If you’re an aural learner that’s learning Spanish, welcome! You’ve clicked on the perfect blog for you! If you’re not, stay; we’re sure you’ll love it as well. You have nothing to lose, and a lot to gain. After all, listening is yet another skill you have to improve to master the Spanish language. One of the best ways to do that is through audiobooks.
There are so many types of audiobooks, there must be one out there for you and we’re committed to help you find it. Imagine one that has the perfect narration and voice along with the content you’re most attracted to. It’s possible! To help you we’ll show you our top Spanish audiobooks to learn the Spanish language.
Spanish Audiobooks for Beginners
Papelucho by Marcela Paz
First thing you must know is that this is a children’s book in Spanish! Really? Why do we recommend something that is for kids if you’re an adult? Because children’s books are easy to read, understand, and to listen to.
They usually have pictures, so if you don’t fully understand something you can look at the images for context. And even if it doesn’t have pictures, like the audiobooks, the vocabulary of this type of books is easy and super common.
There are Spanish words and phrases that are used every day, not just by kids but by adults too. All of this is great for language learning. Don’t underestimate Spanish children’s audiobooks, they’re also fun for adults. Many grown up people read them or listen to them and love them.
It’s because they’re fun, full of adventures, easy going, sweet, and with great values. Plus, audiobooks for kids in Spanish can also talk about important, complicated and emotional real-life topics.
That’s why we think you’ll love “Papelucho” by Chilean writer, Marcela Paz. It tells us the story of an eight-year-old boy, who writes his adventures, secrets, mischief deeds, and daily life in his diary.
Don’t be afraid that the story is originally in Spanish. The vocabulary is easy, but useful for real life. The adventures, thoughts and feelings expressed are direct. The voice of the narrator has a very clear Chilean accent and pronunciation.
Plus, it’s common for Chilean kids to read the book during academic years. It’s a classic.
On top of everything else, it’s a great audiobook in Spanish to listen to when you’re busy. It only lasts 2 hours and sixteen minutes. So, you can listen to it in one afternoon, or while cooking.
See? This can be the perfect first audiobook for Spanish beginners, like you.
If you love it, this is just the first book of a series of twelve! So you have Papelucho books for the rest of your Spanish beginner language journey.
Invisible by Eloy Moreno
Invisible is a book by the Spanish author Eloy Moreno. It’s about a boy who suffers bullying at the hands of a classmate and feels the indifference from those around him. It’s a complex topic and an emotional story, but a very important one. That’s why we think it’s great for both children and adults.
The audiobook is narrated by Rodri Martín and Elena Silva, both from Spain. So you’ll get to hear the audiobook narrated with a Spanish accent, sometimes by a woman and sometimes by a man. That’s great, because getting to learn and understand an accent through two different voices is great to train your ears!
The whole audiobook is narrated very clearly, so you’ll understand easily. Despite the tough topic, the vocabulary is simple but important for daily use. The phrases and sentences aren’t very long, which makes it easier to understand.
Chapters aren’t very long either, so you’ll feel like it goes by very fast. This is also great if you’re a full beginner. Because you can listen to one small chapter and analyze it and repeat if you need to.
Historia de una gaviota y del gato que le enseñó a volar by Luis Sepúlveda
This is the story of Zorbas, a black cat who adopts a baby seagull. Now Zorbas, along with his friends, has to take care of the seagull and teach it how to fly. You can already imagine all the trouble and adventures this will bring. But most importantly, all the emotions you’ll experience the good values you’ll get from it.
It’s written by Chilean author Luis Sepúlveda. In its audiobook form it’s narrated by the Spanish audiobook narrator Pablo Martínez Gugel. So you’ll practice your listening skills for Spanish accent.
The narrator also knows how to express what’s going on through the nuances of the voice. Is someone screaming? Is something bad about to happen? You’ll hear it all in his voice. That makes the listening experience more fun.
Plus, it helps to understand the context of a situation. Chapters are very short and the whole audiobook lasts almost two hours. So it’s perfect for complete beginners and to learn Spanish even if you’re busy.
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If you’re looking for more of an audiobook focused on teaching you the Spanish language, this could work. It’s not a novel nor a tale; it’s a Spanish language audiobook to help you improve your skills.
