Learn Spanish with Stories for Beginners

10 Easy Short Stories with English Glossaries

By: Claudia Orea

Narrated by: Abel Franco, Lucia Bodas

Length: 5 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

An Effective Way to Improve Your Spanish Reading and Listening Comprehension Skills

This book makes use of simple yet entertaining stories to help you learn Spanish. By covering a diverse range of grammar structures and vocabulary, and supplementing it with audio, you can improve your reading and writing skills, and even practice your listening and pronunciation.

Improve Your Listening Skills in Spanish

With the help of the audio, you can give your listening skills a boost as well as practice your pronunciation. Recorded by a professional voice talent from Madrid, Spain, the stories are narrated using a standard Spanish voice at a slightly slower speed than how actual Spanish people speak.

This will allow beginners and low-intermediate learners to grasp the narration properly. Extra care has also been given to the recording of the audio to ensure a pleasurable listening experience for learners.

Learn Useful Vocabulary for Everyday Situations

• Movies or cinema
• Ordering in a restaurant
• Family
• Daily routine
• Crime and police
• Physical description
• Vacation/holiday
• Seasons/weather
• Chores
• Quantity

The stories are written using a wide range of vocabulary and diverse grammar structures. The carefully selected combination of dialogue and descriptions is especially suited for beginner to low-intermediate level learners.

What to Expect from This Book

Ten entertaining stories about everyday themes that are short enough to hold your attention, but long enough to make you feel a sense of accomplishment and progress after finishing each one.

• A total of 1,000 new Spanish vocabulary words including some colloquial terms spoken in everyday Spanish conversations
• Highly improved listening skills in Spanish, thanks to the audio material provided

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©2016 Frederic Bibard (P)2016 Frederic Bibard

Easy to follow, great for beginners!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, I would recommend this audiobook to a friend because it is so easy to follow along and understand.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I didn't particularly have a favorite character because they all carried something interesting that I could relate to.

What does Abel Franco and Lucia Bodas bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

They bring so much authenticity, real life situations, and everyday language in these stories. The tone really helped how words should be pronounced and communicated. I wouldn't get this from just reading the book.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, I would break up the book by stories and really digest each book if you are a beginner to better understand the concept and story line.

Any additional comments?

A really great audiobook for beginner. No purchase regret at all!

Best Spanish Material I've tried so far.

Would you listen to Learn Spanish with Stories for Beginners again? Why?

Most definitely yes! The materials are great and the audio is easy to understand.

What did you like best about this story?

Everything about it. The simplicity and discourse.

Have you listened to any of Abel Franco and Lucia Bodas ’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This one is much better.

Any additional comments?

This is not the first Spanish learning material that I've tried. And I must say that this is probably one of the best if you wanted to learn faster. I love that the narration is slightly slower compared to a normal conversation which allowed me to get a better grasp of the pronunciation which is important for beginners like me. I was particularly interested in learning words that I can use in casual conversation which this book was clearly able to help me with. Not only do I know now how to speak casual Spanish but the audio recording has also helped me fix my accent and tone when speaking Spanish. Compared to other Spanish learning materials, the recording in this book has been well recorded and is a pleasure to listen to. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn how to speak and write in Spanish whether you are a beginner or intermediate learner.

Perfect for the beginners ;-)

Would you consider the audio edition of Learn Spanish with Stories for Beginners to be better than the print version?

Even though it's a little bit hard for the beginners to understand the Spanish language, this audio book make it easy and knowledgeable especially in translating Spanish to English. There are words that I only hear and did not know the meaning, but with this book I already knew it and it was so easy ;-)

Any additional comments?

Maybe the translator should repeat English twice so that the listener will easily remember the terms.

New way of learning your favourite language

Any additional comments?

Okay, today I was searching on Audible for something to read "hear" about the Spanish language as my language of choice for learning and the best way for me is to learn by myself.And suddenly I saw this title"Learn Spanish with Stories for Beginners"and got me interested I never used to learn some language with listen to stories and it was a fun and innovative way of learning something new.The stories are interesting to listen and the narrators also have a good vocal abilities (especially the male vocal sounds like someone narrated a "telenovela" to me), I read some say they sound "BAD" yes i can agree but I know Audible or any other Online Service is put too much "Compression" on vocals it all came from "Loudness War" (I don't want to offend somebody here with this statement just to point).The stories are great well thought and for Beginner like me the PDF file I downloaded is the best tool to follow the stories with ease and as I mentioned the stories with the male narrator get me in the state as i "Watch" some telenovela.And for the last thought, I love the vocabulary it is great for beginners to "hear" the words pronounced definitely, I learn something here!So all in all great idea from the maker I hope there are more languages translated like from where it came to the title:"New way of learning your favourite language".

Great for learning Spanish!

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

Yes, just enough to have time to understand and absorb each story.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Learning the innovative way!

Any additional comments?

I have learned Spanish years ago, and it really was an enjoyable experience to be able to understand and speak the language even just the basics. Unfortunately, I was not able to continue studying further the language and using it.

