Spanish Listening
Ayudame!
I feel that I can write and read Spanish very well. However as I have taught myself my listening and speaking is not very good. I have been listening to Spanish radio every day for nearly a month and still not a lot is making sense to me. I had a brief listen to some of the audio on here and they seem good because they are slower but does anyone know where I can do similar audio exercises whilst reading a transcript as I feel this may help better?
Any other listening tips would be appreciated as Im planning to move to Spain within the next year!
Muchas Gracias!
12 Answers
Radio ONU, but the speed seems to be fast.link text
Spanish Proficiency Exercises is a compilation of brief video clips in which native speakers of Spanish from various locations throughout Latin America and Spain demonstrate various language tasks. The objective of the exercises is to provide students of Spanish with the necessary tools to be able to talk about the same topics in Spanish. In order to do, this Spanish Proficiency Exercises contains five major components. First, there is a simplified video clip. This simplified version is scripted, the native speakers talks slower, and he or she uses simpler words and less slang. Second, there are video clips of native speakers who also perform the proficiency tasks. These clips are not scripted. What the native speakers say is what they really said. Some may talk fast, others talk slow, and some have specific regional dialects.
There is a menu bar on the top of the page where you can choose the level you want.
Also, they say which country the speaker is from, give the transcript and translation.
Try: http://audiria.com/
I watch Spanish language soap operas.
To be honest, I don't understand much and I get exhausted after about 10 minutes, which is actually an improvement over when I started, but I think serial stories are probably better than movies for training yourself to listen to a foreign language.
Although movies and TV shows are similar in the sense that you have visual and even musical cues to help you understand what is happening even when you don't understand the vocabulary, soap operas have long, drawn out story lines, so characters more or less "review" the material every day. It increases the likelihood that you will hear certain phrases over and over again and that seems to help make them recognizable sooner.
Have you checked out 'News In Slow Spanish'? It sounds like it might be perfect for you.
Thanks Natasha!
Audio Forum and Instant Immersion Spanish are two courses which have listening exercises. I think Instant Immersion "Advanced" or "Plus" might have what you're looking for. You can find used ones on eBay, or check your local library.
I practice my Spanish by watching movies or TV shows in Spanish that i have already watched in English. Or you could get a movie in Spanish, and watch it with subtitles. And it's always best to start with your favorite movies, the ones you've watched a thousand times, that way you already know what they are about to say, so when they say it in Spanish, you'll go like "Oh, so that's how you say it in Spanish!"
It really helps, try it. 
Hola Loopyloo23,
I face the same problem. To deal with it, I go to Youtube and look for something like aprender español. There you can find a lot of Slow Spanish. Another title to look for in the youtube is Extra en español. Finally I recommend to check the next website which offers Spanish listening activities with two different speeds tortuga y conejo and written text.
Ojalá que ayudese
One of the best exercises you can do is to listen to music in Spanish while reading the lyrics. That helps making the connection between the words, the sounds and the overall brain processing of the language. Music is very powerful, contagious and fun! Choose slow ballads, romantic music, children songs, etc.
The best thing you could do is go to a Mexican restaurant or other locale where Spanish is spoken. Sit for lunch, introduce yourself to some people... they don't bite!! We all know the best way to learn is to put yourself in a Spanish speaking environment.
