🗪 Interview 🎙️Episodes

In this episode of the podcast I'll be talking to Jen Ruiz, a lawyer turned solo travel blogger and Amazon bestselling author. She is also a TEDx speaker and has been featured by The Washington Post, Huffington Post and ABC News. Jen documents her adventures on her website, Jen on a Jet Plane. This is part 1 of a 2-part conversation with Jen. In this episode, we talk about her travel hacks and must see destinations in Puerto Rico beyond the island's main city of San Juan. Show Notes: https://w...

Struggling to go from beginner to conversational fluency? In this episode, I talk to Shay Spence, the founder of Español en 3000. We talk all about how he improved his conversational Spanish and some of his tips for how you can do the same. He also shares a little about the culture of Medellín and some Colombian slang that will be good to know if you plan to visit the country. At the end of our conversation, I'll give you more information on how you can get a special 7-day free trial for Españo...

Lindsay Griffiths is a doctoral student in the English department at Princeton University. She earned her BA in English Literature and Spanish/English Translation from CUNY Hunter College. She is a published translator and is currently pursuing her studies in African-American and Afro-Latinx literature. In this episode, Lindsay talks about the #1 challenge to successfully translating between Spanish and English. She also shares how you can create your own language immersion environment to impro...

You may know my guest in this episode from her YouTube channel The Urban Eve where she talks all about travel and language learning. Eve speaks 8 languages and she's going to share with us her secret to learning languages quickly and how to deal with mistakes in language learning. She also touches on the best way to prevent mixing up words when you're learning similar languages, and at the end she'll tell us about an exciting opportunity she has coming up to join her in her travels and learn so...

This week, we're continuing our theme of cultural immersion in our conversation with Carlos Cinta. Carlos is dance instructor, DJ, and music editor. He's most known in the dance community for his expertise in musicality, especially when it comes to Bachata music from the Dominican Republic and staying true the genre's roots. He's not known for biting his tongue and definitely doesn't shy away from controversy in this conversation. We talk about everything from how he became so passionate about ...

Have you ever wanted to learn how to dance, visit the Dominican Republic, or go to the concert of your favorite Latin music artist? What if I told you that you could do all of the above in one event? Enter Aventura, the world’s largest Latin Dance cruise. In this episode, I talk to the owner/director of Aventura Dance Cruise, Moshe Rasier, to get a behind-the-scenes perspective on this immersive Latin cultural experience. He's going to tell us about how ADC got started and why it's different fr...

Show Notes & Transcript: https://www.learnspanishconsalsa.com/15 In this episode, we’re talking to a Spanish learner that’s probably a lot like you. Brittany feels a connection with Latino culture, music, and her local community. After downloading numerous apps and stocking up on textbooks, Brittany was still unable to have a conversation in Spanish. Brittany shares the strategy that led her to a 549-day Spanish learning streak. I hope this conversation helps you to find an approach to learnin...

Is your Spanish progress slow because you’re learning in a way that’s boring, ineffective, or culturally irrelevant? In this episode, Desta Haile from Languages through Music shares lessons from her 15 years of experience as a language teacher and musician. She talks about how she found herself still uncomfortable speaking French after more than a decade of formal classes, and how music helped to finally get her words flowing. She’s since used this technique for both herself and her students to...

Lost in Translation: How to Avoid Confusion and Communicate Effectively in Intercultural Relationships (An Interview with Maribel Quezada-Smith from the podcast Diferente) Learning Spanish goes hand-in-hand with learning about Latino culture. As we learn the language, we meet new people, make friends, and even start dating people outside of our own culture. In this episode, we're going to talk about intercultural relationships with creative entrepreneur and podcast host Maribel Quezada-Smith. ...

If Cuba is on your travel bucket list, this episode is for you. In our conversation with Devyn and Tracey Benson from Conocer Cuba Travel, we talk about some must-see Cuban attractions to experience the real Cuba. Find out the right way to travel to Cuba if you’re a US citizen, where to get the best Cuban cigars, and the #1 beach you have to visit that most tourists don’t know about. Show Notes & Transcript: http://www.learnspanishconsalsa.com/10 Links and Resources Cuban Artist Wilfredo Lam M...

It’s not only the accent that makes Dominican Spanish unique. There are hundreds of words and expressions that you’ll only hear in the DR. In this episode, we’re joined again by Kesia from the Spanish Con Salsa team to review 7 Dominican words and expressions you probably don’t know. So let’s get you prepared for your next trip to Punta Cana or conversation with friends from the Dominican Republic. Show Notes & Full Transcript: http://www.learnspanishconsalsa.com/dominicanwords Links Dominica...

Do you have a hard time understanding native Spanish speakers? Does it sound like they just speak way too fast for you to catch every word? Well, we’re here to help. In this conversation with Shahidah Foster, founder of Black Girls Learn Languages, we’ll give you 4 specific strategies you can try right away to improve your Spanish listening skills. Listen up as we help you tune your ear to understand spoken Spanish. Show Notes & Transcript: https://www.learnspanishconsalsa.com/7 Links and Reso...

What if there was a way to make friends with a native Spanish speaker and practice at any time and any place for free? This week we are joined by our guest Tobias Dickmeis, one of the co-founders of the popular language exchange app Tandem. The app has close to 6 million users in over 150 languages – ¡Dios mío! Tobias shares with us some of the factors that contribute to a positive language exchange experience, how to find the right partner, and how Tandem makes finding language partners safe a...

You may have noticed that Dominicans don’t speak the same way you may have been taught in your Spanish classes. You might even feel like they’re speaking an entirely different language in the Dominican Republic! Not to worry – we’re diving into all the specifics in this week’s podcast about Dominican Spanish. We'll talk with Kesia from the Spanish Con Salsa team about what makes Dominican Spanish different, characteristics of the Dominican accent, and hacks to better understand Dominican Spanish...