That’s why with the purchase of this audiobook, recollections of what I had learned came back. I may not fully understand all the things the speaker is saying but I at least I have a grasp of what the story is all about. These are easy to comprehend stories, easy to follow along with the help of English translations and I can definitely learn about the proper accent. I would recommend this to those who want to learn the Spanish language in a different and innovative way, but surely interesting!

Great way to learn natively

The fact that the pronunciation was so well integrated into the design of the audiobook was one of the things I loved about this audiobook. I find that that is one of the most difficult parts of learning another language and to have it readily available is great. It increased my interest in the language simply by letting me understanding it better. I know what parts of the language interest me more thanks to this audiobook. The information that is presented in exactly what you'd expect from a language book, but it's also so much more with stories that stick in your mind to help you remember key vocabulary words. I wouldn't change a single thing about it. I highly recommend this audiobook to anyone looking to learn a language quickly and efficiently.

Helpful book for learning and improving listening

Would you listen to Learn Spanish with Stories for Beginners again? Why?

I would listen to it again for revision and betterunderstanding of the stories and vocabulary used in them.

What about Abel Franco and Lucia Bodas ’s performance did you like?

It sounded authentic and helped me to immerse myself in the languageenvironment.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No,because it's a language learning book. I listened to parts from it ona daily basis, sometimes coming back to the stories I alreadylistened.

Not for Beginners

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Yes, but it is NOT FOR BEGINNERS. The narrator reads very fast. He doesn't even take a breath between stories, much less say anything helpful like Chapter 1, Chapter 2, etc. There is an inadequate glossary but this is NOT A DUAL LANGUAGE BOOK. There is no full translation anywhere. You'll learn, but only if you are extremely self-determined and have a year or two of Spanish under your belt already.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Announce each chapter with a clear statement. Racing through the text with no demarcations whatsoever is a little strange. A full translation is required for beginners.

Would you be willing to try another one of Abel Franco and Lucia Bodas ’s performances?

I did like the performance but it was too fast for a beginner. Call the book intermediate and give the listener a clue what they are getting into.

Could you see Learn Spanish with Stories for Beginners being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

No movie. Maybe a comic book in .pdf. That is actually a compliment. The stories cover good language topics.

Any additional comments?

Help! Try user testing the book with new Spanish learners before you rate it "beginner." You need an objective standard of what is a beginning text.

Fantastic at improving your listening skills!

Would you consider the audio edition of Learn Spanish with Stories for Beginners to be better than the print version?

It is a different way of learning. For people who are more auditory than visual at learning, this is perfect.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Learn Spanish with Stories for Beginners?

It would have to be the first story about watching movies and deciding on genres and debating on them, as I am a film aficionado!

What does Abel Franco and Lucia Bodas bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Abel brings the stories to life. Lucia teaches you how to pronounce the new learned words correctly and in which context.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Absolutely!

Any additional comments?

While I studied Spanish in High School for a few years, it has been a while I did not practice it. This book helped me refresh my memory in a very engaging way.

Very Informative... Great Book

Any additional comments?

If you have an interest in learning Spanish and you want to strengthen your skills, then this is the book for you. It was very informative so you might learn some new things.

Great study tool!

I have a few trips to Spain coming up, so I bought this book to remember my Spanish and to get used to the accent used in Spain, (as I learned my Spanish in Latin America). I like to listen to it on my morning commute, and after some experimentation, I found a method of using it that works for me.

There are ten stories, each about 12 minutes long, one per chapter. The next ten chapters go over the vocab of each story, stopping every few sentences to go over vocab. This is super helpful as I don't need to bother with looking things up in a dictionary.

The way I've found works best is to listen at 0.75x speed to the original story, then skip ten chapters ahead and listening to the version of the story that's interspersed with vocab definitions. Then I listen to the story again at a normal speed.

I like that the stories are about both usual situations and unusual ones (like about astronauts). Would recommend for an intermediate Spanish speaker. So far it feels like my listening skills have gotten better and vocab has improved. I'm glad I found this audiobook because by the time I'm in Spain, I'll be speaking enough to get by!

Pdf book

The quality is very good but didn't get the pdf versions of the stories although promised in descr

Disorganised recording

I listened to these stories whilst driving and thought the narration was quite clear. I found the Spanish easy enough to follow at a pace that was challenging at times but with a second listen, I was able to follow the story. Each time I listened, I understood more.
The frustrating thing was the lack of any definitive break between when one story ends and the other begins.
There was not even a few seconds pause. This was very difficult to follow when you are trying understand and translate as you listen.

The intro claims there is an accompanying text

to the audio story to help you learn, in the “MyLibrary” but this is nowhere to be found. They also say if you can’t find it then to email:
[e-mail] (learn spanish vol 1 )
or
[e-mail]

This is for material by Claudia Orea.

A similar set by Frederic Bibard (Spanish Stories for beginners) also uses the SAME contact email.

I got a response from Frederic & the PDF text as promised.
NOTHING from Claudia Orea so far.
Before buying Claudia’s material check that you will receive the text and that someone responds to you.
There is no web link as you might hope for, the cover could have contained one instead of a picture but they chose not to put it there. The audio book description text doesn’t have a link either. Real disappointment