A Useful Website for Spanish-Learners

Question

Hello, all. I know I haven't been around much lately, but I stumbled on this website and thought of all the Spanish learners here and thought I'd share it with you. It appears to be a collaboration between el Instituto Cervantes as a company that is like Associated Press, but in Spanish. It takes the articles produced by that company, Efe, and organizes them in ways useful for Spanish learners, including audio recordings. Different sections are more helpful/developed than others, but I thought some of you might like to explore the site a bit and see if any of it might be helpful for you. It's called Practica Español. Here's a link to an example of a page on the site, where you can read an article and listen to a recording of a native speaker reading it, and then do some exercises at the bottom.

• nice to see you around fadden - Heidita Aug 30, 2011
• Hei, dita. I agree, nice to see MacFadden back. What did you think about the intonation in the videos? Is it totally natural? - Vikingo Aug 30, 2011
• Thanks, guys! Yes, the voice seems a bit over-careful in pronunciation to me, too, but I think he's doing it to be extra easy to understand, eve if the effect is somewhat exaggerated. - MacFadden Aug 30, 2011

Answer 1

Great link!

I listened to a couple of the articles. However, the intonation seemed to me a bit off in a few places, it was neither here nor there, as in not a newscast-voice, nor a natural "talking to your friends", or what have you.

Does it seem a bit strange to native Spanish speakers? Just wondering But it's a great resource, nonetheless.

• Yes, the reading seemed to be in a monotone, lacking the usual inflections of the Spanish language. Good observation. - Jeremias Aug 30, 2011

Answer 2

Oí la lección que se trata de Talum. Que bueno, parece llenar una necesidad que se falta entre los recursos disponibles de aprender español.

¡Muchisimos gracias por compartirlo con nosotros!

Answer 3

Awesome resource

¡Muchísimas gracias por el sitio fantástico!

Answer 4

Aww, you guys are so nice. I don't know how I stay away. I'll have to dig up more good websites for you. Glad this one was a hit.

I just remembered about this thread and there were lots of responses; sorry! I wasn't ignoring you all.

Answer 5

Great link! Thanks. So many ways to learn, I wish I had more free time...

Answer 6

This is awesome MacFadden!!! Thank you for sharing

Answer 7

Great resource. If you need a definition of a word while reading a news article, just mouse over it and the definition is immediately available. Mouse off and the definition immediately dissappears. Awesome.

Answer 8

You made my day with this precious gift. It's an amazing website.

Thank you, MacFadden.

• We don't appear to have coincided in our periods of peak activity, but I hope to see you around (and give you more links) when I come back. - MacFadden Aug 30, 2011