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If you haven’t heard already, Babbel recently launched a Spanish-language podcast, Palabras Bravas! In each of the five episodes of the first season, El misterio de la Calle de Cervantes, Babbel didactics team members Fidi, David and Paula present a dialog, and then break down important vocabulary and some cultural lessons that can be taken away.
If you’re an intermediate or advanced learner, the podcast is available wherever you listen right now, as well as just below. If you’re slightly cautious to just jump in to a full 25 minutes of Spanish, however, we’ve created this article to slow things down a little bit. We break the podcast down into sections and provide some more explanation to guide you along. Read on to start exploring El Misterio de la Calle de Cervantes.
‘El Misterio De La Calle De Cervantes‘ Episode 1
Introduction
Our didactics members introduce themselves and talk about the premise of the podcast!
Listen To The Introduction [1 Minute]
Characters Of The Podcast
In this section, we get a brief description of our protagonists, Carlota, Diego and Lola.
- Carlota es una loca del trabajo y del deporte. Es realista e irónica.
- Diego es un profesor de origen Colombiano. Le encantan los comics.
- Lola es una escritora de novelas sin éxito. Es miedosa y muy exagerada.
Listen To The Characters Of The Podcast [1 Minute]
Dialogue
In El Misterio De La Calle De Cervantes Episode 1, roommates Lola, Diego and Carlota hear noises coming from above their apartment. Is their home haunted?
Listen to the dialogue all the way through to see how much you understand!
Listen To The Dialogue [1 minute]
Key Vocabulary
Paula and Fidi discuss what happened in the dialog, and then break down the key vocabulary. Read brief definitions for each of the terms below, but make sure to listen for a more in-depth look at each of the words and how they’re used in everyday speech.
Listen To The Introduction To The Vocab Section (4 Minutes)
yuyu (3 Minutes) — this word is a kind of fear. You can say it like ¡Que yuyu! meaning “How frightful!” or you can have yuyu, meaning you have a fear. It’s generally accompanied by dar, which is the verb “to give”
friki (1.5 Minutes) — this word is actually a hispanicization of the English word “freaky,” and is used to describe someone who is weird or extravagant
chungo (3 Minutes) — this word is used to describe something that is of poor quality, or something that is very difficult
irse la olla (3 Minutes) — while this phrase literally translates to something like “go the pot,” it is more similar to the English phrase “to lose your head”
Vocabulary Review
A brief review of all the vocabulary terms covered in the last section.
Listen To The Vocabulary Review [1 Minute]
Latin American Spanish Insights
In this section, Fidi and Paula expand the view of Spanish on this Spanish language podcast by talking to David, a member of the Spanish didactics team who is Colombian. He explains how the vocabulary terms from this episode are used in Latin America (if they’re used at all).
yuyu — Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela instead use the term yeyo
friki — in Latin America, this term means something more like “nerd” or “geek”
chungo — this term isn’t used at all in Latin America
irse la olla — Latin American countries have other, similar phrases. Mexico uses se le botó la canica, Argentina uses estar chapa/chapita, and other parts of Latin America use faltarle un tornillo, estar como una cabra, or perder la chaveta
Listen To Latin American Spanish Insights [5 Minutes]
Wrapping Up ‘El Misterio De La Calle De Cervantes‘ Episode 1
Fidi and Paula wrap up the episode and give you a preview of episode 2. And if you want to interact with the episode more, you can check out our Babbel lessons tailored to each episode by following this link.
Listen To Wrapping Up ‘El Misterio De La Calle De Cervantes’ Episode 1 [2 Minutes]