Coffee Break Spanish

Lesson 37 – Coffee Break Spanish

mark@coffeebreakspanish.com (Radio Lingua Network) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 08:12:46 +0000

In lesson 37 Mark is in the hotel reception asking for directions to a local shopping centre. The conversation will help you practise the language required in this situation.

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Radio Lingua celebrates 3 years of language-learning

mark@coffeebreakspanish.com (Radio Lingua Network) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 00:00:28 +0000

On 18th October 2006, episode one of a new language-learning podcast called Coffee Break Spanish was released to the world. This show was a bit different from the other Spanish learning shows out there: it was a gradual introduction to basic Spanish presented by teacher Mark, teaching student Kara. At this stage no-one really knew if the idea would work, but Coffee Break Spanish grew to become one of the most popular ways to learn Spanish online. The show quickly climbed the charts on iTunes UK and US, and began to feature in the top podcasts at Podcast Alley and on Libsyn.

Three years down the line and the Radio Lingua Network now produces twenty-seven language courses in eighteen languages and this week saw the sixty millionth download of our language lessons! That means – on average – around 55,000 downloads per day, every day for the last three years.

It’s time to celebrate!

To celebrate this milestone in our company’s development, we’re reducing everything to 60% of the normal prices, ie. 40% off, for one week only, from noon GMT on 18th October through to midnight GMT on 25th October. There has never been a better time to purchase our lesson guides, enhanced podcasts and extra listening materials. Simply use coupon code sixty when you sign up for any of our shows. You can choose between Coffee Break Spanish, Coffee Break French and Show Time Spanish, or indeed one of our shorter One Minute or TwitterLearn courses. By purchasing a membership you can access a range of materials including pdf lesson guides featuring the words and phrases included in each lesson, enhanced podcasts which are perfect for listening on the iPod Touch or iPhone where you can see the flashcards synchronised to the audio, and bonus listening materials to help you improve your language skills even more.

Please note that the coupon code can’t be used in conjunction with any other offer and is limited to one purchase per member. Please note too that in order to qualify for the discount, the coupon code must be used at checkout time. We can’t offer retrospective discounts if the coupon code was not used.

Announcing a new development

We’ve been reading your comments regarding discussion boards and building a community around our lessons. Our previous discussion boards were created before we developed our membership system, so were unfortunately not linked to the system. Today we’re launching our new Community area where listeners can interact with each other, share their language-learning experiences and benefit from collaborative learning with fellow listeners. Accessing the Community is free, but you’ll need to sign up for an account in our system, so we’ll hopefully avoid the spam problems we’ve had in the past.

If you’re already a member of our system then you’ll be able to access My Courses in the community, where we’ll lead activities and generate discussions in which you can practise what you’ve learned in each lesson. My Courses is restricted to our premium members, so if you’ve purchased a Season Pass to Coffee Break French Level 2, you’ll see this course in My Courses, allowing you to interact with your fellow learners in the activities and discussions there. And if you’re not yet a premium member, you can join this week at a hugely discounted price! We’re looking forward to interacting with all our learners in My Courses.

Any questions? Get in touch with us, or post your question in our Community area.

Here’s to many more years of language learning with Radio Lingua!

Lesson 36 – Coffee Break Spanish

mark@coffeebreakspanish.com (Radio Lingua Network) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:33:46 +0000

After a few weeks of server problems, we’re back with another episode of Coffee Break Spanish recorded in Santiago de la Ribera in eastern Spain. This week Mark and Kara go shopping for postcards and shoes.

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Lesson 35 – Coffee Break Spanish

mark@coffeebreakspanish.com (Radio Lingua Network) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:45:58 +0000

In lesson 35, Mark and Kara are at the tourist information office asking about what there is to do in Santiago de la Ribera.

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Lesson 34 – Coffee Break Spanish

mark@coffeebreakspanish.com (Radio Lingua Network) — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 16:44:03 +0000

It’s a beautiful morning and Mark and Kara are joined by Kara’s mother and another tourist on the balcony of the hotel for breakfast. Topics covered include forming plural and singular verbs in the formal form.

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Lesson 33 – Coffee Break Spanish

mark@coffeebreakspanish.com (Radio Lingua Network) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 21:13:42 +0000

In lesson 33 we revisit the language learned in earlier lessons for booking into a hotel. Having arrived in Santiago de la Ribera, Kara takes on the role of “Jane Johnston” who needs to check into the hotel.

