slightly different from our usual episodes as the audio was recorded live in the kitchen rather than in the studio. There’s no “Act II” this week as the conversation follows the entire process of making the tortilla.

Have a look at the photos of our culinary exploits below, and why not try making a tortilla yourself and send us your photos to network [at] radiolingua.com.

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The topic for this week’s episode of Show Time Spanish is food, or tapas in particular. Alba has recently had a bad experience in a tapas restaurant in Scotland, compared with her normal experiences of tapas in Spain. Mark and Alba talk about different tapas and their experience of eating Spanish food in Spain and elsewhere. Language points covered include ojalá, the word cobrar and si clauses. In this week’s intermedio, José introduces a couple of phrases which help you disagree with people emphatically.

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This week we return to a topic we covered previously – in response to listeners’ requests. It’s time to look at your tricks and tips for language learning. Mark and Alba talk about the suggestion of one of our listeners which involves printing out internet texts and cutting out the words. Listen to the episode for more information and further suggestions! Language topics this week include the alternative forms of the possessive adjectives including mío, tuyo, suyo, and so on. We also look at the phrase una vez, this time not linked to the subjunctive. 

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This week’s topic is low-cost airlines and the advantages and disadvantages of low-cost travel. Mark and Alba discuss their experiences of flying with low-cost airlines (and indeed with other airlines!) and José introduces two phrases which you can use when you manage to find a real bargain! Language points covered include the use of quedarse, fijarse and no sólo … sino también. Premium members will find a bonus item in this week’s feed – a special bonus episode concentrating on quedar and its various uses. Let us know what you think!

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