Genre: Interviews
Summary
Voc/zes is a Spanish and Portuguese language podcast created and run by students and professors at the University of Minnesota (go gophers!). The podcast mostly features interviews with local or visiting Spanish-speaking public figures, so it's a great resource for learning to distinguish between regional accents! Past interviewees include UMN graduate students, professors, and even visiting theater troops!
Mini-Critique
Basically, if you are learning Spanish, you should try out Voz/ces. The show is best suited to students, as it focuses mainly topics relevant to students (i.e. study abroad opportunities, University entertainment events), but the topics are interesting enough to be accessible to nearly any audience. What's more, since the podcast is interview-based, no matter what episode you listen to, you will get some personal interest stories, which any listener can enjoy.
Let me emphasize: Voz/ces is a rare gem. It is very hard to find interesting, manageable Spanish podcasts for language learners. Voz/ces is both interesting and accessible, so don't miss out! What I especially love about Voz/ces is that because the show's interviewees come from all parts of the world, the show features a wide variety of accents. Not only is it interesting to listen to accents you have never heard before, doing so also highly improves your listening comprehension skills and helps you improve your own pronunciation.
Difficulty Rating
★★★✩✩ Intermediate
See our "About" page for an overview of our difficulty ratings!
As you may have concluded from the sparsity of Spanish podcasts that Borderlands has reviewed, it is very hard to find a manageable podcast for language-learners. Most podcast hosts speak at breakneck speed, use incredibly long words (or alternatively a lot of slang), and oftentimes speak in an accent that is difficult to understand. The few Spanish language podcasts that de feature easy-to-understand hosts tend to be lower-level language learning podcasts generally void of interesting content. In contrast, Voc/zes is relatively easy to understand and still manages to focus on relevant, interesting issues. The hosts are american students who speak at a manageable pace and with an american accent (which is easier for language-learners to understand), and the interviewees, knowing that they are on a podcast for language learners, speak at a nice slow pace, while of course retaining their regional accent. Spanish learners at the Easygoing level should also try out Voz/ces, if only to expose themselves to a variety of Spanish accents.
Check out Voc/zes on SoundCloud!