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Lesson 32 – Coffee Break Spanish

mark@coffeebreakspanish.com (Radio Lingua Network) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 06:34:22 +0000

Mark and Kara have arrived in San Javier airport near Murcia in the east of Spain. In this lesson you’ll listen to a conversation between Mark and the employee at the help desk at San Javier airport as Mark asks for directions to get to the hotel.

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Lesson 31 – Coffee Break Spanish

mark@coffeebreakspanish.com (Radio Lingua Network) — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 21:39:23 +0000

Lessons 31-40 were recorded in Spain and feature conversations with native speakers. These lessons will give listeners the opportunity to put the language they’ve been learning to use. In lesson 31 Mark and Kara are in the plane on the way to Spain, and they’re taking the opportunity to review some of the language learned in the course to date.

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Lesson 30 – Coffee Break Spanish

mark@coffeebreakspanish.com (Radio Lingua Network) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 11:51:53 +0000

In Lesson 30, Mark and Kara bring you a cultural lesson. You will have the chance to hear some conversations with Spanish football supporters.

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Radio Lingua News Podcast

mark@coffeebreakspanish.com (Radio Lingua Network) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 23:11:35 +0000

Welcome to Radio Lingua News – in this podcast we’ll be updating listeners on the latest developments from Radio Lingua. Coming up on today’s show:

Learning languages 140 characters at a time with TwitterLearn
Introducing our Community Managers
New features for Radio Lingua premium members
Announcing our Summer Sale
Updates on the latest shows

TwitterLearn It seems that in the past few months the entire world has started twittering, helped by the huge number of celebrities using the microblogging service. Some write it off as another banal social media fad, but here at Radio Lingua we’ve been using Twitter for many months to update listeners on the latest podcast episodes and other news from Radio Lingua. This summer, we’ve decided to take our twittering a stage further and we’ve designed a course in French, Italian and Spanish for beginners, delivered in daily tweets of 140 characters, and podcasts of 1 minute 40 seconds. You can join Twitter at http://twitter.com and follow @learnspanish, @learnfrench or @learnitalian to start your micro language-learning course.

Community Managers This summer we’re joined by three new members of the Radio Lingua team. Ellie, Katie and Marylou are going to be working over the summer on developing our learning communities on the website and they’re also working on the TwitterLearn courses. Initially they’ll be helping to develop the conversations on our Facebook pages. We really hope that Ellie, Katie and Marylou enjoy working with Radio Lingua over the summer months. If you’re a Facebook user, head over to the Facebook pages for Coffee Break Spanish, Coffee Break French, Show Time Spanish and Radio Lingua where the conversations are increasing daily. Make sure you become a ‘fan’ of the shows and tell your friends that you’re learning with us. We’re also looking at the longer term plans for the Discussion Forum on our website. Have your say about how this should develop and contribute to the discussion on our blog.

New developments for members Until now our premium members have been downloading the bonus materials from our members’ pages, but we’ve been working on developing premium feeds for all of our podcasts. You can now use our one-click method to download all of the premium materials through iTunes. Find out more on our members’ pages. Another new development has been the introduction of automatic upgrades. A number of members who have purchased premium memberships have requested upgrades. Until now this has been a manual process, but we’ve just introduced new automatic upgrades for Coffee Break Spanish and Coffee Break French. By simply paying the difference between, for example, the silver and gold memberships, members will be able to upgrade automatically to the higher level. Find out more here.

Summer Sale Until 16 August 2009 we’re offering a 20% discount on all of our premium materials. Now’s the time to purchase our bronze, silver, gold or platinum memberships for Coffee Break Spanish, Coffee Break French, Show Time Spanish or any of our other courses. Simply use coupon code SUMMER2009 at signup, or log into your Control Panel and add the relevant membership to your account.

