Lesson 10 marks the end of the first season of Show Time Spanish. We'd really like to hear what you think about the show. A huge amount of time and effort goes into each show – around 15 hours each week! – and we'd really like to hear from you to find out if you feel we're on the right tracks. You can either comment on this post – just click the "Comments" link below, or you can review Show Time Spanish on iTunes. Indeed, if you have specific feedback about any particular lesson, please post your comments on that lesson as listed here in the library. We're also 'recruiting' some listeners to provide testimonials for use in our marketing material, so if you're interested, let us know: email support [at] radiolingua.com and we'll be in touch.
We’d like your feedback on Show Time Spanish
It's perhaps worth pointing out that we know that we don't do as much 'hand-holding' as we did with Coffee Break Spanish, but that's entirely deliberate. The most popular request we had from experienced CBS listeners was for authentic conversations to improve listening skills.
We'd be delighted to hear what you think, and look forward to your messages. Show time will be back mid January with our second season and we look forward to bringing you a few new elements in the show as well as what you've come to expect.
I just wanted to take a minute to thank everyone involved with Showtime Spanish for all of the episodes, but in particular, episode 10. The seven questions following the telenovela turned out to be, for me at least, the best explanation of when to use the subjunctive when speaking. I had been struggling as far back as Coffee Break Spanish with finding the right time to utilize the subjunctive, but listening to Mark’s answers to the questions, it seemed to finally click for me. I know many of us native English speakers struggle with the subjunctive in Spanish, and I was thrilled to have it used in perfect examples for me. Please continue with the questions following Verano Espanol, as I think it really is helpful.
Happy Holidays to everyone involved with the podcast, you are all doing a wonderful job.
I agree! And I really feel that the neighbours speak very naturally – as one would experience in Spain. It’s also fun that there are characters on various levels of Spanish: the mother, the other Scottish girl.
i only recently discovered showtime spanish and just wanted to let you know how very much i like your show!
i learned spanish in school but never really used it so far, so i forgot a lot about the language. now that i’ll go to barcelona next autumn it really helps me to refresh myspanish skills.
so thanks alot for all the love that went into that show!
best wishes
yves
Thank you for all of your work in producing Showtime Spanish. Grammar-wise, I hope you get the chance to work on using some of the other tenses with haber, such as “si hubiera sabido,” or “me habia gustado…,” etc. Also, subjunctive with the past tense. These are things I can recognize when I hear, but am clumsy in using.
Other than that, the only real request I would have would be to try to make more of the explanations be in Spanish only, even if you have to simply the Spanish and speak more slowly so that we understand.
Thanks again, and I hope to see Showtime French sometime as well.
I really like Showtime Spanish, and I would like to thank everyone involved in production. I really enjoy the listening practice and the breakdown of the constructions. I’ve followed CBS right the way through, and I do in fact find STS to be the perfect second-level podcast. The only thing I struggle with is some of the vocabulary. I like the fact that the summaries are done in Spanish, but some of the words I don’t know, and there’s even a few here and there that I can’t even find in a dictionary because I can’t figure out how to spell them.
I have listened to all the Coffee Break Spanish lessons and also to the Show Time Spanish episodes. My Spanish skills have really improved from all of the lessons. I really like Mark’s teaching style. I definitely can get the gist of the Show Time Spanish dialogues but sometimes it is hard to get all the words. The summaries do capture at a general level what has been going on in the dialogue but not in detail. I would like more of what we had in CBS where Mark would go over in detail the dialogue and vocabulary. But I do think it is very good. And have recommended the whole series to my daughter’s high school Spanish teacher. Also, I need a lot more on the indirect object pronouns! But Bravo and hope you continue in 2009. Have you thought of publishing a book with the materials?
This is a really worthwhile effort and the combination of conversation and explanation is great.
Hola a todos
i want showtimespanish to be same of Coffee Break Spanish! in the way they teach.
Adios de Kuwait
Dear Mark: I hate to be a downer, because I do understand how much work and love goes in to STS. I also can see how many others really find it perfect, I think especially those who had previous experience with Spanish.
I learned all my Spanish thru the 80 episodes of CBS. I felt like I was progressing so much, and could not recommend the show enough to others. When the new STS started, I was so excited, and signed up for the bonus materials immediately. Now, I am sorry I did. It is just too hard. I listen to the show over & over & over, and eventually understand it all, but I do not feel my spoken Spanish is improving at any speed. I feel there is so much focus on our “listening” skills, and so little for me to include in my own (occasional) conversations. I will continue to work on it, but I wish I had known before signing up that STS would be geared to a more advanced audience.
I think now you may also be using a lot of vocabulary and expressions which I would have to be very careful to use outside of Spain. Could you imagine me telling someone in Mexico or Costa Rica that they are “guay”?!!
The best parts for me are the Resumen (which is, as you put it, in straightforward Spanish) and the Verano episodes.
Thanks for allowing me to vent, I still think you are lots of fun, best wishes to all of you for 2009!
Love This Show. I had listened to Coffee Break but it was too basic. This is great!! I listened to one episode where both english and spanish were spoken and at one point, my brain forgot that I was listening to two different languages. I understood everything that was being said and it all felt like a natural extension of my normal vocabulary (english). That was the coolest thing and I had never experienced this before. I will definitely be listening more. Keep up the great work.
Hola a todos
i want showtimespanish to be same of Coffee Break Spanish! in the way they teach.