It has many Spanish audio lessons that aim to help you improve your conversational Spanish speaking skills. So, when you finish the audiobook, you can speak better, as well as comprehend Spanish conversations.
This audiobook also wants to help you improve your accent. That’s why they have native Spanish speaking instructors, so you hear their accent and start getting used to it.
Since it’s for beginners, some things are explained in English.
It’s a good audiobook to practice your listening and speaking skills in Spanish as a beginner. Use it as a complement for your TruFluency lessons.
Spanish Audiobooks for Intermediate Learners
La Ciudad de las Bestias by Isabel Allende
This is a great audiobook to start your Spanish audiobook listening list for intermediate learners. It’s written by renowned Chilean writer, Isabel Allende.
The story is about Alexander Cold, a young boy, and his grandma, Kate, who travel together to the Amazon jungle to look for a gigantic beast. Along with them, you’ll get to know the incredible world of the Amazon jungle and all the adventures they live there.
Since it’s a young adult and fantasy type of book, it won’t be hard to follow the story, even your second language. It’s very interesting. Plus, the vocabulary is just perfect for intermediate level; not super basic, but not very elaborated either.
The narration is as interesting as the story. The voice puts emotion in every single word. You’ll hear the nuances of the voice in every situation. It’s different when something mysterious is happening, when it’s describing something weird, or when somebody is scared.
El libro salvaje by Juan Villoro
Through this audiobook we will follow Juan, a 13-year-old boy, who has to spend his vacation with his uncle. He’ll soon notice his uncle’s house is full of books and there’s a mystery and curiosity among them.
The book was written by Juan Villoro, a renowned Mexican writer. So, you’ll get to learn vocabulary and expressions from Mexico, as well as the accent.
The nature of the book is already enigmatic. Therefore, the Spanish narration will immerse you even more in that sensation. So, it won’t be hard to listen to the audio, pay attention to it and be absorbed by everything.
Nada by Carmen Laforet
“Nada” is about Andrea, a young woman who moves to Barcelona to study after the Spanish civil war. There she’ll live with her grandma (and others) in a stressful environment. You’ll get to know about Andrea’s dreams, wishes, problems, and feelings.
You’ll also learn how it was living in the age of postwar and Francoist Spain. It’s quite an existentialist novel.
After you listen to this audiobook, you’ll get to say that you read a classic book from Spain and from a female Spanish author.
With this audiobook you’ll learn how to describe in Spanish, because the story is very well defined with a lot of details. So, you’ll imagine everything perfectly, while learning. The fact that it’s super descriptive also means it has a lot of vocabulary to learn.
The audiobook is narrated in Spanish from Europe by Neus Sendra. So you’ll train your ear for the Spanish accent.
Spanish Audiobooks for Advanced Learners
Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo
Oh, so you finally reached the advanced level, huh? Fine, then you’re ready for a more difficult reading. You’re ready for “Pedro Páramo”, a classic book of Mexican literature. Written by a highly important Mexican author, Juan Rulfo.
Two stories converge in this book. We follow Juan Preciado on the search for his father, which leads him to a town named Comala. At the same time, we follow the story of Juan’s father, who’s named Pedro Páramo.
The structure of the book is very peculiar and could be confusing. That’s why you have to pay a lot of attention when you listen to it. To add to the difficulty, we can find many of the same characters in both stories.
It has a lot of magical realism, which is not an easy literary movement to understand, but a very cool one. It’s also very descriptive and poetic, which makes for a beautiful book, but adds complexity. You’ll figure everything out as you go.
Now, imagine all that in an audiobook version! It’ll be a magical experience to listen to it, but definitely not an easy one.
Despite all that, it’s not very long. The audiobook only lasts 4 hours and 24 minutes. It’s narrated by Mauricio Carrera in a Mexican accent, so you’ll train your ears for it. The narration is very good, with the proper pauses to respect each punctuation mark.
It’s a very clear voice with good pronunciation, so you can understand everything. And the narrator puts emphasis on the words that need it to add fluency.
Rayuela by Julio Cortázar
Here we go with yet another book with a complex structure.
“Rayuela” is a classic of Argentinian literature, and Julio Cortázar is a renowned Argentinian author with many worldwide famous literary works.
It is about Horacio Oliveira and his relationship with Lucía, also known as “La Maga”, both are very different characters. But the book goes beyond that; it opens the conversation for different topics, from love to philosophy to death.