Podcast update Let’s start with Coffee Break Spanish: episode 30 is due out in the next few days, and this episode concentrates of el fútbol. It was actually originally recorded on the streets of Glasgow on the occasion of the UEFA Cup Final a couple of years ago when hundreds of thousands of Spaniards arrived in the city for the match at Hampden Park. Listen in to hear interviews with fans of Español and Sevilla. Sticking with Spanish, we’ve just launched a special episode of Show Time Spanish recorded as Alba and I made a tortilla española, live in the kitchen. We explained to listeners exactly how to make the tortilla and we’re looking forward to seeing your photos of your tortillas. Episode 29 was Alba’s final episode with us as she’s returned to Barcelona. We’d like to wish her all the very best for the future. Show Time will continue, nonetheless and episode 30, due out in the middle of next week, will be the sixth instalment of our Spanish soap opera Verano Español. To French, now, and Coffee Break French. Episode 60 of our flagship French course will be published in the next couple of days and we’re just about to launch season 2B with episode 61. CBF subscribers should keep their eyes on the podcast feeds for all the information about the show. Our One Minute Languages courses have now finished, and we’re introducing the premium version of the courses gradually. One Minute French, Mandarin, Japanese and Greek are available already in the store, and we’ve just launched the premium version of One Minute Italian. The premium versions include a printable lesson guide, enhanced versions of the podcast with synchronised flashcards which work perfectly on iPods and iPhones, and bonus listening materials in the form of the quick quiz podcast and our popular Take-Off Time, a summary of all the language contained in the course presented in one fifteen to twenty minute show, perfect for packing onto your iPod as you head off on your summer vacation.

Lesson 29 – Coffee Break Spanish

mark@coffeebreakspanish.com (Radio Lingua Network) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 20:00:11 +0000

In Lesson 29, Mark and Kara talk more about aches and pains and cover more useful language for a visit to a Spanish pharmacy, including symptoms and remedies. They also take a look at demonstrative adjectives as well as antes de and después de + infinitive.

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Lesson 28 – Coffee Break Spanish

mark@coffeebreakspanish.com (Radio Lingua Network) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 19:53:41 +0000

This week Mark and Kara look at the language required for a visit to the pharmacy or doctor’s. They cover parts of the body and some common remedies. The verb doler is covered, along with tener dolor de + body parts. There’s even a little music for good measure!

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Lesson 27 – Coffee Break Spanish

mark@coffeebreakspanish.com (Radio Lingua Network) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 06:42:56 +0000

This week Mark and Kara look at dealing with banks and services while travelling. This lesson brings learners to a crucial stage in their language-learning as it concentrates on reusing already learned material and changing individual words in order to expand vocabulary and range of expression.

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Lesson 26 – Coffee Break Spanish

mark@coffeebreakspanish.com (Radio Lingua Network) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 09:09:31 +0000

In this week’s edition of Coffee Break Spanish, Mark and Kara continue the shopping theme, this time buying food in the market.

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Lesson 25 – Coffee Break Spanish

mark@coffeebreakspanish.com (Radio Lingua Network) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 07:30:27 +0000

In this week’s lesson of Coffee Break Spanish, Mark and Kara head to the shops and Kara learns the language required to try on clothes and buy souvenirs.

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Lesson 24 – Coffee Break Spanish

mark@coffeebreakspanish.com (Radio Lingua Network) — Fri, 29 May 2009 11:02:45 +0000

In this week’s lesson of Coffee Break Spanish, Mark and Kara introduce the necessary language for staying on a campsite in a Spanish-speaking country, from tent hire to shower blocks! They also cover the alphabet and the variations in certain letters in different parts of the Spanish-speaking world.

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Lesson 23 – Coffee Break Spanish

mark@coffeebreakspanish.com (Radio Lingua Network) — Sat, 16 May 2009 10:00:21 +0000

In this week’s lesson of Coffee Break Spanish, Mark and Kara continue the topic of hotels. Listeners will learn how to ask for different kinds of rooms, and deal with problems associated with hotel rooms.

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Lesson 22 – Coffee Break Spanish

mark@coffeebreakspanish.com (Radio Lingua Network) — Sat, 09 May 2009 13:07:32 +0000

In this week’s lesson of Coffee Break Spanish, Mark and Kara talk about booking into hotels and asking for specific types of rooms.

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Lesson 21 – Coffee Break Spanish

mark@coffeebreakspanish.com (Radio Lingua Network) — Sat, 02 May 2009 10:26:23 +0000

In this week’s lesson of Coffee Break Spanish, Mark and Kara return after a few weeks off. The topic for discussion is the weather, and listeners will learn not only some useful phrases for talking about the weather, but Mark will explain the constructions behind these phrases so that listeners can build on these in the future.

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Lesson 20 – Coffee Break Spanish

mark@coffeebreakspanish.com (Radio Lingua Network) — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 06:00:00 +0000

In Lesson 20 we visit a Spanish restaurant and order some food.