Adios de Kuwait
Well, I live in India where nobody speaks Spanish so I can’t say enough about how much CBS and STS have helped my listening skills. I really like how the grammar points are explained, especially the explanation of Imperfecto and Indefinido in CBS. Also, I like how you first construct a sentence in English as it is supposed to be spoken in Spanish and then translate it word by word.
I’m very happy that STS was started as a continuation of CBS for slightly advanced Spanish learners.
Things I’d like to have:
Like someone mentioned, I’d like to see other tenses of Subjunctive. Also, if you could get guest speakers from Latin American countries that would be cool.
I’m really enjoying Showtime Spanish. It’s perhaps a little on the easy side for me–there are other podcasts I subscribe to that I have to listen to several times to understand, and I usually get STS on the first try–but it’s just a fun format, and it’s good for filling in some vocabulary/knowledge gaps. I’ve been missing it over the holidays, and I hope it returns soon!
Count me among the people who don’t want to see it simplified. There is plenty of material at a more basic level, but not so much for people who are at a more advanced level. Don’t dumb it down; it works fine.
All:
I am very surprised that there are only 14 comments so far…. given how favorably I view STS, I was expecting hundreds.
Anyway, I certainly think the level of STS is right, for me anyway. I haven’t understood any of the jokes so far the first time, but that’s ok…even good….
The grammar explanations in the 2nd part are a super big help, because they help you to be able to make more sense of things the next time you listen to that lesson, or the next one. (I listened to all of CBS-Coffee Break Spanish, so that helps too.)
CBS and STS are certainly the best podcasts I have found for spanish. And these have turned into a great way for me to build the grammar skills I need to get a lot out of the spanish immersion videos at http://lomastv.com/land.php. The grammar points that Mark makes in STS come flying at you in the text lines for the lomastv videos…. So, I find that the premium membership of STS and $9 a month for lomastv make a very powerful combination. lomastv has a free demo….check it out…(Other than thinking they have a good site, I have nothing to do with them, trust me.)
regards to all, Jim in Portland Oregon USA
I can’t seem to download or listen online to Episode 6. Does anyone else have this problem?
Other than that, I’m really enjoying the telenovela, it’s interesting and challenging enough. But I wish I didn’t have to go through 4 normal episodes to get to know what happens next.
Hola,
A mi, me encanta showtime spanish! I’ve learn spanish from scratch with you guys, and love every episode! Thank you for a lovely program/ Sara from Suecia
I LOVE your show; please do not dumb it down. I really enjoy the conversations and the grammar explanations afterwards. Even if I do know some of the grammar points already, I always appreciate some reinforcement – and Mark’s explanations are very clear and easy to understand. Being Scottish (but living in Spain just now), I really like listening to Mark’s Scottish accent!
Keep up the good work.
ShowTimeSpanish is FANTASTIC!. Congratulations to Mark, Alba and others. The conversations are interesting and the grammar explanations are clear and helpful. I’m really getting a lot out of it and can recommend to all that they subscribe to the bonus materials.
Some ideas for discussions in future episodes:
* Pronunciation of Catalan, Galician and other non-Castilian Spanish names. (Just how should I say ‘Joan Miro’?)
* As above for Mexican names.
* Spanish poetry.
Is there any chance of a CoffeeBreak and then ShowTime German?
Hey Mark and Alba!
Me gusta showtime spanish muchísimo! It makes really fun listening to you and learning in the same time 🙂 Thank you so much for your great efforts, I enjoy each show that you publish 🙂
Viele Grüße aus Deutschland 😉
Great lessons,absolutely love ’em….other podcasts aren’t half as good! I agree, don’t dumb it down, the format is perfect.
Great work!
A late contributor to say STS is excellent – and getting better. I have returned to it after a break and these later episodes are really helpful in taking listening skills forward. Thank you !
STS…
El mejor podcast para aprender español!
I am delighted with the progress that I have made over the last couple of years in learning Spanish with you. I have little spare time (the main reason that I haven’t become a premium subscriber- I’d never get to look at the extra material)but am able to use the podcasts to great advantage when I do get to listen.
I really appreciate how you’ve tweaked the show over the last months. The format is perfect!
I have 3 other languages under my belt, which I learned mostly from books and classroom settings, which has the disadvantage of not forcing one to develop a good ear. So I’ve found myself in a foreign country ‘knowing’ the language, but unable to interact. For this reason, Show Time Spanish has been a real bonus to me, helping me to jump right into the language and use it as it’s spoken by native speakers-that is quickly and with a lot of vernacular thrown in.
One question, though. Recently, I’ve gone back to the earlier episodes of Coffee Break Spanish- (I had started downloading @ around lesson 40 some time ago)- just to pick up some extra points and expressions that are taught at the slower rate. I’ve just come across a word in CBS lesson 18 that was not translated, and I can’t find it in my dictionary. It has to do with being alergico a noeces/noeses??
Et enfin, j’ai beaucoup de famille et d’amis en France et ici en Arizona qui voudraient apprendre l’anglais avec vous. J’imagine que c’est tres complique d’apprendre l’anglais comme langue entrangere, comme ca dependrait duquel population on voudrait cibler…
Las nueces son “nuts” (“walnuts”).
Hi,
I am late to the party here and just listened to this podcast today — 11/13/13. I really appreciate that you mention concepts over and make references to previous podcasts, that you explain the subjunctive and in the next podcast, the pluperfect, and that you go over idioms that are hard to understand. I have listened to many Spanish podcasts and yours is my favorite for these reasons (and for Alba’s laugh). I like the telenovela. Cheesy but very helpful. It’s all good. Please keep going over concepts to remind us. And ask Alba to slow down just un poquito!