There are two main ways proposed by the author to read this book. It can be by alternating the chapters following a list in the beginning of the book.
Or at the end of each chapter, on the bottom of the page, it’s written which chapter to read next. The second way is by reading from the first chapter to the fifty sixth and passing over the rest of the book.
It’s quite long. The audiobook lasts 44 hours! So be patient. We recommend you listen to it little by little. The structure is already complex. Add to that the vocabulary, as well as the narration and listening in a language that’s not your mother tongue. Now imagine if you try to listen to it many hours in a row.
Though the narration by Leandro Schnitman is very good. The voice has an Argentinian accent, so it’s awesome if that’s the accent you want to learn. If not, it still works to train your ear for the different accents in Spanish.
El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
Congrats! You’ve reached a highly advanced Spanish level… Now, it’s time for you to read one of the most important literary works of all time!
Yes, we’re talking about “El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha”. Also known in English as “Don Quixote”.
The author was born in Spain, but the fame of this novel goes beyond one country. This book is worldwide recognized. After all, it’s considered the first modern novel!
The book is about Alonso Quijano, a nobleman, who, after reading many chivalric romance books, starts to believe he’s a real knight-errant. He then names Sancho Panza, a real farmer, as his squire.
And they go on to live many different adventures where they’ll meet a wide variety of characters.
There are two tomes of this novel, both of which are quite long. But they’re also very fascinating. We recommend you listen to it gradually. Don’t try to listen to it all at once.
Since it was published in 1605, you can already imagine the vocabulary is not the easiest one to learn. You might find many words you didn’t know existed. But, hey, your Spanish glossary will be very enriched.
It’s so popular, there are different audiobooks. You can listen to your favorite one. It can be the one where you better understand the pronunciation or where the voice has the accent that you want to practice.
It could be the European Spanish accent, considering the novel is originally from Spain. There are some audiobooks where each character has a different voice. This would be super beneficial for you, because you’d train your ear to different voices.
By this point, you’ve listened to many other audiobooks, so we’re sure you know how to pick a good one.
As you can see, with “Don Quixote” your Spanish will get a boost.
How to Learn with Audiobooks in Spanish
Read a book you already know
If you’re a beginner, you can listen to a book you have already read or listen to in your mother tongue. For example: Let’s say you speak English, and you’ve read and LOVED “The Hunger Games”. Now, look it up in its Spanish version and listen to it.
You already know what it’s about and what happens. That will help you not to be 100% lost when you listen to it in a new language. As well as to get a grasp on what the most difficult paragraphs, dialogues, phrases and words mean.
Create a vocabulary list
While listening to an audiobook in Spanish, you’ll find words you don’t know. That’s normal, not even native speakers know all the words that exist. And reading will always introduce you to new vocabulary.
When you find a word that you don’t know, try to understand it by the context. But if you still don’t understand what it means or if you feel like it’s a very curious word, write it down. Then look for the meaning in the dictionary.
This way, start creating a list of the words you learn. During the next days –and the rest of your life, too– apply those words into your every day. So you reinforce the knowledge.
Of course, don’t do it with every single word you don’t know. Otherwise, you’ll pause the reading a lot, and that’s not good either.
Slow down the audio speed
Are you having too much trouble understanding most of the audiobook and feel like you’re missing out on things? Oftentimes, listening to natives speak can be too complicated, because they’re speaking faster than we can understand.
Even if it’s a professional audiobook it can be tough. There’s no shame in that. Just slow down the speed of the audiobook. It’ll make it easier for your ear to train to the sound of a native accent and the speed in which they talk.
One day, you’ll be able to listen to it at normal speed.
If you don’t like it, change it
A lot of times we start a book with great excitement, but midway we realize we’re not loving it as much as we thought. But we force ourselves to finish it. Why? That will make the process of listening to audiobooks and learning Spanish more difficult, and we’ll stop enjoying this activity.
So, if this is your case, just stop listening to it. Change the audiobook. You don’t have to finish a book you’re not liking. This activity is supposed to help you learn a new language and improve your listening skills while having a good time.
Join TruFluency for More Useful Spanish
Remember that audiobooks are just a complement to your Spanish lessons. They’re a great and fun tool to polish your language skills, but you won’t become truly fluent listening to them.
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