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Lesson 19 – Coffee Break Spanish

mark@coffeebreakspanish.com (Radio Lingua Network) — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 06:00:00 +0000

In Lesson 19 we review Lessons 11-18.

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Lesson 18 – Coffee Break Spanish

mark@coffeebreakspanish.com (Radio Lingua Network) — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 06:00:00 +0000

In lesson 18 you’ll learn more useful words and phrases for a visit to a restaurant.

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Lesson 17 – Coffee Break Spanish

mark@coffeebreakspanish.com (Radio Lingua Network) — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 17:19:00 +0000

In this week’s lesson you’ll learn useful words and phrases for a visit to a restaurant.

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Lesson 16 – Coffee Break Spanish

mark@coffeebreakspanish.com (Radio Lingua Network) — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 16:58:07 +0000

In lesson 16 you’ll learn more useful language for ordering drinks and snacks in the café or bar.

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Lesson 15 – Coffee Break Spanish

mark@coffeebreakspanish.com (Radio Lingua Network) — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 22:24:00 +0000

In lesson 15 you’ll visit a café and learn how to order some drinks.

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Lesson 14 – Coffee Break Spanish

mark@coffeebreakspanish.com (Radio Lingua Network) — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 17:14:34 +0000

In lesson 14 you’ll continue to look at places in the town and learn a song which will help you talk about what there is in your own town.

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Lesson 13 – Coffee Break Spanish

mark@coffeebreakspanish.com (Radio Lingua Network) — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 22:52:26 +0000

Lesson 13 introduces some places in the town and helps you to understand and give basic directions.

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Lesson 12 – Coffee Break Spanish

mark@coffeebreakspanish.com (Radio Lingua Network) — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 22:49:00 +0000

Lesson 12 introduces numbers, days, months and seasons.

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Lesson 11 – Coffee Break Spanish

mark@coffeebreakspanish.com (Radio Lingua Network) — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 06:00:00 +0000

Lesson 11 concentrates on dealing with problems associated with languages. You’ll learn how to say which languages you speak and ask for help understanding what is being said to you in Spanish.

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Coffee Break Spanish – Episode 10 (Holiday Special)

mark@coffeebreakspanish.com (Radio Lingua Network) — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 07:48:00 +0000

In lesson 10 join Mark and Kara for a seasonal special including greetings from our listeners from around the world and a Christmas song in Spanish.

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Lesson 09 – Coffee Break Spanish

mark@coffeebreakspanish.com (Radio Lingua Network) — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 19:33:00 +0000

In lesson 09 you’ll review all the language you’ve learned so far in this course.

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Lesson 08 – Coffee Break Spanish

mark@coffeebreakspanish.com (Radio Lingua Network) — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 06:00:00 +0000

In lesson 08 you’ll learn to talk about your likes and dislikes.

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Lesson 07 – Coffee Break Spanish

mark@coffeebreakspanish.com (Radio Lingua Network) — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 06:00:00 +0000

In lesson 07 you’ll learn to talk about your job and whether or not you like it.

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Lesson 06 – Coffee Break Spanish

mark@coffeebreakspanish.com (Radio Lingua Network) — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 18:07:00 +0000

In lesson 06 you’ll learn to talk about your family and to count from one to ten.

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Lesson 05 – Coffee Break Spanish

mark@coffeebreakspanish.com (Radio Lingua Network) — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 18:06:00 +0000

In this week’s lesson you’ll learn how to introduce members of your family.

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Lesson 04 – Coffee Break Spanish

mark@coffeebreakspanish.com (Radio Lingua Network) — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 23:42:00 +0000

In lesson 04 you’ll learn how to talk about where you live.

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Lesson 03 – Coffee Break Spanish

mark@coffeebreakspanish.com (Radio Lingua Network) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 23:37:00 +0000

In lesson 03 you’ll learn how to talk about where you come from.

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Lesson 02 – Coffee Break Spanish

mark@coffeebreakspanish.com (Radio Lingua Network) — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 12:15:00 +0000

In lesson 02 you’ll learn how to greet people at different times of the day, and build on what you learned in lesson 1.

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Lesson 01 – Coffee Break Spanish

mark@coffeebreakspanish.com (Radio Lingua Network) — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 17:00:00 +0000

In lesson 01 you’ll learn to say “hello” and ask people how they’re feeling using simple, easy-to-learn phrases.

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